09:42:10pm, Monday, April 29, 2024
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BG the good and the bad
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IH 5488
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First i will say there is nothing like the atmosphere at bg. That being said I thought there were some issues. First I don’t think I have ever seen so many sled resets. It just seemed like someone was really unsure what the track was going to do. I do not believe the track on Friday was very good especially on the afternoon session which did affect the quality of the slow. Finally last negative some of these local people act like they own the place with the lawn chair situation on the north side. The fact some of these people want to act like children has lead to the situation of having to pay 250 dollars for a ten by ten square and sit in my own lawn chair . i will not pay general admission plus pay for lawn chair space. Will be sitting in the stands I guess. Finally when it is all said and done still had a good time and have for the last 15 years. Nothing is perfect and just will have to make adjustments to enjoy the pull in the future |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Fan 2
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National Anthem and flyover was pretty neat Saturday night! |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Fly guy
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The fly over was one of the coolest things I’ve seen at a pull. Stole the show in my opinion. I mean watching $400,000 pullers going down the track is way cool but seeing 4 $200,000,0000+ plus jets fly straight up and the glow and the power you felt from those jets was just amazing. (Goosebumps) |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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let alone
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I AGREE! the flyover probably was the most awesome thing I've seen in person. I've seen them do flyovers, but to circle back around and hammer it again like they did with cool quick acrobatics show. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! When the piolets came back to the pull, I was fortunate enough to meet them when they were walking around. the best part was the time they took with the little kids for pictures and autographs. With Top Gun Maverick out this spring, it was a showstopper for sure!!! Well done Blue shirts! |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 04/04/2016 Posts: 110 |
I swear if someone gave you folks $20 you'd bitch cause you didn't get 2- $10's..... Show was amazing, Tracks were awesome, The Blue shirts went out of their way to be helpful and nice to the Pullers, Mike Hall especially worked hard to get everyone a good parking spot that made sense for their Rig. This Pull is so big I cant believe it runs as smoothly as it does, it just shows the organization and work and time put into it by the NWOTPA! Thanks Guys it was a Heckuva Good Time!
BB |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Moderator Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 1,446 |
Bob, I couldn't agree more. The Bowling Green show is a one of a kind event. There is nothing like in the pulling world. Jake and myself along with Harold and Joe Card have been honored to take the photos for the program ( shout out to Bryan Lively, great job year after year) for several years. We have been able to get a small look at the " behind the scenes " view of what makes this show the biggest, best pull in the world. So many moving parts that all come together on session 1 Thursday night is flawlessly done. There are so many people involved that one loses sight of team effort that is legendary Blue Shirt stuff. A downpour at 2pm and a start time delayed by only an hour has become the expected. The BG pull should be on every motorsports bucket list. You need to experience at least once, it's the Super Bowl and Daytona 500 of tractor pulling. Dick Morgan www.PULLOFF.com Independent Pulling News |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 03/26/2008 Posts: 494 |
Gee Dick, tell us how you really feel!!!!!! LMAO. Yes, BG is of and itself right up there with the biggest of the big motorsports presentations. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Moderator Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 1,446 |
Did it come across that I really like it. That's what I was hoping for  Dick Morgan www.PULLOFF.com Independent Pulling News |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Moderator Registered: 01/11/2009 Posts: 1,579 |
This discussion boils down to the largest, longest running national-scale outdoor event of the year will get put under a microscope with far more scrutiny than other events and justifiably so. All eyes are on this event.
-Considering the sun and the 20mph winds on Friday afternoon, the track was as good as it could be. They were misting the track constantly, doing everything possible to keep it in decent order. The wind was the major factor as similar temps and little or no breeze on Saturday made a significant difference. Nothing I can add about the flyover but 'MERICA! -Did a calculation on the spot fee. A 10x10 spot can hold 8 people comfortably. So, according to my Central Kentucky math, $250 ÷ 8 = $31.25 per person for the weekend. $31.25 ÷ 5 sessions = a $6.25 premium each session to set in your own seat without having to navigate the stands....and...and...potentially get a better spot. You could probably sit 9 to a spot, but 8 would be more manageable. Price "premium" seating at other events and see what those price points are. Scrutiny is going to happen, but where and how is it justified is the first step in that process. I enjoyed the weekend immensely; thanks to all of the players involved that made it possible. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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IH 5488
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Let’s get something straight never did I say it is not a cool pull to go to. it is an amazing atmosphere for a tractor pull and I give them all the credit in the world for that but I am not gonna sit here and say it was a perfect weekend. Ask the light modified class how great that track and sled setting was on Friday afternoon I don’t think they would say it was very good and implied that in their interviews after the class. Next, this whole thing about an extra fee to set out a lawn chair is complete BS and I am not gonna pay extra to do that. I will either sit on the southside or I will sit in the stands. The whole reason that that is happening according to what I heard during the weekend is because certain people that reside in the town of Bowling Green could not behave themselves when they were setting their seats out it just takes a few people with a bad attitude to ruin it for everybody And every year you deal with your fair share of drunken idiots. Now if you want to say I am throwing the whole pull under the bus go right ahead but that is not what I’m doing but I am not gonna sit here and say the whole weekend was perfect either. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Mike Hall
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Bob - thank you for the kind words, but I can not take credit for the parking as it is a team effort. There is a group of Blue Shirts that work their tails off to greet and park all the pullers and they truly deserve the credit (Tommy, Tommy, Garrett, Andrew, Nolan, Mike, Tyler, and also some volunteers which we greatly appreciate). Thank you again for recognizing their hard work. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 03/25/2008 Posts: 2,526 |
IH 5488,
Totally agree. Once people start acting like the pull was/is perfect then why bother improving since it's perfect already and there's clearly nothing to improve. As for the sled resets, I didn't think there were that many and I didn't see them as a real issue. They want to have the best show possible and the closer you try to get to perfection the more minor tweaks you need to make and that includes the sled. I thought sled settings we pretty darn good for the most part and the winning distances seem to show that. As for the track on Friday, yeah, it was a little dry, but it was sunny and very windy and that's a pretty tough order to keep a track damp. The wind just sucked the moisture off the top. Even with those conditions the track still remained pretty consistent despite appearances. The track on Thursday...might have been the best BG track I've ever seen. As for seating, it's never been ideal and it's something I'll need to figure out next year too but like you I'll figure it out and make the best of it. Side note: if I had a dollar for every time someone complained about someone else criticizing/complaining/critiquing I'd be a wealthy man. You know there are things that can be improved. EVERY year there are things that can be improved. EVERY year the blueshirts strive to make improvements. Even they know there is bad that happens. Some they can control, some they can't. We can talk about the bad just like we can talk about the good. If you don't want to talk about the bad then don't click on a thread titled "BG the good and the bad". My experience at the pull was totally different than yours and totally different than IH 5488's. I don't agree with everything he said, but I do appreciate him giving us a different perspective. Personally I had no clue about the seating issue and I think he probably has some legitimate complaints/concerns regarding that issue. The bad - Light Mod both sessions for numerous reasons. The bad - some rough rides and two ambulance trips for drivers, the bad - some serious carnage on the track compared to past years and lots of scratches for the second session in numerous classes. The bad, some accidents and injuries in the campgrounds. The good/awesome/great - the flyover was really really cool this year. The second pass was awesome. The awesome - those passes where guys just nailed the perfect setup, there were numerous awesome passes, Ken Veney and Bart Van Der Sluis had an awesome back and forth, John Belfance's pulloff pass, but the king of consistency, the guy that nailed his setup more than anyone else... Kent Payne! He put on an absolute clinic on how to setup a tractor. Hat's off to Kent, there were others who hit it out of the park, but you hit homeruns in back to back games when it mattered most. There are guys who chase horsepower in every class but with out perfect setup it's a futile effort. The good - weather! We didn't bake in 95 degree heat. It was perfect weather during the day and even the rain on Thursday wasn't a bad thing because it made an awesome track. The good - catching up with some great people who I love to see every year. The good - milkshakes... always good! There were ton's of other good things but it's getting late and I'm tired but it was a great pull as always. Jake Morgan Owner, PULLOFF.COM Independent Pulling News This page is a free service. The cost is covered out of my pocket. It takes a great deal of time and a fair amount of money to keep this website going. Donations for: photos, classified ads, forum discussion, etc... are appreciated. Side Note: We are no longer accepting PayPal donations. They have changed their terms of service and stated they would fine PayPal users for spreading "misinformation" and "hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory". PayPal did not provide definitions for some of these vague terms. Woke corporate policies regarding "misinformation" could result in an automatic fine of $2,500 which would have been removed directly from the customer’s PayPal account. PayPal did backdown from some of their policies but quietly implemented portions of them in later terms of service. A financial institute has no right to monitor social media accounts or speech. This is unacceptable and I'll no longer do business with PayPal. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 04/04/2016 Posts: 110 |
The problem with the complaining is two fold, one, most of the complainers have never put one minute of their own time into promoting or even volunteering to work at an event, but feel its their duty to tell others their short falls. Two, complaining about a few items every year on Social media can get the event so heavily scrutinized and "Over Managed" that it may become Not the BG we all Love, Kick out the few Bad Apples causing the troubles and Go on, its not the Event its the Apples. Far as the Tracks go, different classes are affected differently by Track Conditions, as far as the Light Mods or Minis it pretty easy to get a Track that's Too Much for them and make the classes look Bad too. The Guys at BG do an amazing job on the Tracks, its not easy, and Mother Nature throws her .02 in each session too, the Wind and Sun on Saturday was difficult to overcome, but honestly, we ran Day Session on Saturday, and my biggest miss was not enough frontend weight...So were the tracks not good? The BG Guys work their Hind Ends off to put this deal on, would it kill ya to give a pass if all isn't perfect?
BB |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 04/04/2008 Posts: 631 |
Stormy,
The track was definitely not TOO much for us in the Lt Mod class, when you run a tractor like ours with zero weight on the nose something is amiss, dirt, sled or a combination of both it for an embarrassing moment for us. S'no Farmer |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 08/22/2023 Posts: 1 |
Been going to BG for almost 10 years in the campground. My group thought the pulls were great as usual overall. In our opinion:
1. There are too many 2wd's. Nobody (and I do mean literally nobody that we talk to and we know many over the years) enjoys the 2wd's and especially not when there are 80ish of them. There seems to be more every year. We have talked about it extensively and we get it from the other side that these guys wanna come run BG and else where and the hook money that brings in etc but that many is just brutal and boring to watch. Frankly it wouldn't pain me to seem them go away completely although I'm sure some wouldn't agree but at minimum I feel like there should be a limit to how many they allow. Frankly at this point we are considering sitting out sessions next year if there are that many 2wd's again. 2, Campground vehicles. We heard some grumbling about campground vehicles and from what we saw there weren't any real big issues. Obviously certain "cities" have the usual traffic but that will always be that way. We did hear rumor of the girl who was allegedly hit by a side by side or whatever but that turned out to be an isolated domestic violence type argument where male hurt her on purpose so really not related to campground vehicles. In usual fashion the quiet hours are blatantly ignored but that also goes for parties and generators which never stop either so no complaints from us about anything there. A second issue regarding vehicles is lack of parking for campground vehicles close to the gates. We used to have a good size parking lot for buggys just inside but they put a dirt pile there a few years ago and closed it. At a minimum the parking becomes kind of a free for all with nobody really making sure the vehicles are parked correctly or people towing 20 foot long trailer that have to park horizontally etc. I get they may not have the manpower to police it for but it is an issue every year and seems to get worse. 3. Scoreboard/Billboard. We talked about this at length and we feel like there needs to be a scoreboard. Either one big one that has info for both tracks or one smaller one for each track but either way having the top 5 or so as well as the distance and speed would be a great addition for the fans. You really lose track of the order in a bigger class and we can't always hear the announcer with the noise and miss a lot of the distances etc. Overall another great pull and thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who help put this on! |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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HP
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First session of 2wd were 60.
With sled re-set and 2 truck pulliff, was 65 hooks. Still too many, but not 80. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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puller210
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I wish there were 80 twd. That class is what I go for, great turnout! cant wait for next year |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Just Sayin’
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TWD will always have big numbers - they can run anywhere with any association and fit their rules (exempt the Mayhill/Nichols tire debacle) Why cut them back? I don’t hear anyone complaining about 40 FWD, PS, and MINI competitors. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Fan 2
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The crowd got pretty small Sat afternoon when Twd and sf were running by themselves. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Just Sayin’
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The crowd also was pretty small when the Unlimited and Super Semi classes ran - maybe even smaller Are you saying no one wants to see those either? |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Moderator Registered: 07/06/2008 Posts: 1,347 |
Are you suggesting a portion of paying customers don't want to sit through 40 mostly green pro stocks (even more green if we factor engines) or 40+ minis? Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2023 09:57PM by The Original Michael. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Fan 2
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The crowd Friday night was almost as big as previous Saturday night crowds. Some left as it was pretty late when the Unlimited and semi's ran. Sat afternoon, less than half the crowd stayed to watch the twd and sf show. There was nowhere near the crowd as Friday night. You're delusional. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Just Sayin’
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If think that you’re not going to have more people at a night session than a day session, regardless of classes, you’re delusional. The Original Michael kind of makes my point. If they’re been 40 TWD it wouldn’t have mattered either. My thought is - it’s about the numbers, it’s the class. Which, there are 5 sessions of pulling! You CAN choose what you want to watch and when. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Fan 2
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I'll make it simple for you. About 5% of the crowd in attendance left before the show was over during the Unlimited and Semi show. Many of those leave to beat the rush. More than 1/2 of the crowd in attendance left when the mods were done and the twd and st were running. Obviously the initial crowd sizes were different. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Just Sayin’
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I was in attendance for sessions 3,4, & 5. I hear your point and can tell that you’re not a TWD or SF fan. You have each NTPA GN class represented at BG twice. I think an average year you have 45 TWD??? And the SF numbers are pretty consistent at around 30. That’s right in line with what Michael says on 40 PS, MINI, and FWD in numbers.
If your point is that people are bailing while those 2 specific classes are running fine. Then my suggestion would change class order that particular session or day. If you want to believe that a light pro, 4.1, LLSS, fill-in the blank class would change that, then you should also make that part of your argument. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Truck Fan
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60 trucks in one class is a lot. I prefer watching trucks over tractors. I am happy to see 60 2wd’s and 40 4wd’s over ever tractor class combined. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Registered: 06/16/2017 Posts: 241 |
You are in a very select crowd! If all they had was trucks, seating sure wouldn’t be problem. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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Truck Fan
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Happy to be in that select crowd. I can’t tell one tractor class from another. The best part is I don’t complain about the tractors. I just choose to not go or not cry when I do see them. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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The whole weekend went very smooth even with the rain delay on Thursday. That being said it rained Thursday and there was still water laying on the north side around the pot-a -johns on Saturday. I know the blue shirts are very busy but it's the same every year. A couple buckets of gravel and this problem can be solved forever. |
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Re: BG the good and the bad
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plb
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I don`t make to BG every year, But did this year and the flyover was super COOL!!!!! The light mods were having a terrible time both days, not sure why either, Other than that, It was a great pull as always!!! |
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