Part 2- the "stake holders" in pulling

Published August 11, 2014 12:56PM, by Dick MorganViewed: 2754 times

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I am going to talk about the last two “stake holders” in the sport. And these two are far and away the two most important and controversial entities in the entire spectrum of truck and tractor pulling.

4; The Sanctioning Bodies the people that organize the pullers and write the rules.

5; The Pullers, the people that bring their vehicles to a show.


The “Sanctioning Bodies”. This group I like to think of as the “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. They do a great job of writing good solid rules, they put together the schedules and provide the track and safety crews that make the pull run safely and smoothly. By and large they try and provide their member states with an organizational framework and a set of rules. Right or wrong sometimes the Sanctioning Bodies are viewed in a very negative why when it comes to revenue, money, purse money paid to pullers. Having never been a puller I can not say with any degree of certainty what is the proper operating expenses of the management [the office, staff]of a Sanctioning Bodies should be. However one thing I do know is that perception can become your reality. If you do not see an organization that is representing you operate in a “lean” manner you start to think that they do not have your best interest at heart, just their own. I really believe that it all comes down to trust. Do I trust these people to make the best decisions to promote not only my class, but also the sport overall. Do they listen when I or my entire class has a concern, be it safety concerns, rules, number of hooks for our class, are they listening! Are they listening to the puller that may have only one vehicle in the class or do they only listen to their “buddies” the puller that brought 4 or 5 vehicles to the show. Do they turn a blind eye to rule infractions for certain pullers? Do they bend the rules for friends?
There are several Sanctioning Bodies at all levels of tractor pulling. From national to regional, from ultra high horse power shows to dead weight antique pulling, there's a Sanctioning Bodies for everyone. Are the Sanctioning Bodies irreplaceable, no, if one where to leave today, there would another up and running in mere days to take their place. Which always makes me wonder if there's no money in it, so much hard work why does a new organization happen so fast. Kind of like politics, it's a crappy thankless job but every politician in the country would sell his grandmother to get elected..



The Pullers, now to me here is the backbone of the sport, while I realize that without the Pullers there wouldn't be any show, it's more than that. Where else do you find a group of men and women that are willing to invest their hard earned dollars to build, maintain and improve their equipment. Lets really think about what the Pullers do for the sport at every level, they are willing to drive thousands of miles a year, spend countless of hours, spend thousands of dollars and for what, to win a few hundred dollars and another trophy to put in their shop. And the winnings in most cases doesn't even cover fuel cost, to hook in shows where only a few hundred fans are in the stands, to wrench all night hoping the repairs where good enough to hook one more time.

However there are a couple area's that I believe the pullers need to be held accountable. The first is one of my pet peeves, Rules, if the pullers that have a vote on rules for their own classes look at what's good for just themselves , or do they look at what will help grow their class overall. Take the LLSS class [you can substitute many other classes here], what has/had the potential to be one of the premier classes nationwide has turned into a polluted mix of different rules from club to club. Why, selfish personal interests and the “I'm the only guy that knows how to do it right” approach by ever Tom Dick and Harry club in the country.. It seems like pulling has a couple hundred “I'm the only guy that knows how to do it right” people in the sport. While I know that rules are sometimes driven by the Sanctioning Bodies I do believe that the pullers also need to be held accountable. I know that every club member or club official will tell me that they have the right rules and everyone else is wrong. I don't understand why a puller would not want to have uniform, universal rules for their class. If they did they could take their vehicles any where in the country and hook, and the buying and selling of not only parts but entire vehicles would give them a much larger field of potential buyers. I believe that the only vehicle in pulling today that fits the most universal set of rules is the full body TWD truck, amazing a truck is the most widely excepted vehicle in the sport today.

And the second area I believe that the national level puller needs to think about is their willingness to take their national level truck or tractor to every county fair, every state level hook, every and any bush pull in the sticks. It devalues the national show, it devalues their product.. Why would I go to a national show if I can go to my local fair and see 650 cubic inch SS or 4 engine mods. Why drive hundreds of miles and spend money to go see a national show when I can drive 15 miles, look at the blue ribbon pig, get a pork sandwich and wander into the local pull. Which begs the question how can pullers complain about the purse money at a national event if they are willing to hook at a county fair purse C level local show. The pullers need to limit their non-national pulling if they want to have any hope of having their class viewed has unique, as special, the show that comes to town with the high HP, high dollar vehicles. The show where you can only see these “one of a kind” trucks and tractors.
Pullers, Sanctioning Bodies don't always see the big picture.

Pulling will never see growth until there is a more unified and coordinated effort toward rules and classes

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Dick Morgan

www.PULLOFF.com
Independent Pulling News



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2014 03:44AM by Jake Morgan.

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