Monday, December 20, 2010
Winter Ideas
As the winter months drawl near and we are in the middle of the long drought in pulling, I would like to cover some topics of interest to the pulling fans. If you have an idea of a story or puller you would like for me to highlight please let me know and I will gladly contact them to prepare a story for the blog. Feel free to submit ideas to me at milesbeyond300@gmail.com. In the mean time you can visit the Pro Pulling League site to see the Champions Tour Champions story each week. Thanks and Happy Holidays to you all from Milesbeyond300!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thoughts
The holiday season is among us as we have just finished Thanksgiving! Alot has gone on since my last post, as I have been on tremendous travel for work, my wife and I bought a house, and the NFMS lists were released. I was really hoping to be able to release each of my lists for the classes but did not get the opportunity to do so before the incredibly fast Farm Show Committee released the list.
My initial reaction to the list was that the committee rewarded pullers for a full body of work in the pulling season, competitors that suffered breakage or missed some of the bigger hooks did not get into the big Dance!
When truly breaking down the classes and the competitors accepted there are a large amount of surprises to me based on what my original predictions were.
My first step to determining who got in was based on the previous years final results. In most cases my step was right but there were several folks who were in finals last year but were not accepted in 2011.
DSS- 3 of 6 from Finals are back, Lehn must not have applied, Gettinger's sold their tractor, and Burge was not accepted not sure if he applied or not.
ULSS-5 of 6 from Finals are back, Joe K's Taking Care of Business Deere is not in in 2011.
TWD-7 of 8 from Finals are back, Ryan Writsel did not get in, however his father did after a great season in Ohio.
SF- All 8 Finalists are back, with 6 of them competing on Friday Night. That session will be a very cut throat class, as Russell Counce the NTPA Champion is in there, while PPL's runner-up Tom Gallitz will look to add another Red Tractor to the finals.
PS-8 of 12 Finalists are back, The Boyds did not apply after deciding to take a break from the sport, John Burton, converted his tractor to Limited Pro for pulling is Missouri, Stuart Maize, suffered breakage early in the season and missed several hooks. Finally Luke Kuelers was not accepted after two years in at Louisvlle, I am not sure he applied.
MOD- 4 of 6 Finalists are back with Shawn Swearingen and Ken Veney not being accepted. I am not sure Veney applied after hurting his tractor mid season at Fairfield, Illinois and deciding to get everything ready for 2011 season. Swearingen did apply but was not out on the full circuit in the summer of 2010.
Other interesting observations from the NFMS Lists-
Thursday Two Wheel Drive Class is filled with NFMS Rookies, the committee punched tickets for many new pullers over the season, but I count 7 competitors of the class of 15 that have never pulled on the famed grounds of Freedom Hall.
Mark Austin
Renee Theobald
Cole Zajicek
John Mumma
Brad Campbell
Chris Smith
Jeff Writsel
*I do not believe any of these competitors have been to NFMS
Multi Truck Teams, with the same drivers were not rewarded as the Petro's and Long's who both earned the right to pull did not get there third vehicles in. I agree that the same driver should not get to compete in multiple vehicles but the other classes such as LSS and ULSS have two tractors with the same driver. I guess it is based on the number of applicants and their full body of work.
The DSS Truck class has several trucks in the class that do not run in the class over the summer. I am anxious to see how the varying rules of pulling organizations will all be added together in this class.
As the winter is among us, I find myself already excited to get the pulling season underway. I look forward to Gordyville when I will be among the Diesel and my friends in pulling!
My initial reaction to the list was that the committee rewarded pullers for a full body of work in the pulling season, competitors that suffered breakage or missed some of the bigger hooks did not get into the big Dance!
When truly breaking down the classes and the competitors accepted there are a large amount of surprises to me based on what my original predictions were.
My first step to determining who got in was based on the previous years final results. In most cases my step was right but there were several folks who were in finals last year but were not accepted in 2011.
DSS- 3 of 6 from Finals are back, Lehn must not have applied, Gettinger's sold their tractor, and Burge was not accepted not sure if he applied or not.
ULSS-5 of 6 from Finals are back, Joe K's Taking Care of Business Deere is not in in 2011.
TWD-7 of 8 from Finals are back, Ryan Writsel did not get in, however his father did after a great season in Ohio.
SF- All 8 Finalists are back, with 6 of them competing on Friday Night. That session will be a very cut throat class, as Russell Counce the NTPA Champion is in there, while PPL's runner-up Tom Gallitz will look to add another Red Tractor to the finals.
PS-8 of 12 Finalists are back, The Boyds did not apply after deciding to take a break from the sport, John Burton, converted his tractor to Limited Pro for pulling is Missouri, Stuart Maize, suffered breakage early in the season and missed several hooks. Finally Luke Kuelers was not accepted after two years in at Louisvlle, I am not sure he applied.
MOD- 4 of 6 Finalists are back with Shawn Swearingen and Ken Veney not being accepted. I am not sure Veney applied after hurting his tractor mid season at Fairfield, Illinois and deciding to get everything ready for 2011 season. Swearingen did apply but was not out on the full circuit in the summer of 2010.
Other interesting observations from the NFMS Lists-
Thursday Two Wheel Drive Class is filled with NFMS Rookies, the committee punched tickets for many new pullers over the season, but I count 7 competitors of the class of 15 that have never pulled on the famed grounds of Freedom Hall.
Mark Austin
Renee Theobald
Cole Zajicek
John Mumma
Brad Campbell
Chris Smith
Jeff Writsel
*I do not believe any of these competitors have been to NFMS
Multi Truck Teams, with the same drivers were not rewarded as the Petro's and Long's who both earned the right to pull did not get there third vehicles in. I agree that the same driver should not get to compete in multiple vehicles but the other classes such as LSS and ULSS have two tractors with the same driver. I guess it is based on the number of applicants and their full body of work.
The DSS Truck class has several trucks in the class that do not run in the class over the summer. I am anxious to see how the varying rules of pulling organizations will all be added together in this class.
As the winter is among us, I find myself already excited to get the pulling season underway. I look forward to Gordyville when I will be among the Diesel and my friends in pulling!
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