National Farm Machinery Show Two Wheel Drive guesses!

It is hard for me to believe that it is that time of year again!  In the next few weeks the National Farm Machinery Show selections will be sent out from the committee and planning for the shows will be finalized!   As a side project over the last few years, I have done the best I can to research the fields to get some form of an idea as to who may be accepted.  I developed who I refer to as my Rubric for the process in which the committee may follow to make the tough decisions of who to keep and who to possibly decline.  This year from the beginning I have found a bunch of hard decisions that have made me realize that there is no real finite methodology to make these decisions.  I have added the option of an At Large Selection, that is for someone I simply can't see not being selected by the committee do to their pulling reputation, although the seasons results may not be indicative of a selection! I also did not select three trucks for the Petro's as they only have two drivers, but I did add all three trucks from the Long's stables as they have added Brad Moss to their driving force!   

Criteria 1

NFMS Finalist

2011 Finalists

1 Ricky Long Willy Makit

2 Randy Petro Kathy's Complaint

3 Jeff Writsel At it Again

4 Jared Nelson Midnight Revenger

5 Bill Oberste Missouri Gambler

6 John Mumma After Midnight

7 Lisa Tatum Hardin Full Throttle

8 Jeremy Nelson  Midnight Gambler

Criteria 2

2011 NTPA Top Five

Randy Petro Already In

9 Jessie Petro 2 Timin

Jessie Petro (Not in the multiple truck one driver block)

10 Doug Theobald Wicked

11 Chuck Knapp Back Forty

Criteria 2

Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League

Jeremy Nelson Already In

12 Brad Moss Ridin Dirty

13 Jordan Nelson Midnight Madness

14 Mark Austin Gamblin After Dark

15 Don Nelson  Lil Whip

Criteria 3

 Outlaw Points Champion/OSTPA/ITPA/Badger State/BOB/

16 Tim Fitzsimmons Country Heat Outlaws

17 Ryan Writsel Lucky Styke OSTPA

 Jeremy Nelson ITPA Already In

Criteria 4 

NTPA Top Ten Points

18 Jeff Bartley Lumberjack

19 Kyloe Knapp Eighty Acres

20 Renee Theobald Pretty Wicked

21 Will Beeler Just Forgiven

22 Oz Hay Nitroholic

Criteria 4

Pro Pulling League

Jared Nelson Already In

23 Keith Long MavTV

John Mumma Already In

Ricky Long Already In 

24 Tony Tatum  Parts City

Criteria 5

NTPA Region Winners/ PPL Region/ At Large Selections 

25 John Gott Region IV Winner, successful at BG!

26 Adrian Hunter (Unable to attend last year after weather issues)  

27 Donnie Sullivan Hansel Sullivan Memorial- At Large Selection                

28 Wayne Sullivan Big Ed Red- At Large Selection

29 Stan Shelton General Tire- At Large Selection 

30 Will Teasley Bad Boy- At Large Selection

Notables 

Robert and Cole Zajicek- Cole made a strong impression last year in his debut as the option puller putting his truck in the sand, only to have a sled reset! 

Marty Clock- Regional Champ

AJ Reidl- Regional Champ

Andy Teasley 

Hiatus

It was a year ago that I started this blog with the hopes of providing another avenue for pulling fans to enjoy the sport that we all love.  Unfortunately, a career change has prevented me from being able to make as active a run at this as I thought and with that I am now going to devote myself further to establishing a strong following with Miles Beyond 300.  It is my goal to generate awareness for the sport but also highlight some of the phenomenal people who work hard day in and day out to bring shows to you.

2011 has been a fantastic year in the world of truck and tractor pulling, as the bar continues to be raised with each coming year.  The slow economy does not seem to affect the attendance at many of the events that I had the great pleasure of attending.  With the NTPA winding their season down this weekend and the Pro Pulling League next it is almost time to reflect on the achievements of a summer filled with competition. 

Champions Tour is at Wheatland, Missouri this weekend, while Sandwich, Illinois plays hosts to the Grand National crew.  A few classes have already been settled with two of them being the closest point’s races of the summer.  I look forward to bringing more thoughts to you on the 2011 season, as I have had a full summer to reflect on just how much I love this sport! 

NFMS 2011: My Thoughts

By Contributing Writer Jeremy Krieger

The 2011 farm machinery show has come to another close, and this year had more than it’s fair share of wonderful stories, drama, and nailbiting competition that this show has become famous for.  Here are some stories from this year that I feel deserve a mention.

Congratulations have to go to Brandon Hunt and the Livin a Dream rig out of oak grove, KY.  The home state favorite took a brand new tractor and won the prelims on Wednesday night in the diesel super class and then backed it up with the win in the finals.  I agree with  Brian Shramek in that this win is proof that Brandon can hang with the best supers in the country.  Perhaps we’ll see him out there on the Grand National circuit this summer.

The State of Illinois was front and center this year at the NFMS.

There are several Illini pullers that deserve a mention in this column.

First off, the Bunnages out of golden gate Illinois have taken the momentum of a second place ppl run last summer and par layed it into a victory at the biggest indoor pull in our sport.  These guys have proven their worthiness and I am excited to say that they are finally enjoying the fruits of their labor.   Congrats to the Takes A Lickin team.  Your time has come.

Illinois tractors are no stranger to the Pro Stock class, but this year, Illinois was

Solidly rooted with 5 out of the top 12 tractors advancing to Saturday Night.

Lance and Chris Little and the Tantrum Enterprises crew have proven that the tractors that they build deserve a spot among the best of the best.

Tantrum Tractors finished 1,3, and 4 in Saturday Nights Finals competition.

Lastly, the land of Lincoln had a stellar showing in the two wheel drive class this year.

John Mumma of Philo Illinois takes the rookie of the year honors for me. A win on Thursday night in his first ever attempt at this pull and a 5^th place on Saturday night will advise the naysayers that this guy is for real.

The Brothers Nelson, Jeremy and Jared of Sidney and Altomont respectively also punched their tickets to Saturday night this year, and finished 6^th and 8^th in a hard fought Final. Honorable Mention honors this year to Mark Austin and the “Gamblin After Dark” machine. In his very first try at Louisville, Mark made the pull off in his Thursday night Prelim, and in a heartbreaker, finished just outside in Fifth and missed the finals.

With a new Hemi in this rig, competitors took notice of the Ashmore, Illinois based entry.

The Always Tough Lisa Tatum Hardin nursed a damaged Full Throttle machine into the finals this year, but that’s only half the story, The special message from her husband Patrick fighting for our freedom in Iraq was one of the most heartwarming things I have ever experienced.  This story really tied together what the NFMS is all about.

I was very impressed with the young Cole Zajiecek out of Texas.  He started Thursday nights 2wd session with a trip to the beach,  I spoke to him during the week, and the young man is determined to have a bright future in the sport.  I wish him the best.

This was the first year for the Diesel Truck Class on Saturday afternoon.

Too much downtime, and carnage made this class a bit of a struggle for me.

If they bring this class back next year, I think they need to let the trucks stay out side of freedom hall so that they can keep them warm, and not need so much time to get heat in the motor before they launch.  I will say there is a lot of potential with this class, but it needs to be worked on a little bit.

All in all this show was one of the best for me,  All of the organizations were well represented and we as fans can carry the momentum built here and reflect on it until our seasons start. Kudos to the Tractor Pull committee for putting on a show that we’ll be talking about for many years to come.

National Farm Machinery Show

The "Big Go" in pulling kicks off this evening at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.  The National Farm Machinery Show is the largest invitation only pull in the United States.  Competitors from around the world submit resumes to be selected in to the prestigious event.  I will have recaps and updates from the competition each night on the blog and will hopefully post some pit photos and pull photos over the weekend as well.  It is always an exciting time for me to travel home for the show and my devotion to trying to announcer their one day continues to grow as well.  I am really excited about the next few weeks of the blog, as I have been working on a few feature stories that will be posted soon on the blog.  Later this week I hope to post my first feature interview, the interview was with NTPA Rookie of the Year Renee Theobald.  Also coming up is a feature on the man behind the sled, Hooker Bob and hopefully some stories from Farm Show.  Check back for updates from Louisville!

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!

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! 

Lights Super Stocks at the NFMS!

The Light Super Stock class continues to grow in popularity on the National scene, as well as the regional and state level.  The 2010 NTPA Grand National Circuit truly showed that Esdon Lehn is the King of Smoke when he introduced a new light super (Redline Light) and scared all the Alky boys with his potent IH.  I had the distinct pleasure of watching Kevin Lynn pilot Redline Light in Brandenburg, Kentucky and my mouth dropped to the ground several times over the weekend when Kevin was hooked to the sled in competition.  What Esdon's tractor proved is that a smoker can still fight with the Alky boys, and with that I am wondering how many smokers may be added to the docket for Saturday Afternoon.  The 2011 season looks to be very exciting for the Light Super Stock Class, as the Pro Pulling League has announced they will run a Champions Tour points race next season.  I again changed my rubric/criteria slightly for the Light Super Stock portion of the NFMS!  Filling the class was no easy task as there are numerous competitors that earned the right but will unfortunately not receive an invitation. 

My rubric- Unedited!
1) Start with the Saturday Night Qualifiers
2) NTPA and Pro Pulling League Top 5 Competitors
3) Points winners from the : Outlaws, Badger State, Ohio State, BOB, ITPA
4) NTPA and Pro Pulling League Top 10 Finishers
5) Region Winners for NTPA/Pro Pulling League
6) Previous Years finish at NFMS
7)Champions Provisional
8)Points Champions from other state and regional pulling associations
9)High Points Finishers from the Outlaws, Badger State, Ohio State, ITPA, BOB

Criteria 1 (Typically I would take the finalists from Saturday Night, in this instance I took the top 5 and put them in the field)
1)Brian Korth Considered Armed and Dangerous
2)Kevin Lynn 504 Rocket
3)Team Red Thunder (Norby/Pichler/Schmidtknecht)
4)Larry Phillips Extremely Insane
5)Larry Phillips Insanity

Criteria 2 (NTPA Top 5 in Points)
6)Brian Korth MX210 NTPA Champion
7)Esdon Lehn Redline Light NTPA 2nd
8)Mark Peissig The Bomb NTPA 4th

Criteria 3 (Outlaw/Mid South Pullers/ ITPA)
9)Chuck/Cory Schlueter Barn Buddy Outlaws Champion
10)Kurt Kessler JD 4430 ITPA Champion
11)Kenneth Hale Nite Trouble Mid South Pullers Champion

Criteria 4 ( I altered this to taking the NTPA/PPL top 8, rather than top 10, since there is not PPL points race we move on to the next step )
12)Jason Irvin Drunkin Punkin NTPA 6th
13)Rex Kuhn Git R Done NTPA 8th

Criteria 5 (NTPA/PPL Region Winners )
14)Travis Morphet Diehard Diesel NTPA Region II Champion

Criteria 6 (The rest of my rubric is null with the exception of step 9 which is reserved for high points finishes from organizations like Outlaws, Mid South, ITPA, BOB, etc)
I made a decision for spot # 15, out of a large pool of tractors
15)Bob Barbee Stormy (Bowling Green Top 5)

I chose to put Bob Barbee in the field over several highly competitive tractors based on his performance against the Grand National Field at Bowling Green.

Others Competitors that I considered!
Jay Fuqua Tennessee Tracks (2nd Mid South Pullers)
Mike Wilhite Blue Blazes (A proven threat on the National Circuit)
Todd Maedge Monkey Mayhem (NTPA 10th in Points/ITPA State Fair Champion)
Glen Frese Red Ink (2nd Outlaws)
Justin Hoffman Red Power (3rd Outlaws)
Al Koch The Entertainer (A legend in the class)