With most indoor events, theres usually the “event” before the “event.” At the Southern Motorsports Invitational this past evening it was no different as several pullers took a shot at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum track to get their tractors ready for competition. Below is a sample video:
Pre-show activity like this is always a fun time; a time to try new stuff out and visit with old friends before the competition begins.
Check back for more info, it looks to be a great weekend in the making!
This is one of those stories that I quite frankly admit that I didn’t care to have to write, but it was time to do it. After recent events at a pull I attended, the issue had to be explored, had to come to light.
Let me preface this story with this comment: The activities of a few should NEVER cast a shadow upon an event, promoter or the other pullers that had nothing to do with the activity. It is however the activities of the few that leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth from top to bottom and it should be directly attributed to the person who committed the crime, and no one else.
The first time I was ever around a tractor that had been tampered with was owned by grandfather’s mechanic some 25 years ago. The mechanic, owning a very stout 88 Oliver, had done well in his early classes but at some point in the evening someone had found means to put sugar in his fuel tank. In his own words “The S.O.B. ran good ‘til I got sabotaged.” For whatever reason I remember that as clear as day, probably because I added S.O.B. to my vocabulary that day, and my dad soon removed it. Moving on…
Tampering comes in many forms, from something as simple as messing with tire pressure to pulling wires off a tractor. One puller recently told me that his chains and boomers were taken off his trailer, which is just a higher lever of tampering in outright theft. There are any number of scenarios, and none of them are good. Most everyone reading this has heard of something sabotaged or has had it done to them.
What lies underneath this is the current is someone putting a chink in the armor of what is one of the last few sportsmanlike of motorsports. From drag racing to dirt tracks to Sprint Cup, you have to watch your back. Pulling has largely avoided that stigma, especially at those events we cover here at The HOOK. I don’t think that is the case now, but in my own estimation you have to speak out about misuse and abuse early to get it stopped before it runs rampant.
I don’t know what possesses folks to do something like this, but it is pretty obvious: tampering with a vehicle is the highest level of cowardice in motorsports, period. My advice to them is simply, sell your tractor, and don’t come back. Your brand of kicks is unwanted and unneeded in this or any other motorsport. If you are afraid of getting beat, then take your licks and find some means to get better. Become a better driver, a better track reader, do something other than messing with other people’s stuff. A victory gained by those means is not a victory at all; it is a farce.
Tonight we finished the latest issue of The HOOK. It is the largest edition we have printed yet at 76 pages. We have had great opportunity to meet and work with some wonderful new people in the sport, and we want to continue to do that as much as possible.
What I’m about to share partly comes from the latest editorial. There’s a sports talk show personality named Jim Rome whose main gig is spending three hours a day spouting of to millions of listeners–he is popular. One of his bits or actually could be what he believes to be true. His claim is that the show is much better when he is the only one talking, and not any of the many listeners who might call in. “More of me, less of you” he says.
For The HOOK, the opposite is true. It is my intent to help you all, the readers and pullers, to become more involved in the content of the magazine. I do not to plan to slow down the amount I travel to meet new pullers in new clubs, I simply cannot be everywhere at once. More of YOU, Less of ME.
If you have comments and ideas, shoot them my way. rblively@hotmail.com is the best way to reach me.
Although this blogging bit has been pretty sporadic, I have had ample windshield time to think through some ideas and hash them out to share in a manner everyone can understand…So expect more ramblings on…
For now, Let’s go Pullin’
In the time since I updated this blog there has been a flurry of activity with The HOOK. July/August has been out for some time now, and September/October is now coming together. While there is no shortage of material for this coming issue, I ask again: PLEASE send in your results and photos, your stories. Some have answered the call and I am glad for it. I simply think there is so much pulling going on in the country that could be covered that this magazine could go monthly, I just need help in getting the info in here. At a minimum I see the magazine becoming an 80 page magazine soon, making it the largest pulling magazine of any kind. This time last year I was asked to bring the magazine back to its roots, and I hope we’ve succeeded in that mission. Im still covering some local and regional hot equipment and that has been pretty warmly received as well. I think that the understanding is now there that the magazine will always have antiques and classics at the heart and soul of its being, and anything else will not take away from antique coverage.
As always thanks for the time and support you bring to your HOOK magazine. Keep me updated and informed on your clubs goings-on, we’re proud to feature them here. Lets go pulling!
