The central highlight of this year’s event was the inclusion of two competitors from overseas, both in the Super Stock Alcohol category….look for the complete story in the next edition of The HOOK!

Green With Envy LPS 4.1

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!

Thursday’s highlights included the 4250 King of the Hill event, where a Queen took her rightful spot among the sport’s elite. Lanise Coe of Temple Hill, Kentucky piloted her Oliver 77 to the KOH win in the shootout over the hard-charging Ford of Athens, Michigan’s Arnold Martin. Coe joins her husband Jr. as a fellow KOH winner. Martin’s Ford is the first to be in the shootout of the KOH.

Friday was a full-on showdown of tractors in the Farm Stock I and II ranks, where the uncut and top-cut tire campaigning machines had their chance to test the Battle Arena track.

Saturday’s action featured the Butch Wood King of the Hill event, where 102 tractors fought for the top spot. Jim Benjamin’s stranglehold on the class was tightened further as he took his Michigan-based Farmall to the win, his fourth KOH title. Donnie Gilkey from Princeton, Kentucky proved to be a powerful foe for Benjamin in the shootout, also piloting a strong Farmall. Keeping the sport alive was also the theme for Saturday as the Kid’s Pull was also held, with 33 youngsters getting their first taste of pulling!

For more information on the “Showdown in the Tunica-town,” subscribe to The HOOK Magazine today, the #1 choice for Antique, Classic, State, and Regional Pulling!

Without a doubt the Farm Show Complex is one of the nicest buildings and facilities that has been used for pulling. As home to the Keystone Nationals, the Equine Arena that the pull is held in is next door to a building that measures 1 million square feet, enough room for 6 pulling tracks!

The Bushwhacker sled and the Brizendine sled were on hand to test the pullers. The crowd of haulers and tractors on the lot Saturday morning prior to the event held several more entries were sure to push those sleds to the limit!

One of the underlying issues from the pull last year was ventilation—getting the fumes out. That problem reared its head again this year, and we’ll address it in the January/February issue of The HOOK with the thought that out of adversity opportunity can be revealed!

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.

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’

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!

I am humbled by the power of the weather. Seeing the ravages of what happened to our friends and neighbors to the not-too-distant south and the loss of life and property can quickly put you in check. I feel grateful for the safety of those who remain, and proud of the response that has been assembled to provide aid and comfort to those in need.

I am humbled by the servicemen and women who toil away in a pile of rock halfway across the world and the resounding blow dealt to al-Qaeda last night. Their efforts will not go unrewarded. Oddly enough, I had been prepared to discuss some family info that came to light this weekend courtesy of one of my surviving great uncles. I am humbled by him as well. He has elected to take the time to recount his life history, and reading about his time spent as a POW in Germany is yet another way I am reminded that most of what we deal with in life shouldnt be taken nearly as seriously as it sometimes is; it is our duty however to utilize our situations and opportunities to their fullest, as my uncle gave his best just as the men and women of the Armed Forces do today. I am grateful for their sacrifice, and proud to call many of these men and women family.

Today was the last day for a family in my home county to milk Holsteins after doing so for 65 years. Three generations of the family grew up, lived, worked, played, and loved one another on that farm. While they’re not moving off the land, the knowledge that the lights in the milk barn were not turned on this evening is deeply saddening to me. The way they lived their lives and worked the land is humbling; while I know the pain of seeing a chapter of life on the farm ending, I cannot fathom their situation. The silver lining is that they are a family of bright and talented people who will apply themselves to this new chapter of their lives just as they applied the many years prior. The dignity, the pride, and the integrity with which they operate makes me grateful to call them friends and learn from them.

Thats it. I am ready to go back pulling. I have put up a schedule on the website of my travels. I have already received invitation to attend events based on my appeal to fill my schedule, and I encourage everyone to give me a heads up about their coming events as there may very well be situations where an event may be rained out and I am free to go elsewhere. Thank you for the time and for the opportunity to serve.