{"id":134668,"date":"2015-05-21T01:09:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T08:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bangshift.com\/?p=134668"},"modified":"2015-06-23T06:28:07","modified_gmt":"2015-06-23T13:28:07","slug":"ntpa-pulling-action-photos-flying-dirt-smoking-tractors-and-crazed-trucks-from-the-ntpa-pinetops-300","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangshift.com\/bangshiftxl\/ntpa-pulling-action-photos-flying-dirt-smoking-tractors-and-crazed-trucks-from-the-ntpa-pinetops-300\/","title":{"rendered":"NTPA Pulling Action Photos: Flying Dirt, Smoking Tractors, And Crazed Trucks From the NTPA Pinetops 300"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Words and photos by David Whealon)<\/em> <\/strong>– What does a small quiet downeast North Carolina town of Pinetops (pop. 1360) do for excitement after\u00a0the hosting the best Christmas parade east of Raleigh? Well in May they shut down the local ballpark\u00a0and close down the streets to use for the staging lanes for the Pinetops 300 tractor pull. For the past 39\u00a0years the Pinetops Rural Fire Department hosts the first NTPA sanctioned hook of the season. With the\u00a0help of Wayne Lewis and the folks of the United Pullers of the Carolinas (UPOC) the event has become\u00a0one of legend and voted in the top 10 of all NTPA events. Along with a good field of NC area pullers\u00a0some came from as far as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. And as always Wayne and his crew did a\u00a0super job in entertaining the 1000\u2019s of avid pulling fans in attendance.<\/p>\n

Among the classes featured were the always exciting \u201cgarden tractors on steroids\u201d Mini Rods with\u00a0blown Hemi\u2019s on board with 34\u201d pulling tires and usually violently pull the sled down the track every\u00a0which way but strait. It was a real treat to see one of the NHRA\u2019s top 50 all time drivers and cylinder\u00a0head builder, 75 year old Ken Veney with his \u201cFunny Li’l Farmall\u201d Mini. His wife Rona of over 50 years\u00a0backing him up to the sled on his was classic. Ken really pleased the crowd when he took home the\u00a0trophy on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Making up the modified class included three jet powered tractors which included Wayne Lewis\u2019 own\u00a0\u201cWildfire\u201d powered by a single fire bellowing General Electric T64-L6B turbine engine piloted by Bert\u00a0Forbes. As well as Don Deane\u2019s \u201cPlumbers Nitemare\u201d powered by three jet engines. Two Lycoming T53\u00a0turbines and one GE T64. Even had on board what Don\u2019s wife called an old minivan motor just to crank\u00a0all of them up. So much for shaving some weight.<\/p>\n

Of course the more conventional tractors were on board as well. With the high powered 8,000-lb. Heavy\u00a0Super Stock Tractors with their mandatory original 100 hp OEM blocks with the power pushed to the\u00a0mind blowing max with multiple blowers along with head and intake mods making upwards of 4000\u00a0ponies on alcohol or diesel. The 9,300-lb. Super Farm Tractors rounded out the stock \u201clooking\u201d tractor\u00a0field.<\/p>\n

Also a sizeable field of 6,200-lb. Modified Four-Wheel-Drive Trucks were there with their massive front\u00a0end weight hanging off the front bumper literally floating the rear tires along with 500ci of pure pulling\u00a0power.<\/p>\n

Although I love em\u2019 all but the 6,200-lb. Modified Two-Wheel-Drive \u201cPro Mod\u201d trucks of the pulling\u00a0world will always make me stand at attention. Blown, stretched out, multicolored, wheel totin\u2019 and\u00a0nothing but just awesome to watch. With a full field of mostly blown machines on site it was cool to see\u00a0the lone turbo powered two wheeler take home the hardware on Friday night. When I asked the owner\u00a0of the turbo \u201cSmokeless\u201d Chevrolet, Bill Widenmeyer of West Salem, OH, \u201cWhy turbo?\u201d he humbly\u00a0responded \u201cJust to be different\u201d. With his son also named Bill driving I think they found the winning\u00a0combination.<\/p>\n

If any of you Bangshifters out there have never been to one of these events, I highly suggest find one\u00a0and witness for yourself the pure down home American excitement that this sport has to offer. I\u00a0guarantee that you\u2019ll get hooked. No pun intended!!!<\/p>\n

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