Great Un-Expectations: A Tale of Two Tracks at the Pullers Championship.
Great Un-Expectations: A Tale of Two Tracks at the Pullers Championship.
Let’s recap one of the wildest, topsy turvy, fist pumping, headache inducing, action packed weekends I have had in a long time. The 2025 edition of The Pullers Championship! Instead of boring you with a class by class update, and a recounting of results, I am going to slam my readers with a rapid fire review of my rawest takeaways from the weekend. We had a heaping helping of things we expected to see, but just as many, if not more, eyebrow raising, unexpected stories develop. It was a dichotomy. A yin and yang. A Jeckyll and Hyde. It had it all. For everything that went by the script, there was an equal and opposite reaction.
The track itself is the most glaringly obvious. A Friday night session was impeded by wind, hail, rain and terrible weather. It was two hours delayed, and the track suffered immensely. Pullers had to make major adjustments. It was a slugfest. It was tricky sailing. Saturday was the polar opposite. One of the best tracks I have seen in a very long time, under the clearest of skies, and calmest of conditions. This would be the tone for the weekend. Expect everything.
The light super stock class is an excellent example. In a world where John Deere green and Case IH red dominate the world of both agriculture and pulling, we saw two complete sessions go by, without EITHER of these predominant brands picking up a win. It was the true Case driven by Elmer Haug on Friday night taking the victory and the Ford New Holland of Bryan Bowles walking away with the number one spot on Saturday. To get back to the expected result, however, our overall weekend champion for the class was taken home by a John Deere. A John Deere driven by a die hard red team, because the pulling gods threw out the script at this point, and simply started shooting from the hip when they christened Brandon Phillips your weekend winner.
To return to the Case in the winner’s circle on Friday night, I would ask my fans, when was the last time you saw two Cases victorious on the same evening? Not only did Elmer Haug get things done in the Light Super Stock class, but Kris Hoyt parked his Pro Stock he calls Nut Case in victory lane, making our JI Case folks smile from ear to ear.
When asked about my minirod predictions for the weekend, I surmised Logan Peissing and Tyler Slagh would win on Friday night. My expected results were not far off, as the two minirod drivers simply split their wins over the sessions with Logan grabbing the victory on Friday night and Tyler taking home gold on Saturday. I did not, however, expect the Peissigs to take home the overall weekend championship. Tim Peissig hopped in the driver’s seat Saturday night, and piloted the wheels off those minis. This is a team jumping up in a hurry, and that is going to put the whole class on red alert. Unexpected. As mentioned earlier, though, for every unexpected event, there was an equally anticipated, and unsurprising one. Tyler Slagh grabbed the microphone from my hands during his driver interview, praised the crowd for American made horsepower and God graced ice cold beer, before letting out a Rick Flair inspired battle cry. Truth be told… that was expected.
The 7,400 pound modified class, the cornerstone class of the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association, made its debut at The Pullers Championship this year. We saw the heavy hitters of Donald Nelson and Cameron Neaves make the trek all the way from Texas, along with a good smattering of other Outlaw competitors. Vern Huser, long time Outlaw mod puller grabbed the win on Friday night, and while this wasn’t truly unexpected, it was mildly surprising. The true surprise, however, came when Tarry Feiss bested the Outlaws at their own game by winning on Saturday night, and taking home the overall weekend finish, while running the tractor on new tires, and at a weight it doesn’t always pull at.
I didn’t expect anyone to win on their hometown track, but Esdon Bartling did. I did expect the Farely, Iowa crew to dominate. Jason Rauen, Brandon and RJ Simon did exactly that with wins in the Super Semi, Pro Stock, and Modified divisions. I didn’t expect to throw a first green at dusk, but we did. I did expect to see phenomenal competition. We did.
This was a pull that had it all. The storylines we knew could happen, did. The results we never would have expected, came about regardless. It was everything we love about pulling all together, all at once. It was lightning in a bottle, and a recipe for success, with dashes of chaos and madness mixed in.
Pullin’ is Fun
Green Flags and Tight Chains
Mike Eitel
Beer Money Pulling Team
Engagement Specialist
michael.eitel.bevier@gmail.com
660.342.0206
