Opinion

You know - once in a while I have to speak my mind. It's time for some more...
Today I decided to NOT go pulling, but take my nephew Vincent to our local race track and see what the long track motorbike guys are up to.
When I was a kid, there usually were like 10.000 spectators at that track and we got to see really thrilling races.
Today I was totally shocked to see maybe 1500 spectators and a competition that was not really thrilling. There was maybe two or three good drivers - and two of them I remember being "youngsters" when I went to that track as a boy.
To make it short - it was a pitty sight to see how that motorsport almost died within 15 years.
At the track, selling DVDs with 6 hours of footage of his life's career, was Egon Müller, multiple German, European and World Champion. They gave him the microphone for a few minutes and he then hold a speech of how the sport went downhill and mainly blamed it on the fact there was no professionals doing the media work.
I totally agreed with him - as that problem is familiar in Tractor Pulling, too.
What he said then though, made me wonder: "We need to have the results given out to the newspapers, so people can read them".
And my thinking was: "Newspapers? I don't read newspapers? If I want to have results or find out about somehing I'll just switch on the computer?" I had checked before the event about speedway footage on the web and the result was rather poor. There is A LOT more Pulling Videos on youtube than there is speedway videos.
I more or less said to myself: "They don't need to work on the newspapers - they have to get their internet deal going!" This was heard by a guy next to me who replied: "Internet? The guys in charge here are all way past 50, they don't have a clue about the Internet!"
I looked around some in the stands and figured most of the people in the stands had grey hair and were more or less the leftovers of the glory days of Speedway in germany. Me, being 32 years old, was for sure "younger generation". There was like NO young fans in the stands.
And then it really got me thinking:
In 1983 we asked that motorsport club to use their track for holding the European Championships there, and they simply laughed at us. We then went on and built the "Füchtorf Arena" 10 mls down the road and by now we have the big crowds they used to have.
They simply forgot about getting new blood in.
Are we as pullers getting new blood in?
Yes we do, we have a lot of young folks running Hot Farm competition, keeping the sport alive from the base - feeding the Pro Stock class ...
But what about our modified division?
The only ones I could think of having some kind of "step in, learn, step up" program are the dutch and danish with their B-Divisions.
But what about the rest?
I realized, Tractor Pulling has one big problem: You can do it until they virtually have to help you onto the tractor. A 30 year career in tractor pulling is nothing uncommon. Problem is, in that time you build up a pile of equipment and more or less improve every year, by building more and more power.
Somebody new in the sport has to start with virtually nothing. He has the advantage of not having to reinvent the wheel and it also got a lot easier and cheaper to build 2000 horses now than it was 20 years ago. But still considering he spends the same on his operation every year as what the big dogs did in the last 20 years, it'll take him AT LEAST 10 years to be where those are now.
The way things are, the top dogs are spending more money on their equipment in a year, than a newcomer has in the complete tractor. So how to ever keep up with that?
What is the motivation of getting involved at all, if you don't see any light at the end of the tunnel?
If one of the top teams doesn't stop and makes room for you, you'll be pretty much stuck behind them.
Now I am not a socialist and I don't blame anybody for having, making or spending money, but I really wonder, if we can keep new blood coming?
Look at the top of the mod classes now. Now think 10 years ahead. Who of those will still be in there? Do we have enough people to fill up that hole?
In my opinion, we need to get a "youngster modified program" started in Europe. Kind of like "super sport class" for the modifieds, with unified rules and limits all over Europe, that are at a affordable limit (+ - 25.000 €), let you use parts that you can still use when you move up a class (and the lowest there at present is the 2.5t) but where you don't have to stress your material to blow up, to be competetive. We need people to learn how to design, operate and maintain modified tractors - and not teach them how to burn money.
Out of experience I know where the money in a modified tractor goes.
That is a) the engine and b) this costum made light weight stuff that comes behind it.
We need the engine for the show - but do we need all that lightweight stuff? I don't think so.
So - why not create a set of rules for a modified class for tractors that can be build with a truck rearend, truck transmission and steel wheels and enough power / weight ratio to put on a good show?
I have something like a 3.5t in mind with single V12 engines, maybe two blown Chevy's, a single turbines and some tough Diesel engines.
Since it is more or less impossible to limit the amount of money spent on engines (and the resulting horsepower) we'd have to make exceeding a certain amount of horsepower useless.
There is two things in my mind:
1st Limit the tire speed (which in fact is possible and measuring has been done successfully before)
2nd Give them some small tires (max 600 wide on 38 inch wheel - keeps the 24.5s out)

While the first would probably result in a lot of technical stuff needed on the tractors and sleds, and then still lead to a tire war, the second sounds a rather cheap solution to me. Used tires in that size are avaliable for rather cheap everywhere and it's easy to control for everybody. I seriously doubt you can transfer much more than 2000 hp with them at that weight ... but anything over 1000 hp will spin them pretty hard.

Then let them just run for prize money and let them run at any ETPC event they want to and where that class is offered.
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