![]() ![]() The committee is led by Mike Whitt, as well as Dan Cristiani and his son Dan Jr., Gayle Mefferd, and Justin Atchison. And while the Owensboro Gang has retired, the framework that they laid still flourishes today. Over the years, the NFMS tractor pull has become known for being a highly organized and well-run event featuring the best of the best. Those two guys are legends in this sport! (Photo: Ryan Roossinck) The smoke tube was a pretty big deal when it was installed in the mid/late 1970s! Today’s Leadership This photo of Mike Whitt and Dan Cristiani talking was one of my favorite photos from last year. ![]() Over the next four decades, the Owensboro gang worked hand in hand with the fair board and Expo Center top brass to overcome some pretty major hurdles, both on the ventilation side as well as safety measures. Billy Joe Miles once remarked that people showed up in suits and dresses!Īt any rate, the pull was a big hit, and it continued to grow. They estimated that 13,000 people walked through those doors!įrankly, I don’t think people really knew what to expect. However, the Owensboro Gang pulled it off. They’d forecasted that 12,000 spectators would come to the show, and I know that quite a few people were skeptical. ![]() They had a more official title, but it didn’t take long before these six guys became known as the “Owensboro Gang.” Left to right: Jerry Baird, Joe England, Donnie Bittel, Carl Mercer, Walter Harder Jr., and Billy Joe Miles. I wouldn’t swear to it, but I think they were more or less farm stock. It was a two night show, and featured just three classes 5,000 lbs., 10,000 lbs., and 15,000 lbs. They worked with the farm show to get a small indoor pull put together for the 1969 farm show. They were six guys from the Owensboro area, and most all of them were part of the Kentucky Tractor Pullers Association. One of the men working for the farm show at the time had some connections to the local pulling scene, and he made introductions. They wanted to make a big splash, and it was decided that a tractor pull might be just the ticket. The farm show itself was just a few years old at the time, and the Kentucky State Fair & Expo Center board members wanted to bring something more to the attendees. The National Farm Machinery Show’s tractor pull got started in 1969. It’s the oldest indoor tractor pull in the world. Now, let’s see if I can try to explain why this tractor pull is such a big deal. The Saturday night show sold out last year, and I have no doubt that it’ll do it again this year – as well as potentially a few of the other sessions. Lastly, though, I want to talk about what it’s like for me…personally.īefore we get into all that, though…if you’re coming to the NFMS and you want to go to one of the sessions, you need to get your tickets NOW. We’ll talk a little bit of history, what it’s like to be a competitor, and a few other fun things that maybe you didn’t know about the pull itself. This year, let’s talk about the NFMS Tractor Pull, and why it’s such a big deal. I wrote about how I do the farm show last year, though. Over 300,000 attendees and exhibitors will pack the Kentucky Expo Center’s 1.2M square feet of exhibit space (that’s 27 acres if you’re playing along at home), checking out the latest and greatest from nearly 850 different exhibitors. The National Farm Machinery Show invades Louisville, KY next week for the 58th time. ![]()
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