Rookie of the Year

Dave made a trip to the NWMGTPA rules meeting today where the attendants voted to make Chris the 2008 Rookie of the Year for the organization's past season.

     

Chris also took 2nd place in the overall points for the 1550 V8 Open class and 4th place in 1350 4-cylinder points. Matt also grabbed 4th in the 1450 4-cylinder points standings.

Thanks to the Northwest Missouri Garden Tractor Pullers for all your support! The Bad Habit team is looking forward to another great season this summer!

In the shop and on the track

The Noll Pulling team has kept quite busy over the last couple of weeks and as a result our updates have slowed down! We apologize for the slow going on web maintenance, but keep checking back and we'll get information and pull results posted as soon as we can collect it!

Some of our biggest news from the past weeks:

• Dave is still talking about driving "that awesome tractor" in Lawrence.
• Chris and Laura (the web designer) moved out of the area. Chris started school in Beloit, KS, and Laura went back to work in Manhattan, KS - leaving the team shy a driver and with an outdated web site.
• Chris captured the team distance record. He pulled 304.3 ft. at the Aug. 9 Dekalb, MO, pull - beating Dave's previous record of 289.9 ft.
• The team nearly got lost on the way to Laredo, MO, but even with a 100-mile detour, made it just before the pull started.
• The rear end of the tractor got locked up in Laredo. The guys had to spend a few days in the shop - but it's back running.
• On the way home, the trailer got a flat tire. The perfect end to a rough day.
• Matt took over as the tractor's driver at a few pulls that Chris couldn't attend.
• Brett Manville stepped in to pull in Chris's place. The results from his pull with NWMGPTA will be posted soon!
• The calendar, results and photos sections of the site got updated.

We've had quite the trail of supporters coming out to see the tractor run, and enjoy sharing the fun with you! Come on out and watch us this Saturday afternoon at the Hoyt, KS, festival. The pull with Renegade Pullers and Old Yeller Pulling is sure to be a fun one!

Diagnosis: Bad

A quick update on the wiring issues we ran into last weekend: Dave and Matt spent the evening in the shop with Bad Habit, and when they thought they had solved the problem, Dave took the tractor for a test spin around the yard.

A few yards later, a wiring short caused the tractor to catch fire. Dave quickly twisted off a side panel and ripped out the battery - saving the tractor from a very hot final run.

With more pulls coming up this weekend, the gang will be spending some late nights in the shop rewiring the tractor. We're also planning to install new safety features to help the driver easily disable the tractor in emergencies like these; however, we hope we'll never need to use them.

Keep an eye on the site for updates on next weekend's pulling plans!