The Texas Truck and Tractor Pulling Association (TTTPA) puts on a show in Fredericksburg as they hook 51 trucks and tractors Saturday the 31^st of May.

For the smoker classes, there were 7 Hot Farm tractors and 10 Super Street Diesels.

Hot Farm

In Hot Farm, last years champion, Clint Metting with Bull Frogg is standing proud at the top of the podium but just barely as John Link with Revvelation is only 7 points behind leading into the Fredericksburg pull. Scott Struthoff with Constant Aggression, last year’s second place finisher just ahead of Link has been absent this year and thus far has not made a hook. Sitting in third place, currently, is Clint Metting (Yep, Metting is running two tractors this year) with Bull Dozzin Deere with 118 points (13 pts behind Link) but he has Randall Brockman in Red Warrior Express chomping at the bit with 116 pts.

Starting the night off was actually Struthoff behind the wheel of Constant Aggression! He made quite a showing pulling a distance of 333.03, Certainly setting the bar pretty high. Unfortinately, he is over 138 points behind first. So, there is almost no way to land on the podium this late into the season. But what Struthoff could do, is put some distance between people as he can easily win a pull or place in between two very competitive tractors. We saw this last year with Darvin Bradley in Super Street which potentially cost Buck Hyndman his first championship. Next up was Metting with Bull Frogg pulling 328.02 feet. That is a little more than 5 feet behind Struthoff. Showing that Struthoff’s tractor is well rested and ready to bring it. By the time the class had finished, only John Link with Revvelation bet Struthoff and Metting’s other tractor Bull Dozin Deere had bet his earlier pull. So, between Bull Frogg getting 4^th and Revvelation placing first; Link gained 3 points on Metting making this a very heated battle now for first place. Metting with Bull Frogg is sitting in first with 152 points and Link’s Revvelation is in second with 148 points.

Super Diesel

In Super Street Diesel, Buck Hyndman has been on a war path much like Sherman’s march during the civil war. He is taking no prisoner’s and ensuring that there is no doubt that he should stand on top of the podium this year! After last year’s heart break of a second place finish after a misstep during the Sulphur Springs pull. Causing him to lose the championship to Chris Ryan’s Mutt (In Ryan’s defense, he is the reigning champion and has been for a few years now. Not like it was handed to him.), Hyndman is the man to beat.

The reigning champion Mutt, is sitting back in 6^th place with 102 points. A far distance from Hyndman’s Ready To Rumble with 155 points. Now, Ryan has missed a pull or two, so that has contributed to some of the distance, but Ready To Rumble has been a proven podium finisher this year. In Second place, is Vanessa Finstad with Uncommon who has 137 points. 19 points behind Finstad is Ritchie Shafter with Borrowed Time. Lynn Chupp, who has probably won more championships than anyone in Super Street Diesel, is finally happy to have his truck back on the track after missing more than a year of pulling. Unfortunately, the truck is a little finicky with the new setup and The Natural’s performance has been a little inconsistent so far this year. But he is still in 7^th place with 89 points.

Starting off the pull was Shafter’s Borrowed Time who seemed to be experiencing a little trouble initially. His initial attempt was just a few feet before he let out and started over. When he tried to get her spooled up the second time the truck just wasn’t running right. Lucky for Shafter, he is the first puller and opted not to accept the earlier pull. He headed back to the pits and got her back up and running. In the meantime, the track seemed to be setup really well, as multiple pulled over 300 feet. But the story was again, Chris Ryan with Mutt pulling 332.08 feet and Buck Hyndman with Ready To Rumble pulling 332.00. Finstad with Uncommon had a series pull as well pulling 319.05 feet, but she couldn’t quite muster enough to content with Hyndman or Ryan.  

Between Fredericksburg and Winnie, there is almost a full month of down time between pulls. So, Hyndman and Finstad used this opportunity to tie the knot. We, at Diesel Army, would like to say Congratulations to them! May the domination on the track lead to future generations of pullers!