MATPA Schedules
MATPA Rules
MATPA Officers
MATPA Members
MATPA Division Points
MATPA Photos
Links
Steve's Corner

Welcome MATPA family and friends to our virtual round table, prepare a pot of coffee and sit down with MATPA family and friends to shoot the breeze.

I welcome you to check back often to catch up on the latest gossip and information.

Steve's Biography

8/11:

Well, it’s been a long time since I wrote last on “Steve’s Table”.  Many things have changed since 6/24/2009.  I probably have enough stuff to fill that book I was talking about.  LOL.

First of all, it’s time to get a new picture of my tractor up there.  The winter months of 2009-2010 were spent getting the 570 Cockshutt a new set of clothes.  I stripped everything off of it, and had a nice shiny coat of paint put on, built a new set of rear wheels, removed over 400lbs of weight (No – NOT A DIFFERENT DRIVER!!), and dubbed it the “Canadian Mistress”.  Courtney was always giving me a hard time about being out in the garage with my girlfriend, and the tractors were made in Canada.  So – it seemed fitting to me.

The first part of 2010 saw MATPA welcome a new President – yet another Steve at the top of the butt chewing pole.  I want to congratulate Mr. Steve Van Drimmelen on doing a fine job!  The only thing I have to complain about is the rainouts – of course, I don’t think he really had a hand in that.  Rain has seemed to plague the first half of the 2010 MATPA Season.  When you have 4 of the first 6 pulls rained out, it’s kind of hard to tell how the season is actually going to go.  But now, it seems things are picking up.  And so is the temperature.  This past Saturday was the pull at the Moniteau County Fair in California, MO.  Things were pretty warm, but we managed.  I know not everyone was looking forward to the break in the action at 5:30, but it all worked out.  We had 4 jackpot classes at the end of the night with a large turnout.  The pull ended about 12:15am.  We had a total of 206 hooks.  This has been the largest pull so far this year, but there are many more to come.

MATPA members are still some of the finest tractor pullers around.  I heard several compliments today on how well our pull was ran Saturday.  They could not believe how fast we were moving along.  We still averaged less than 2.5 minutes per tractor.  Along that line, I’m hearing from several people that they would like to go back to the old 4 p.m., start time that we had a couple years ago.  We have normally been running about 180 hooks this year.  If we knew that was going to be the case, that would be okay.  But, if you start at 4 p.m., and have a 220 hook show, it’s going to be in the wee hours of the morning when we are done.  But, if we stick to the 2 hook limit, I don’t see why we can’t go back to the 4 p.m., start time if we are running about 180 hooks.  That sure lets people get things done in the morning, and still have time to go pulling in the afternoon.  Just my two cents worth and my opinion only.  Something to consider.  And on that note:  I kind of enjoyed the break at 5:30.  An hour break would kind of be nice.  I’m sure Ben liked it from the sled aspect.  Like I said – just thinking out loud.

Points totals are starting to add up!  We only have 5 pulls left.  Some of the points races are getting pretty tight!  I’ve rambled enough for now – until next time!

 

MATPA Home