|
2001 NATIONAL CHAMPION
‘MR. NASTY’ AND DON SNYDER
|
Our new champion in the Big Rigs Pulling Series is Don Snyder of New Springfield, Ohio with a Peterbilt that is named, “Mr. Nasty”. The truck was originally purchased from Hunter Truck Sales and Service of Eau Claire, Pennsylvania and was used over-the-road in Snyder’s business – “Snyder Farms”. It was fitted with an electronic Cummins KT-600 that was built by Compton Motor Sports of Westfield, New York at the end of the 2000 season and showed signs even at that time of championship characteristics.
|
|
|
|
|
Don Snyder and his son, Bryan, became involved with Big Rigs Pulling in 1998 when they purchased the former Dan Metzger-owned “Super Trooper” from the Indiana team and revamped the Kenworth under the name of “Thunderbolt Express”. It was after the 1999 season and the inability of the Snyder Team to get any higher than fifth place with the twin-charger Cummins, that the decision was made to go with a new truck with a completely different engine. Sid Compton was hired as the engine builder based on his experience building competition diesel motors for the famed Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, held annually over the fourth of July in the Rocky Mountains.
|
|
click on picture for larger view
|
|
|
In 2000, the new “Mr. Nasty” debuted and won five events in the Big Rigs Pulling Series defeating then national champion Tom Lindsey and his “Built For Business” each time. The first pull for the new truck was at the Jefferson County Fair in Brookville, Pennsylvania where the truck showed it’s stuff with a top five finish against the best trucks in the nation. Snyder was the only truck to ever beat Lindsey five times in one season while the ’Diesel Doctor’ was in the midst of his four world’s championships.
|
|
|
click on picture for larger view
|
|
After winning a couple of events early in the season and taking the points lead into the month of July, Snyder indicated that he would not be able to come to the Shippensburg Fair due to the fact that his family reunion was on the same day in the state of Georgia. And on the day of the Shippensburg Fair, Don was not at the event. But secretly his son Bryan and crew had brought the truck to the Big Rigs pull in order to keep “Mr. Nasty” alive in the Big Rigs points race. It was after Bryan’s third place finish at Shippensburg that the team began to look very seriously at the national championship.
Also at Shippensburg, Bryan Snyder showed off his new Pro Stock tractor named “Waterloo Warrior”, a state-of-the-art John Deere with an engine built at Riverside in Ohio. Just like “Mr. Nasty”, this tractor is perfectly detailed in every way. Of course Snyder Farms also owns a paint and body shop and a modern vinyl decal system that keeps all of their equipment in beautiful condition.
With eleven wins in 2001, “Mr. Nasty” certainly proved to be the most powerful truck in the nation and captured the ATPA Big Rigs National Championship. The truck was also the winner at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee in September.
|
|
IN THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
(l to r) Dave Stevenson - Cen.Pe.Co; Paul Webster, CEO of Cen.Pe.Co.; Mike Chastain, VP of ATPA; Don Snyder “Mr. Nasty”; Rick Feicht, President of the Big Rigs Pulling Series and event announcer. |
|
click on picture for larger view
|
|
Without a doubt the most satisfying win of 2001 came in late August at the annual ATPA vs. NTPA Challenge Run held at the Buck Motor Sports Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This is the only event in the nation where both the ATPA Big Rigs and the NTPA Super Semis tangle to settle the question of “which circuit has the best trucks in America?” Again in 2001, the ATPA Big Rigs trucks came away with a very convincing victory taking four of the top five spots. But more important, the ATPA Big Rigs Champion, “Mr. Nasty” and Don Snyder defeated the eventual NTPA champion Greg Hibbitts with “Pro-Hibbitted”.
“Mr. Nasty” also captured the pull at his hometown fair in Canfield, Ohio in September. Mr. Snyder is a newly-elected member of the Canfield Fair Board so this victory was particularly sweet for the Snyder Team. The Canfield Fair ATPA Grand American pull at the Canfield Fair is the largest ATPA sanctioned pull in the state of Ohio.
By the time that the end of the season brought the Big Rigs FINALS for the first time to the Bloomsburg Fair in Pennsylvania, “Mr. Nasty” had already amassed enough Big Rigs points to win the championship even if the big Pete stayed home. But the Snyder team would have none of that and came to Bloomsburg determined to win the championship in grand fashion. And “Mr. Nasty” did just that as Snyder guided the truck to a stirring victory in the FINALS event for the 2001 season.
Don Snyder is a former drag racer and last competed in the ‘nostalgia class’ on the quarter mile strip. He is also a classic car collector and has a fantastic display of automobiles in a special building near his home in Ohio. He now owns all of the former Sox and Martin drag race cars and is the very proud owner of the very first ‘Thunderbolt Express’ Ford drag racer. Snyder also owns a sizeable catalog and mail-order house for collectors of Ford and other parts and memorabilia. He and his wife still live on their large farm beside the Ohio Turnpike just four miles from the Pennsylvania line.
The future looks very bright for the “Mr. Nasty” team after their first-ever national championship. There is talk of an even more powerful Cummins engine currently begin built in New York by Compton Motor Sports for the 2002 season and “Mr. Nasty”. If this is the case, the pullers in the Big Rigs Series had better be working hard through the winter months. “Mr. Nasty” and the Snyders may be looking for back-to-back championships.
“Mr. Nasty” – 2001 Champion
Winner of the Big Rigs Pulling Series National Championship Winner of eleven Big Rigs Pulling Series events in 2001 Winner of the ATPA vs. NTPA Challenge Run Winner of the national Big Rigs Pulling Series* FINALS - Winner of the Big Rigs Invitational at Bristol Motor Speedway
“Mr. Nasty” – The top truck in the USA
|
![[]](./nasty_champ2.jpg)
