‘BUCKEYE BULLDOG’ VICTORIOUS AT KEYSTONE NATIONALS

Despite  the fact that the pull had to be postponed from Saturday evening and moved to Sunday afternoon, a great field of ten Big Rigs semi trucks participated in the twelfth annual Keystone State Nationals Tractor and Truck Pulls at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds near Brookville, Pennsylvania.  The USA-EAST sanctioned pull was produced by Full Pull Productions of Jamestown, Pennsylvania and utilized the services of Milt Leby and the ‘Decision Maker’ RED weight transfer for the afternoon’s festivities.  Partly cloudy skies and a temperature in the mid-seventies made for a very comfortable Father’s Day for the large number of fans in attendance.  The pull was sponsored locally by Kelly Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Brookville, Pennsylvania.

J.R. (Ray) Collins from Chardon, Ohio, the reigning NTPA Super Semi champion from the 2008 campaign brought the completely revampled “Buckeye Bulldog” to the pull.  This was the final tune-up for Collins’ attempt to double up on the NTPA crown that will start at Wisconsin Dairyland Grand Nationals at Tomah, Wisconsin this coming week-end.  The newly-painted bright red Mack V-8 appeared to the ready for that task as Collins powered to a victory over a stellar field of rivals.  Five trucks made the pull-off on this afternoon with the ‘Bulldog’ taking the win with a mark of 304.35.  Collins was easily the crowd favorite at Brookville as it has been many years since Tomah and Brookville have not fallen on the same date and the fans have missed seeing the truck during that period of time.

Second place was claimed by Bill Christ with a 1150 cubic in Cummins in a 1979 Kenworth named ‘Sticks and Stones’.  Christ from Galion, Ohio, set the laser distance at 285.9 with the beautifully prepared yellow machine.  Mark Haselby from Royal Center, Indiana got 3rd place at 275.9 with “Squeekin’ By” an impressive single charger cab-over Pete powered by a 3406 Caterpillar.

Chad Rodgers showed that he and his brother’s older Mack Cruiseliner from Philo, Ohio is going to be a player in 2009 as the six-cylinder Mack made its best run of the year to get fourth place.  And the current Big Rigs Series point leader, Richard Scott and the “Silver Bullet I” from Diamond, Ohio took the final spot of the five in the pull-off.

The Big Rigs Pulling Series will next appear on the track on Saturday, July 4th at the Big Butler Fair in Prospect, Pennsylvania during the third annual Big Rigs Trucker’s Day.  This giant event will feature a ‘show and shine’ contest in the afternoon along with pulling for Street Licensed Semis and Tri-Axle Dumps in the evening along with the Big Rigs.  A special July 4th fireworks display is scheduled immediately following the Big Rigs pulling action on the track.