From NORTHWESTERN OHIO TRACTOR PULLERS ASSOCIATION
The Northwestern Ohio Tractor Pullers Association (NWOTPA), the promotional group of the National Tractor Pulling Championships (NTPC) in Bowling Green, Ohio, has elected to cancel the 2020 edition of the NTPA Super National pull. The decision comes after several briefings with Wood County officials on the challenges of staging the motorsport’s greatest spectacle, one that welcomes participants and spectators from across the nation and around the world into its campgrounds, pits, and grandstands.
Mike Erford, NWOTPA President, cited “the underlying threat to our youth groups and senior volunteers [and] our community” and reported to the “pullers, fans, and sponsors” that there could be “found no way to safely bring you all together.”
Originally planned for Thursday through Saturday, August 20-22, the NTPC’s 54th edition will be delayed until August 19-21, 2021. As a result, 2020 will be the first year since 1967 that the tracks at the corner of Poe and Haskins will be silent on the third weekend of August.
“For any pulling fan, from casual to passionate, the name ‘Bowling Green’ is synonymous with the sport,” began Gregg Randall, NTPA General Manager. “Every year there’s been a Super Bowl in the winter for football, there’s been a NTPC in the summertime for pulling, and hooking there and winning there are the ways a great many of our competitors measure the arc of their careers.
“The absence of BG from our 2020 schedule is just another brutal consequence of the coronavirus,” Randall continued. “From the content and tone of my discussions throughout the summer with promoters and officials from around the nation, I was braced for the call the Blue Shirts might have
to make. But it’s still a tough one.”
Bowling Green joins the Budweiser Dairyland Super Nationals in Tomah, Wisconsin (June) and the Lions Super Pull of the South in Chapel Hill, Tennessee (July) as cancelled 2020 Super National events. An updated schedule of remaining events is maintained at NTPAPULL.com.
For information regarding the application of 2020 National Tractor Pulling Championships ticket and campsite purchases to 2021, visit the event’s official website, PullTown.com.
The following is the full text of the release prepared by the NWOTPA office.
In the wake of the wearisome coronavirus threat that continues to hang over us, the Board of Directors of the National Tractor Pulling Championships has decided to cancel the 54th consecutive Super National Event in Bowling Green, Ohio.
To say that this decision was difficult is an understatement. However, after many meetings with State and Local officials and experts, we felt the underlying threat to our youth groups and senior volunteers, our community, and of course the love we have for our pullers, fans
and sponsors, was a risk too great to take.
From all of us, to all of you, we are sorry. We looked at every avenue and every option available to us and we found no way to safely bring you all together.
As the Board of Directors for the NTPC, we ask that you respect this decision. We know you are disappointed, as we are. But please keep all remarks that you share on social media or among one another positive and productive. This is nobody’s fault. We enjoy and appreciate the pictures and comments you share, of all the great times you have experienced in Pulltown USA, and we want everybody to concentrate on the memories yet to be made.
Anticipation can be an amazing thing!
So, button down the hatches, and be ready for one heck of a show in 2021. All tickets and campsites already purchased will be rolled over to next year. Anybody wishing to purchase or add tickets for 2021 can order beginning Monday, January 4, 2021.
Until next year, please stay safe and healthy. We miss you and look forward to seeing you all
August 19-21, 2021.
