The Return of The Lucas Oil Indy Super Pull Announced / Tickets On Sale
03/30/2009Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League's Elite Champions Tour will headline the Fair Saturday and Sunday, August 8 and 9, 2009.
(INDIANAPOLIS) The Indiana State Fair will live up to its new slogan of "More Days-More Fun" as the "crown jewel" of truck and tractor pulling returns for the inaugural Lucas Oil Motorsports Weekend featuring the Indy Super Pull on Saturday and Sunday August 8 and 9, 2009. Six divisions of powerful trucks and tractors competing on the elite Champions Tour of the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League will thrill the crowd in front of the Hoosier Lottery Grandstand in three sessions: 1:00pm and 7:00pm on Saturday, August 8; and 3:00pm on Sunday, August 9. Each session will be staged on two tracks to provide continuous action and will feature four classes.
On Saturday, August 8 at 1:00pm competition classes will include: Hot Rod Semi's, Pro Modified 4Wheel Drive Trucks, Unlimited Super Stock Tractors, and Super Modified 2 Wheel Drive Trucks. The 7:00pm Saturday evening pull will include: Hot Rod Semis, Pro Modified 4 Wheel Drive Trucks, E3 Spark Plugs Super Modified Tractors, and 10,000 Pro Stock Tractors. The Sunday, August 9 pull at 3:00pm will include: Pro Stock Tractors, E3 Spark Plugs Super Modified Tractors, Unlimited Super Stock Tractors, and Super Modified 2 Wheel Drive Trucks.
Top pulling teams with machines capable of delivering wicked horsepower from as many as four engines will be going all out to pick up the winner's share of the $69,000 event purse. It takes extreme driver skill and mechanical ingenuity to find the right combination of horsepower and traction necessary to set the longest mark. Some of the Unlimited Super Stock Tractors use multiple reciprocating engines while others use multiple jet-powered engines to harness power to the dirt. The rear tires of some of these gigantic machines spin at up to 140 mph as the tractors claw their way down the track. All of this makes for a spectacular, ground-pounding show for fans.
Kristi Chastain, Series Director of the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League says: "The Indy Super Pull is going to truly enhance the level of prestige on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Champions Tour Schedule. Indianapolis is a great city with a large fan base for our sport to reach out into. Lucas Oil has a great level of commitment to the city of Indianapolis with their investment in the Lucas Oil Stadium in the center of the circle city. The class structure for the pull will allow us to bring six of the most highly competitive classes to the soil of one of the nation's best state fairs. We are thrilled to support the state fair and believe the stage is set for one of America's greatest pulling events to occur. The time in which the state fair falls will be a very exciting time on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Champions Tour as our point's races will be hotly contested. At this time in last year's race, each class had numerous vehicles still vying for their chance at the prestigious Champions Tour Points Championship."
The Lucas Oil Motorsports Weekend will provide the marquee entertainment for the first weekend of an expanded Indiana State Fair in 2009. Since 1982, the fair has been a 12-day event traditionally opening on a Wednesday and wrapping up on a Sunday. This year, however, the fair opens for the first time in its history as a 17-day event spanning three weekends. "Everyone is so busy these days - there's just not enough time to do everything you would like to do, and we want to give Hoosiers every possible opportunity to visit the fair," said Cindy Hoye, the fair's executive director. "The new format gives families an extra weekend to plan a trip to the fair and enjoy all the animals, food and fun." The Indy Super Pull was a staple event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds through the mid-1990's. The expanded Fair days on the Lucas Oil Motorsports Weekend will return this "crown jewel" of pulling to the forefront of featured Fair events in Indianapolis, the city known as the Racing Capital of the World.
Kristi Chastain explains the prestige of the Indy Super Pull this way: "In the history of the sport of truck and tractor pulling, there have been few shows with the credibility and success of the Indy Super Pull. In the years of the Indy Super Pull, a win could solidify a pullers place in history. The Indy Super Pull carried the same weight of auto racing's Indianapolis 500 or Daytona 500. The same way King Richard Petty dreamed of a Daytona win and Mario Andretti an Indy win, a puller dreamt of an Indy Super Pull win. To bring the name and the event back to the city where it was contested years ago means a great deal to the sport."
Steve Jacks, a grain farmer from Fishers, Indiana, is a 22-year veteran of truck and tractor pulling. Jacks is especially excited about the Indy Super Pull because, as he says: "It's my home town pull, because I just live nearby in Fishers." Jacks finished second and fourth on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League elite Champions Tour in 2008 with his "Pair of Jacks" Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck team. Steve drives one truck, and his 19-year old daughter the other. He is looking forward to helping revive the pulling event. He says, "I remember the Indy Super Pull when I was a kid. It was the best of the best."
Scott Tedder of Marion, IN builds and drives a Super Modified Class tractor called "Mr. Twister" powered by four 2,220 h.p. alcohol-burning hemi engines. Scott grew up in the sport and puts the Indy stop on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Champions tour this way: "I'm a second-generation driver. For years and years and years we pulled at the Indiana State Fair. Dad also pulled at the Indy Super Pull, indoors (at the Fairgrounds Coliseum). It's in our history to have competed there and done well. So, we're very excited about coming back and running there this summer." Scott says that the modified tractor class represents a real engineering challenge. He says that to win the modified class is "...a feat of making things work together to make your tractor compete at the top level. It requires a balance of the right amount of power, the right engines, and also longevity of the engines; along with the right tires and the ability to read the track to be able to place the sled in the right place. To be able to balance those things and drive your tractor correctly; all those things have to work to be able to win."
Lucas Oil President & CEO, Forrest Lucas, is an avid truck & tractor pulling enthusiast. "The last time I saw a tractor pull at the Fairgrounds in Indy was in the late fifties," said Lucas. I was showing cattle there at the time and walked over to see the one lane, stock tractor pull. Now fifty years later, the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling Series is coming to town, with two lanes of the most action-packed truck & tractor pulling Indianapolis has ever seen. These machines are the biggest, baddest, loudest, most powerful tractors and pick-up trucks in the world. Bringing this professional pulling series to Indianapolis will be one of the proudest moments in my motorsports career."
The Lucas Oil Motorsports Weekend featuring the Indy Super Pull will be featured in tape-delayed television coverage. Kristi Chastain says, "The Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League has developed a strong relationship with three national television outlets ESPN2, Versus, and Speed. The Indy Super Pull is set to be one of our venues for the 2009 season. We firmly believe that Indianapolis and the Indiana State Fair will provide a great landscape for us to continue to reach out to the pulling community and broadcast top notch coverage of our high powered events."
Tickets On Sale Now!
All Session Passes available! Advance discount tickets available at the Indiana State Fair Box Office, Fair Box Office by phone at (317) 927-7601, any Ticketmaster Outlets, www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 1 (800) 745-3000 through Friday, August 7th. Reserved seating only available through Friday, August 7th.
Indiana State Fair admission required for entry into any Indy Super Pull session. Advance discount Fair tickets available for $7 at Indiana State Fair Box or any Ticketmaster outlets. Fair admission also available day of show for $8 at Fairgrounds gates; 5 & under, free.
INDY SUPER PULL ADVANCE DISCOUNT TICKETS*: (Indy Super Pull Child ages 3-12 years)
General Admission: Adult...$10/ Child...$5
Premium Reserved Seats: Adult...$20 / Child...$5
Reserved Seats: Adult...$15 / Child...$5
INDY SUPER PULL DAY OF SHOW TICKETS*: (Indy Super Pull Child ages 3-12 years)
General Admission: Adult...$12 / Child...$5
** Reserved Seating available only in advance **
The latest information may be found at www.IndySuperPull.com, www.ProPulling.com, www.IndianaStateFair.com or by calling the Indiana State Fair Box Office at (317) 927-7601.
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