RC PULLIN’ – The 33rd National Radio Control Truck Pulling Association Worlds Event

The NRCTPA (National Radio-Controlled Tractor Pulling Association) celebrated its 33rd annual World Championships not long ago. This annual event has been held every Columbus Day weekend in Montpelier, Ohio, since 1992. The NRCTPA has two divisions, solid axle monster truck racing and dirt truck and tractor pulling. Both events are held simultaneously in individual atriums at the hotel venue. Let’s take a look at the truck and tractor pulling events.

This event includes 25 different classes. These classes can be split into three areas of pulling. The first comprises what are called the Legacy classes. These classes remain from the initial roots of the competition starting in the early ’80s, and include Sportsman, Open I and Unlimited. Next up are the Classic classes. These replicate the current 1:1-scale pulling that you might see running at your local fair and at national pulling events and include 4WD Pro Modified, 2WD Truck, and Pro Stock Tractor, to name a few. Lastly, the Contemporary classes use current “hot topic” RC vehicles to help entice new members into the fold. The hottest two are the Crawler and Slash classes.

NRCTPA

The event starts with a show-and-shine gathering first thing Saturday morning. Awards are given for Best Overall Puller and Best Engineered. As in all NRCTPA events, the World Championships consists of three rounds of pulling: two rounds on Saturday and the third round on Sunday. Any “pulloffs” that occur per individual classes are held on Sunday after the third round is completed. “Fullpulls” in the RC pulling world are pulls over 30 feet.

As always, this year’s event was hotly contested by pullers from 12 states, with a total of 360 pullers and a grand total of 530 entries across both divisions. All competitors and the NRCTPA would like to thank all the sponsors that donated door and raffle prizes, including RC4WD, JConcepts, Freestyle RC, Castle Creations, JB Scale Graphics, Tamiya, Fat Cats Customz, Drive RC, Showtime RC, Pro-Line, Backwoods RC Hobbies, Lucas Oil, Boca Bearings, Losi, Dremel, Max Amps, Siege Work, HobbySports.com, Tekin, and Kimbrough for their event support.

As you can see, we’re keen on RC pulling, and if you are too, we suggest joining us and the hundreds of like-minded enthusiasts at NRCTPA’s next event. For more info you can check them out on Facebook @NRCTPA or on their website at nrctpa.org.

---

Text by Mark Damewood
Images by Josh Baumgartner