Breaking Barriers Podcast

From a $100 Oliver tractor to an estimated 500 victories, Ken Miller’s tractor pulling career was built on ingenuity, determination, and a whole lot of homemade horsepower. Ken joins Gary Bontrager to share the stories behind his 14 OSTPA modified points championships, pulling alongside his brother Jim, and building competitive tractors in his own shop.

Ken takes us through the evolution from single-engine Chevrolets to multi-engine modifieds, including an unforgettable experiment with an 1,100-cubic-inch tank engine. He also opens up about the challenges of switching to Hemis, why he refused to come back for pull-offs, and how rising costs have changed the sport. Through it all, bringing his wife and kids along made tractor pulling more than a competition—it became a family way of life.

Subscribe to Breaking Barriers for more conversations with the people who helped shape tractor pulling.

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From farming with his tractors to competing on some of pulling’s biggest stages, Arlin Jensen has decades of stories to tell. This week on Breaking Barriers, Gary Bontrager sits down with Arlin to revisit his start in 1964, his Allis-Chalmers 190 XT and D21, and the trial and error that helped turn farm equipment into serious competition.

Arlin shares memories of pulling at Louisville, traveling to Canada, running two tractors in the same night, and repairing a blown engine in just two days to make the next pull. Along the way, they discuss turbo setups, the evolution of safety rules, and why keeping a tractor running consistently mattered more than chasing every last bit of horsepower.

It’s a conversation about ingenuity, persistence, and the people who helped keep the tractors—and the sport—moving forward.

Subscribe to Breaking Barriers for more stories from the people who helped shape tractor pulling, and share your favorite Arlin Jensen memories in the comments!

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Before he owned a vehicle, Rick Behrendt owned a farm tractor. In this episode of Breaking Barriers, Rick joins Gary Bontrager to share how a childhood love of tractors became a pulling career spanning more than 30 years—and the friendships, championships, and hard lessons that came with it.

One of the founding members of Nebraska Bush Pullers, Rick reflects on his early days at local farm pulls, the story behind the Wampus Cat, and his move into Pro Stock competition with the Outlaws. From winning at the Iowa State Fair to blowing an engine on the starting line in Louisville, he shares the highs and lows of chasing competition while keeping the farm running back home.

Rick also talks about the fellow pullers who helped keep his tractor on the track, the rising cost of staying competitive, and knowing when to make room for the next generation. He shares the work that goes into putting on the pull in Ravenna, Nebraska, and why giving back to the community remains an important part of his life.

Subscribe to Breaking Barriers for more stories from the people who helped shape tractor pulling.

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From farm tractors to three-turbo Super Stocks, Gary Kohl has lived through some of tractor pulling’s biggest changes. On this episode of Breaking Barriers, host Gary Bontrager visits Gary’s shop in Perrysburg, Ohio, to explore a lifetime of pulling alongside his father, Dale, and the ingenuity that kept their International Harvester tractors competitive.

Gary shares memories of Dale’s wins at Bowling Green and Louisville, the early days of operating a pulling sled, and the meeting where they helped establish the original Pro Stock rules. He also recalls burning through 50 pistons in one season, battling transmission failures, and finding solutions with help from fellow pullers.

Along the way, they discuss rising costs, the evolution of safety, and the friendships that made the hard work worthwhile. It’s a firsthand look at the people, perseverance, and homemade engineering that helped shape tractor pulling.

Subscribe to Breaking Barriers for more stories from the people who built the sport, and leave a comment with your favorite memory of Gary and Dale Kohl!

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Before the NTPA, tractor pulling was largely a collection of local events with different rules, different organizations, and no national standard. In this episode of Breaking Barriers, Gary Bontrager sits down with NTPA founder Ed Hart to hear the firsthand story of how a conversation among pullers grew into an organization that would help shape the future of the sport.

Ed takes us back to the early meetings, the push for common rules and better safety, the first NTPA office operating out of his basement, and the people who helped get the organization off the ground. He shares stories of promoting pulls across the country, raising the money needed to keep the organization running, expanding tractor pulling into new states, and even developing technology that was ahead of its time.

Gary and Ed also dig into the tougher parts of NTPA history, including politics, sanctioning, competing organizations, the growing number of classes, and lessons Ed believes the sport can still learn from today.

This is more than the history of an organization. It’s the story of the people who helped turn tractor pulling from scattered local events into the national sport generations of fans and competitors know today.

Subscribe to Breaking Barriers for more firsthand stories from the men and women who built the history of tractor pulling.

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Seven national championships. Hall of Fame careers. And a legacy that helped shape the foundation of modern tractor pulling—this is the story of the Brabec Brothers.

In this episode of Breaking Barriers, Gary Bontrager sits down with Alan and Dennis Brabec to uncover how two farm kids from Iowa built championship-winning machines like the legendary Country Dude and The Imposter. From their very first pull—winning with a brand new tractor—to dominating national circuits across the country, the Brabecs share the grit, innovation, and relentless drive that made them icons in the sport.

What started with six tubes of grease as a prize turned into a career defined by ingenuity—building their own parts, experimenting with multi-turbo setups, and outworking the competition at every level. They open up about the evolution of tractor pulling, the risks they took, and the moments that defined their journey, including unforgettable wins at Louisville, Bowling Green, and across the national stage.

This conversation is a deep dive into the golden era of tractor pulling—where creativity beat budgets, and passion fueled performance. If you want to understand what it truly took to become champions in one of motorsports’ most demanding arenas, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Watch now and hear the stories behind the machines, the championships, and the legacy that still impacts the sport today.

For Fred and Kyle Petsch, tractor pulling has always been about more than winning—it has been a lifelong family tradition. Together, they share nearly 40 years of experience, seven championships and the evolution from local farm pulls to competing with their twin-turbine modified tractor, Thermal Thunder.

Fred looks back on his early fascination with tractors, his career working with John Deere, the creation of the Nebraska Bush Pullers and his many years behind the microphone as an announcer. Kyle shares what it was like growing up in the shop, driving tractors for several legendary pulling teams, helping build Thermal Thunder and eventually taking on a leadership role with the Outlaws.

They also discuss an incredible 2010 season, the challenges of developing a new tractor, watching the next generation climb into the driver’s seat and why the future of tractor pulling depends on organizations working together. Through every victory, breakdown and change in the sport, the Petsch family’s greatest accomplishment remains the relationships and memories they have built across three generations.

Subscribe to the Breaking Barriers Podcast for more conversations celebrating the people, machines and stories that built the sport of tractor pulling.

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Rick Feicht entered the world of tractor pulling with no previous experience in the sport. What began with announcing local events eventually became a remarkable career in promotion, helping transform big rig truck pulling into a recognized and celebrated class.

In this episode of Breaking Barriers, Rick joins Gary Bontrager to share the story behind Full Pull Productions, the creation of the Big Rig Pulling Series, and the development of USA East Sled Pulling. He discusses working with fairs and sanctioning organizations, attracting sponsors, improving safety standards, and producing events that gave fans more than an ordinary tractor pull—they delivered a complete show.

Rick also reflects on the relationships he built throughout the sport, the lessons he carried from teaching into event promotion, and why the most important person at any tractor pull will always be the fan sitting in the stands.

Like, subscribe, and share this episode with another tractor-pulling fan as Breaking Barriers continues preserving the people and stories that built the sport.

In this episode of the Breaking Barriers Podcast, Gary Bontrager sits down with Chuck Wheatley, a Grand National Champion, regional champion, and one of the most innovative minds in early modified tractor pulling.

Chuck shares stories from the beginning of his pulling career, building tractors with his dad, experimenting with V8s, turbos, intercoolers, fuel injection, alcohol setups, and the mechanical trial-and-error that helped move the sport forward. From dirt-floor garage builds to Louisville, Indy, Iowa pulls, and national competition, Chuck’s story captures a time when tractor pulling was changing fast—and he was one of the people pushing it ahead.

This conversation also dives into the friendships, rivalries, safety changes, memorable wins, hard lessons, and personal challenges that shaped Chuck’s life in and around the sport. If you love tractor pulling history, modified tractors, turbocharged engines, and the legends who helped build the sport, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Curt Ulmer has spent more than 55 years in the sport of tractor pulling, building, competing, innovating, and winning with one of the most respected modified tractor programs in the country. From the early days of farm tractors, homemade sleds, and small South Dakota pulls to multiple Outlaw championships and a three-generation family team, Curt’s story is deeply connected to the history and growth of the sport.

In this episode of Breaking Barriers, Gary Bontrager sits down with Curt in Meadow, South Dakota, to talk about the Ulmer family’s early pulling days, building their own equipment, the evolution of modified tractors, the importance of tires, horsepower, sleds, and the people who helped shape the sport along the way.

Curt also shares what tractor pulling has meant to his family, what it takes to stay competitive for decades, and why there still needs to be room in the sport for the smaller teams, county fairs, and grassroots events that helped build tractor pulling in the first place.

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