NTPA Announces 2010’s RFD-TV Filming Dates and Locations

Worthington, OH – Since September 2005, NTPA Championship Pulling has been available weekly to viewers across America on RFD-TV, a channel that is truly “Rural America’s Most Important Network.” NTPA is pleased to announce the filming dates and locations for season six of the popular half-hour show dedicated to NTPA pulling action. Beginning at the Budweiser Wisconsin Dairyland NTPA Super Nationals in Tomah, Wis., there will be 26 original episodes filmed by A.P. Productions out of Lewisburg, Ohio over the course of this summer. NTPA Office General Manager Gregg Randall and Ashley Corzine will continue to co-host all of the pulling action. The first episode of the new series from Tomah will air on RFD-TV on Tuesday, August 31 at 6:30 p.m. EST. The first eight shows will be filmed June 24-27 in Tomah, and the plan (which can be affected by unforeseen weather issues) is to film the Unlimited Modifieds, Light Super Stocks, Minis, Pro Stocks, Super Modified FWD Trucks, Diesel FWD Trucks, Super Stock Open Tractors, Modified Tractors, Semis, and Super Farm Tractors. These classes tentatively represent the first eight weekly episodes of the series. The next five shows will be filmed at the Lions Super Pull of the South in Chapel Hill, Tenn. on July 23-24. The fields are impressive each year at the “Hill” and each of the five divisions – Unlimited Modifieds, Super Stock Diesels, TWD Trucks, FWD Trucks, and Minis – will be filmed for an episode. The RFD-TV filming schedule then focuses in on the weekend of August 20-22 as the National Tractor Pulling Championships in Bowling Green, Ohio take place. Eight episodes will be captured by the A.P. Productions film crew. Divisions are still being determined for this major event that is also known as “Pulltown, USA.” The next weekend (August 27-28), A.P. Productions’ mobile studio will motor into Jefferson City, Mo. for the first time to film NTPA Championship Pulling action for RFD-TV of the “Midwest Xtreme Truck and Tractor Pull.” At least three episodes will be filmed there as the event includes Unlimited Modifieds, Super Stock Diesel Tractors, Light Super Stock Tractors, and FWD Trucks. Finally, to end the NTPA Championship Pulling Circuit on a high note, the 24th annual Enderle Pull-Off in Urbana, Ohio will showcase the year’s best competitors in what is being described as NTPA’s Season Finale. Kent Enderle’s Enderle Fuel Injection has been a major sponsor of the sport of pulling, and this year’s expansion of the program continues to raise the bar on pulling’s longest running, sponsored rewards program. Two episodes from the action taking place on September 18 will be edited and shown on RFD-TV. Once the 26 original episodes run on RFD-TV, they are repeated for the next 26 weeks. The debut of season seven on RFD-TV will be on August 30, 2011. So, NTPA fans, there is much to be anticipating over the next several months right into the winter hibernation of the sport. “It’s hard to believe that we are already on season six of the RFD-TV series,” said Randall. “A.P. Productions, Ashley and myself have been discussing and planning this year’s schedule, and hope that it is the best series to date for all of the fans of the show. We also welcome Dixie Chopper as one of the sponsors of the show as well as Cen-Pe-Co Lubricants, Enderle Fuel Injection and the United Soybean Board as advertisers during the year along with our replay sponsors.” NTPA is the only sanctioning body of the sport of truck and tractor pulling to have a weekly television series. You can watch NTPA Championship Pulling three times a week on the RFD-TV network. RFD-TV, a rural lifestyle network, is found on DirecTV- channel 345 and Dish Network - channel 231. RFD-TV is also being carried by numerous cable outlets - Time Warner, Comcast, Charter, Suddenlink, Cox, and others. NTPA Championship Pulling is aired on Tuesdays @ 6:30 p.m. EST, Wednesdays @ 4:30 a.m. EST, and Thursday @ 8:30 a.m. These times are on "regular" RFD-TV, while we have two airings on their HD channels which are in select markets. RFD-TV claims to have a viewership reach of over 40 million households, and it will reach 50 million in 2010 as the network is added to more basic subscription packages. Through Nielson research, RFD-TV finds that nearly 1 million "unique" households tune in daily to watch RFD-TV, and that will be growing as the viewership universe increases. NTPA usually has 125,000 to 175,000 people per week watching the NTPA Championship Pulling program. NTPA has an agreement in place that will continue its weekly television series on RFD-TV through at least August 2012.