Stan Shelton This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. PULLOFF.COM

   www.pulloff.com/newsarchives20 - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 12/7/2007

   This year's 2003 crop of ATPA Lucas Oil Power Pulling Series Grand American Champions include: Jordan Lustik (Lucas Oil Unlimited Super Stock Tractor), Jerry Stewart (Lucas Oil Super Modified Tractor), Stan Shelton (Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck), R.B. Moler (Modified Four-Wheel Drive Truck), Scott Teipen (Duramax Diesel Pro Stock Tractor), Tom Lindsey (Big Rig Semi Truck), Kent Payne (Heavy Diesel Super Stock Tractor) and Mac Darnell (Duramax Diesel Super Farm Tractor).
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   Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck is the wildest class yet as the nationally televised tour heads to a wild finish, with Stan Shelton's Ford-bodied "The Cutting Edge" a slice above the rest with 453 points.
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   July 28, 2003 - Stan Shelton moved a giant step closer in the hunt for a first-ever world championship in the sport of professional pulling's hotly-contested Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck division after a well-timed victory during last weekend's American Tractor Pullers Association (ATPA) Grand American points event in Owensboro, Kentucky.
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   Shelton has been involved in the sport of pulling for twelve years, initially starting in the two-wheel drive class in 1991 with a 1949 Ford-bodied truck called "Tom Cat". The high-powered machine quickly fulfilled his competitive drive since graduating from college, where he excelled in baseball, among other sports.
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   Shelton's "The Cutting Edge" indeed carved a trail past fellow contenders at Owensboro, besting Danny Sullivan and the always-tough "Rent A Wreck/Kentuckian" Dodge out of Warsaw, Ky., by less than three feet, 289.49 to 286.85.
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   The Hamburg pulling event, including Shelton and the rest of the Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck division, will be taped for later television airing before an audience in excess of 87-million U.S. households on the world acclaimed ESPN2 cable sports network out of Bristol, Conn.
   
   Shelton, in addition to his pulling efforts and independent insurance company commitments, is a devoted husband and father, with a family that includes his supportive wife, Amy, son Grayson (7) and Reese (5), plus a daughter, Camille (2).
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   Stan Shelton solidified his current third place point ranking in the nation by scoring his third win of the season with his New London, NC-based "The Cutting Edge" Ford, after out-distancing Danny Sullivan's "Rent A Wreck/Kentuckian" Dodge and R.J. Simon by three feet, while Ricky Long continued to rack up points and placed a solid fourth.
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   June 30, 2003 - Insurance company vice president and professional Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive truck competitor Stan Shelton, of New London, N.C., took out a policy that paid immediate dividends this past Saturday night by winning one of the biggest American Tractor Pullers Association (ATPA) events of the season during the nationally-televised (ESPN2) Arcola Power Pull in Arcola, Indiana.
   
   The 49th running of the Arcola event, located west of Fort Wayne, was the first of 12 points-gathering meets on the prestigious ATPA's Lucas Oil Power Pulling Series and placed 35 year-old Shelton at the top of the standings over a stellar field which included 20 of the nation's top competitors from seven states.
   
   Ironically, it was Shelton who logged the greatest travel distance - some 15 hours to reach the pull, and placed the farthest distance ontrack in claiming the season-opening victory.
   
   During the event which was slightly delayed due to a late-day rainstorm, Shelton, the third puller in class aboard his immaculate 2000 Ford Ranger-bodied "Cutting Edge", thundered into the early lead with the category's first full pull at an impressive distance of 305.54-feet. When the dust settled from the grueling first round, four more competitors joined him for the championship pull-off.
   
   Shelton's second vehicle, the popular 1996 Ford F-150 bodied "Sawmill Express" just missed the required 304-foot pull-off distance by literal inches with a strong bid midway through the class at 303.74-feet.
   
   In the championship session Shelton skillfully moved around a 100-lb weight ballast, directed the sled to the starting point of his liking and quickly established the mark to beat, guiding his potent, supercharged and multi-colored entry sponsored by Culp Lumber Company to a distance of 312.78 - seven feet further than his first attempt.
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   "We've been burning the midnight oil until two in the morning getting these trucks prepared for this event, and to come in here and make two back-to-back passes and end up winning - there's no better feeling," began Shelton, who also brought his 5 and 7 year-old sons Reese and Grayson to the event.
   
   "We actually thought the middle (of the track) was crowned a little bit on the starting line and when its like that the pan (at the front of the sled) will move and slide a little bit quicker and that was our strategy.
   
   "We actually thought we were one-hundred pounds light in the first round and we came back and made a hundred pound move to the front, added a little fuel to the motor because it was a little bit hot and it just made a perfect transition."
   
   The result is Shelton in the lead after the first event for the second time in three years. Two years previous his trucks finished first and second in Salem, Indiana.
   
   The next event for the Shelton's SVS Enterprises, Inc. pulling team will take place in two weeks at Troy, MO (July 11) and another nationally televised event the following night (July 12) in Henry, IL.
   
   Shelton, who excelled as a high school and college athlete, began his pulling career in 1991 at age 23 in a '49 Ford-bodied truck "Tom Cat", powered by an alcohol-burning 429 cubic-inch Ford powerplant.
   
   Citing the sport's ever-changing technologies and professional approach, he replaced the previous machine with the "Sawmill Express" in 1995, which utilizes with a 554 cubic-inch Keith Black hemi engine maintained by longtime crewman, Warren Barringer.
   
   Stan's second vehicle "Sawmill Express" was aptly named as a reflection of his team's major sponsor Culp Lumber Company, and bolstered a one-two punch for the competition on the professional pulling circuit with much realized success.
   
   Stan is vice president of Shelton Insurance Center, Inc., an independent insurance agency which represents 10 different companies specializing in auto, home, life, health and commercial - and recently celebrated its 25th year of operation in the towns of Albemarle and Norwood in west central North Carolina.
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   "You better believe we'll be there with our pair of two-wheel drive ‘Cutting Edge' and ‘Sawmill Express' machines," began South Carolina veteran, Stan Shelton.
   
   "I've talked to a number of big-name competitors who plan on being there as well," he continued, "because not only is it a great pulling track and first big pull of the season, but we want to be there to dial in our equipment and get acquainted with the dirt surface in preparation for a return trip to the facility for the Lucas Oil Pulling Series Grand American points event in July."
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   February 11, 2003 - Stan Shelton would like nothing more than to "raise the roof" with a first place finish at the coveted 38th National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS) Championship Pull at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center this week in Louisville.
   
   In anticipation of competing in one of the most prestigious and longest-running events in professional truck and tractor pulling, Shelton and his crew chief Warren Barringer, have spent the better part of the off-season preparing his Culp Lumber-sponsored, Ford-bodied pick-ups for such inevitability.
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   "Your mindset is certainly on winning, and we come to each and every professional pulling event with victory as the ultimate goal - both mentally and physically," said Shelton, vice president of a successful and family-owned insurance company in Albemarle, North Carolina.
   
   "Perhaps even more at Louisville, we'd like to walk away from the weekend with the prestige and knowledge that we beat the best the sport has to offer," he continued.
   
   Shelton has visited the winner's circle before at the NFMS pull, steering his supercharged "Sawmill Express" to a session win in his second year of competition there in 2000. He followed with a runner-up in another session with his second truck, "The Cutting Edge", in 2002, a year in which he also took the machine to a fine third place finish in the overall division finals.
   
   More recently, the likeable former standout athlete grabbed second and third place with his "Sawmill Express" and "The Cutting Edge" entries during the American Tractor Pullers Association's (ATPA) 3rd Annual Winter Nationals in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He finished second and fourth respectively with the vehicles during the ESPN2 nationally televised event's Sunday finals.
   
   "We're not content with anything but first," Shelton began with a smile, "although with two vehicles in competition, one of them has to lose.
   
   "Of course, locking up both first and second would be even better," he concluded.
   
   Almost as an irony to the aforementioned "preparation" that Shelton and Barringer have spent working on the two trucks in the anticipation of "raising t

2. 2. PULLOFF.COM

   www.pulloff.com/newsarchives20 - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 12/7/2007

   November 26, 2002 - It came as a huge surprise to no one, except professional pulling team owner Stan Shelton, when his name was called to receive one of the more coveted awards during the annual American Tractor Pullers Association's (ATPA) championship banquet held at the Belterra Casino Resort in Southern Indiana over the weekend.
   
   The "Crew Team of the Year Award", which was voted by fellow competitors and given to the team which best exemplifies professionalism and goodwill during the 2002 season, went to the 35 year-old New London, North Carolina insurance company owner, whose K&N Modified Two-Wheel Drive Trucks "Sawmill Express" and "Cutting Edge" finished fourth and tenth respectively on the just completed ATPA Jasper Engines Grand American Pulling Series tour.
   
   "We're extremely proud and honored to receive this award," beamed Shelton, while flanked by his supportive wife Amy, plus crewmembers Warren Barringer, Jody and Chris Curlee.
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   Undaunted, the decision was made to rebuild the 2000 Ford Ranger-bodied entry, with Warren Barringer undertaking a majority of the repair, with Shelton and Jody Curlee keeping the second machine in the points and on the road.
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   Shelton began a pulling career at age 23 in his native North Carolina surroundings in a 1949 Ford truck with a supercharged engine called "Tom Cat". In 1995 it was replaced by "Sawmill Express" a 1996 Ford F-150 which utilizes a similar alcohol burning power plant maintained by Shelton and assistant crew chief Barringer, who joined the team in 1996.
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   Between pulling and Shelton's insurance company, the couple have three children; Grayson (7), Reese (5) and Camille (15 months).
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   Stan Shelton's "Sawmill Express" closed the year with a commendable fourth from his New London, North Carolina-based team at 510.
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   Several other notables still have a shot at a top-five finish including Stan Shelton's New London, North Carolina-based "Sawmill Express" Ford (510), Ricky's brother Keith Long in "Bulls Eye" (498), a tie between second generation standout Shannon Leischner in his Weldon, Illinois-based "Dirtslinger" and Noblesville, Indiana's Steve Jacks' "Pair of Jacks" at 496, plus Simon's 15 year-old son R.J. - a recent and first-time winner with the team's Chevrolet vehicle at Butler, Pennsylvania at 493.
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   Indeed, when the dust settled following an action-filled event, five drivers stood victorious over some of the toughest competition seen this year with several new faces in the winner's circle, including: Stan Shelton (K&N Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck), Jerry Stewart (Lucas Oil Super Modified Tractor), Kevin Masterson (Duramax Diesel Pro Stock), Jordan Lustik (Lucas Oil Unlimited Super Stock) and Larry Carey (Lucas Oil Big Rig Semi Truck).
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   August 9, 2002 - Stan Shelton scored one of the more dramatic wins of the 2002 season on the American Tractor Pullers Association (ATPA) Jasper Engines Grand American professional pulling tour during a nationally-televised ESPN2 event at the Erie County Fairgrounds in Hamburg, New York.
   
   Indeed, the hard fought victory by the New London, North Carolina resident left little doubt in the minds of the huge gathering of fans and fellow competitors onhand at the annual "Bull Pull" as to the seriousness of his Culp Lumber Company-sponsored two-truck team - a testament to the steely nerve spirit of owner/driver Shelton following his path to the title after events of the past few weeks.
   
   "Now, that's what you call coming back from adversity," explained a beaming Shelton moments after stepping from his victorious machine.
   
   "That gives us a real shot in the arm, which we've been fighting for all season long on the Jasper Engines Pulling Series - and have always known and felt that we were capable of," he continued.
   
   "The taste of victory is indeed sweet, especially in the way we achieved it."
   
   Shelton, a successful 34 year-old executive at his family-owned and Albemarle, North Carolina-based insurance company settled a major accident claim of his own, in a high stakes drama where act one was played out prior to the hotly-contested K&N Filters Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive Truck division at Hamburg.
   
   Just a few weeks prior he suffered a spectacular ontrack incident in his immaculate "The Cutting Edge" 2002 Ford Ranger pick-up truck, which witnessed a structural frame failure literally buckle the machine in half and destroy literally everything in the drivetrain from the engine section rearward.
   
   Undaunted, Shelton and his ace crew chief, Warren Barringer, returned to their team facility in the Carolinas and began a hectic and near-total reconstruction.
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   Incredibly, Stan was able to continue in competition cross-country with his points-contending second vehicle, a 1996 Ford F-150-bodied entry called "Sawmill Express", while Barringer kept to his tireless work, which was finally completed on the afternoon of the Hamburg pull.
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   As if the task was not difficult enough, Shelton proceeded to blast into the early division lead - and then held the advantage in one of the largest fields of the 2002 season in the highly-popular two-wheel drive category, ripping off a distance at 309.08-feet in a class where a full pull was measured at 308. He would soon be joined by three other pull-off hopefuls including Bardstown, Kentucky's Lisa Tatum, Donnie Sullivan of Warsaw, plus Mike Bartezsewski from New York.
   
   Shelton was likewise the first machine at the start of the high-tension pull-off and strapped himself into the immaculate and multi-colored red, orange and yellow machine - albeit with the events of several weeks ago still fresh on his mind.
   
   However, when the 1,200-horsepower supercharged and alcohol-burning engine came to life, Stan was all business and poise, and proceeded to lay down a picture perfect run at a whopping 315.67-feet.
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   The win was solidified soon thereafter, when second generation standout Donnie Sullivan, in the "Rent A Wreck" Dodge could not surpass the mark, registering a 312-plus challenge that gave Shelton the win.
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   It was Shelton's first win in over a year, his last coming in Evansville, Indiana during 2001 - a season which witnessed Stan score a remarkable and season-opening first and second place finish in Salem, Indiana.
   
   The Hamburg, New York event was captured on video and will be featured in an upcoming television program by cable sports giant ESPN2, which boasts a national and select international viewing audience at over 87-million households.
   
   Shelton, who excelled in high school and college athletics, has spent the past eleven years as a popular and successful competitor in the sport of professional truck and tractor pulling, having began with a nostalgia-bodied 1949 Ford called "Tom Cat" in 1991.
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   What's more, four pullers in the supercharged Duramax Diesel Super Modified Two-Wheel Drive division occupy points in the 380-plus range and likewise have a shot at the title, including Weldon, Illinois second generation standout Shannon Leischner's "Dirtslinger" (386), Ricky's brother Keith Long in the immaculate "Bulls Eye" (382), New London, North Carolina veteran Stan Shelton's "Sawmill Express" (382) and Noblesville, Indiana's Steve Jacks' "Pair of Jacks" Dodge (380).
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   His opponent Stan Shelton, of New London, North Carolina received a disqualification after his immaculate "Cutting Edge" Ford went out of bounds after cutting a tire near the finish line.
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   Stan Shelton is up next and never get the momentum he needs to make a serious threat at the lead but a pull of 219.29' moves him into second place for now.
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   Stan Shelton screams his motor a little harder with his Cutting Edge truck and easily takes the lead with a pull of 236.87', Shelton never really seemed to hook the track too good and barely picked the front tires off the ground.
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   They announce the fullpull line at 236', and Sabrina Reed joins Stan Shelton out the gate.
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   Pulloff time in the trucks, and Stan Shelton is up first. Stan has a great hole shot but the truck dies after 50' and Stan comes to a halt at 129.90'.
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   Sabrina has a strong pass and stand the truck up good and easily passes Stan for the win.
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   Stan had some motor problems this weekend and had to make some major changes. His hook of 232.59' put him in second place for now.
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   Time to go Two Wheel Drive pulling, and a Stan Shelton's strong running Sawmill Express truck is up first. Stan has a nice straight pass but would probably like to move a weight or two back if he could do it over again and manages 268.32'.
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   Stan Shelton started in the middle and wound up hugging the right hand chalk line for a pull of 291.58'. Shelton was as close as he could of been to the chalk line without gong out of bounds. Shelton bumps a few trucks down and moves into the second spot.
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   Stan Shelton is the last truck in the class and hooks up good and torques the frame over but never get the speed going and finishes 10th at 273.02'.

3. 3. Championship Truck Pulling Team

   www.stanshelton.com/teaminform - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/19/2006   Last Visited: 9/19/2007

   2007 Tenative Pulling Schedule for: Stan Shelton
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   Driver: Stan Shelton