The Voice of the Championship Tractor Pull
Article taken from the 2002 Championship Tractor Pull Souvenir Program

Over the years, people have come to expect a few things from the Championship Tractor Pull: fierce competition among the nation's best drivers, the indoor roar of powerful machines racing down the track, and Butch Krieger right there in the thick of things to tell everyone about it.

"Who's Butch Krieger," you say?

Well, if you have ever spent any time at the Championship Tractor Pull before, chances are that you already know him. Just in case you don't, though, meet the man with the microphone.

Krieger is a 23-year veteran of the pull as its official announcer, and has emerged as the voice of the Championship Tractor Pull. Broadcast over Freedom Hall's speakers, his commentary keeps the audience informed of the driver and tractor names, pulling distances completed, and current standings in the competition. He also offers a variety of colorful anecdotes and trivia to sill the time between hitches.

That is what you will hear from him during the pull, but Krieger, after 23 years of announcing the Championship Tractor Pull, has more to say about this history-rich event than can be communicated in those brief moments of silence before each tractor's run. We pulled him aside for a quick interview just before the pull on February 15, 2001, to get his view on the Championship Tractor Pull, the competition and his own involvement with tractor pull history. Here is what he had to say:

Q: You have been the announcer of the Championship Tractor Pull for 23 years. Do you also announce for other shows?

Krieger: I worked the Ohio Valley Raceway announcing for 14 years, and started truck and tractor pulling in 1975.

Q: How did you get started in the tractor pulling business?

Krieger: The local fire department was putting together a tractor pull for some fundraising they were doing and asked if I would help. I worked with the committees to set up and announce the pull. From there, things just sort of blossomed into more and more opportunities. Billy Joe Miles (of the Tractor Pull Committee) later heard me at the Kentucky State Fair back when they had a tractor pull here and asked if I would be interested (in announcing the Championship Tractor Pull).

Q: Would you ever consider competing in a pull yourself?

Krieger: I have driven a two-wheeler and a four-wheeler and a couple of antique tractors, but if I was going to consider doing this I would go with the antiques. I have too much fun announcing, though. When I go somewhere else and hear the announcer, I get fidgety and want to grab a microphone.

Q: Describe the competition at the Championship Tractor Pull.

Krieger: The Championship Tractor Pull is undoubtedly the best pull in the country - bar none. You have the best of the best competing here in the Super Bowl of tractor pulls. It is an unbelievable place and you never know what will happen. As Harold (Krieger's co-announcer) was telling me last night, this is the tractor puller's Field of Dreams.

Q: What is the most memorable thing you have seen at the tractor pull?

Krieger: So many things have happened here that it is hard to narrow it down to one thing, but guys like Wayne Sullivan and the Sullivan family winning five or six times - that is some amazing stuff. I will probably never forget one time in the Super Stocks when a guy lost by one one-thousandth of a foot in a pull-off. The laser never lies.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the Championship Tractor Pull?

Krieger: I really enjoy the competition between all the different kinds of tractors - John Deere, International, Allis Chalmers - and the fans who follow them. The FFA kids are great, and it (the pull) is something the whole family can enjoy. It is also a homecoming for so many people and pullers who have retired and come back to watch.

Q: Over the past 23 years you have surely seen a lot of good performances, but what do you think it takes to be a champion driver?

Krieger: The best driver is always on top. You can not go away from this sport for even three or four weeks. It is a commitment to be the very best. I have seen guys with the top machine on the circuit take a few weeks off to work on their farm and come back not able to win. The technology changes so quickly that you can not let up if you want to be the best.

Q: Any closing comments?

Krieger: I am so pleased they (the Kentucky State Fair Board) have kept me around long enough to see 23 years. I hope I can be here for another 23.