Sleds
The Pioneer
The Pioneer was acquired in 2015 from the Kruchtens who operated the sled in Wisconsin. The sled operated on the Badger State Tractor Pulling circuit. It was built by Brad Kruchten and was known as The Terminator. Early in 2015, Pioneer Seed came on as sponsor for Dragon Motorsports and thus the "The Pioneer Seed Sled" was named and subsequently wrapped by AED Graphics just outside of Richmond. Since the 2015 model has been sold and is now campaigned in Michigan. The new Pioneer was built in 2017. It featured state of the art engineering and is widely believed to be one of the best set sleds from the first hook to the last.
It is a speed sled and it took some hooks for the pullers to get used to it. They say it feels like "a feather", and then all of a sudden it is on your vehicle and it is ready to stop you in a hurry.
The Hammer
The Hammer sled was originally built by Vaughn Bauer and was known as Iron Man as are all of Vaughn's sleds he has built over the years. In 2009, Dragon Motorsports bought the sled from it's last owner in West Virginia.
At the time it was purchased, the sled has been gone over and repainted thus becoming The Hammer. The sled was sold to make way for a new Hammer Sled.
The new Hammer is a 2018 Brad Kruchten built sled. The Pioneer and The Hammer are as different night and day. The Hammer lets pullers know it is behind the puller and then hits them like a "Hammer" toward the end. This new Hammer features accent lighting under the cab to help the operator see when putting in the bump stops that furthers the weight boxes' starting position and when changing gears when a slight reset is needed.
Vaughn Bauer talks about the Iron Man sled here.