March 9th 2026

Mike Chastain, former Pro Pulling League Series Director, passes away

With sadness, the IHRA Pro Pulling Series recognizes the passing of Mike Chastain, former Series Director for the Pro Pulling League, who passed away Friday, March 6th, 2026 after a lengthy illness.

Chastain’s career in motorsports extends well beyond the leadership role with the PPL where he played a critical role in the formation and subsequent leadership of the sanctioning body in 2006. An accomplished puller in his own right, Chastain claimed wins in the Modified Four Wheel Drive Truck division with his “Spellbound” Chevrolet on the sport’s biggest stages, including the National Tractor Pulling Championships in Bowling Green, Ohio and National Farm Machinery Show Championship Tractor Pull in Louisville, Kentucky. He would later guide his son, Clay, to a national pulling championship in the Super Modified Two Wheel Drive Truck class.

Off the track he was a leader, innovator, and a friend across the breadth and depth of truck and tractor pulling, cultivating relationships that helped the Pro Pulling League to become the largest truck and tractor pulling sanctioning body in the world.

We join Chastain’s friends and loved ones in prayer and reflection in this moment of grief and loss.

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