On Thursday, May 6th, we got our new truck. We want to give a big thank-you to Decorah Chevrolet

Notes from Shawn - The Tunnel Rats had a big weekend. It started with Shawn & Danny making 2 presentations at the Mabel 125th Birthday Celebration. We showed several parents and a few kids what the Tunnel Rat Pit Crew is all about. We finished up at about 11:30 and then loaded the truck and headed for Strawberry Point, Iowa, to the pull. Read Story

Ed-Co Students: Shawn just received and read all your get well cards. WOW! He was really touched and almost brought to tears seeing how much you care about him. He wanted me to let you know that he is going to be okay and he will be back in the pulling truck soon. Shawn says that small set backs always make a person stronger and he'll be better than ever when he's recovered. From all of us at Team Tunnel Rat, thank you for all your kind thoughts and prayers. (We'll be putting some Get Well cards up on the website soon...keep checking the Art Gallery page!)

May 17th was another incredible show at Crestwood Elementary. We had 335 K-6 Tunnel Rats join our team. The Mason City TV station (KIMT) was there. Shawn brought Madison's 4-wheeler to show the kids too. Welcome to our crew Crestwood Elementary!

Ed-Co Elementary in Colesburg, Iowa, was the location of our latest auditorium program. We recruited 316 new team members. Shawn and the crew agreed that this was our most exciting program yet. Thanks kids! It's your excitement that keeps us going strong. We made the 5 hour round trip in our new pickup from Decorah Chevrolet.

Spring Grove Post-Prom Party - Shawn attended Spring Grove's post prom party on May 2nd. He was very impressed with the kids and parents at Spring Grove. Thanks for inviting Team Tunnel Rat to your party. Shawn looks forward to coming again next year.

Truck pulling season already? Shawn and Dave Norby couldn't wait for the first pull. They hooked up right next to Highway 52 in Canton on Saturday.

Fillmore Central Post-Prom Party a big success - Check out the picture of the chaperones at Fillmore Central's post-prom party. They were all decked out in our pit crew shirts.

Welcome Waterville Elementary Tunnel Rats! The pulling team made their way to Waterville, IA on Friday, April 30th and welcomed 138 new Tunnel Rats to our team. What a great afternoon that was. Geneva showed us that she doesn't let peer pressure influence her decisions. All you other Tunnel Rats would be impressed with Waterville's version of "Tunnel Rats Ruuuuule"!! Thanks to the folks at Waterville Fire & Rescue, Harper's Ferry Fire & Rescue, Alliant Energy, Systems Equipment Corporation, and Harper's Ferry Booster Club for pulling together to keep your kids drug free.

Rushford-Peterson School Hosts Tunnel Rats - 408 Tunnel Rats joined our team on April 20th from Rushford-Peterson Middle and High Schools! We had a great time. We didn't even let a little rain stop us from having fun. Read Story

100 New Tunnel Rats in Turkey Valley Elementary - Shawn and the gang spent Friday, April 16th at Turkey Valley Elementary School in Jackson Junction, Iowa, courtesy of Hawkeye REC. We had a lot of fun and recruited about 100 new Tunnel Rats. The 6th grade just graduated from their DARE class that day. Way to go 6th graders...and thank you Hawkeye REC!

Decorah Chevrolet - I had a meeting with Kelly Bachelder from Decorah Chevrolet today. Kelly and Randy are very excited about being involved in the initiative. Read Story

Check out the apparel page to see the flashy new Tunnel Rat hats!!
Be sure to check out our updated art gallery. Read Story

NEWSFLASH - SUSPECTED MOLE IN TUNNEL RAT ORGANIZATION On Tuesday, March 30th, a picture was taken of this unidentified man fleeing the trailer that houses the Tunnel Rat pulling truck. A chase ensued that lasted four minutes but authorities were unable to catch the long strided intruder. Read Story

3/28/04: Calling all Tunnel Rats - The closer we get to the 2004 pulling season, I realize that a lot of these guys are serious about beating the Tunnel Rat at pulling events. What our competition doesn't realize is that there are 10,000 Tunnel Rats. Read Story

Tunnel Rats At Farm And Home Show The 2004 Farm and Home Show turned out to be a great success. The weather was beautiful and we had about a thousand visitors at the Tunnel Rat booth. The t-shirt sales turned out to be a great success and we appreciate everybody's generosity and support. Read Story

Shawn has been researching the competition for 2004. "I gotta be honest, there are gonna be some of the nicest trucks I've ever seen. So many people have stepped up their pulling program. If you get a chance, check out Dave Norby's Tormentor for 2004. It's awesome yellow paint just jumps at ya. It's also going to be a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado. Jeff Vang and Jag Amdahl are going to be fielding a 2004 Chevrolet Colorado. I'm really excited to see the finished product. I'm sure it will be awesome. DJ Sullivan and the Borrowed Parts pulling team have been too busy working on everybody else's truck to make any changes to the Borrowed Parts truck this year. None the less, DJ knows how to win championships and I am sure the Borrowed Parts is going to be the class of the field."

The Team Tunnel Rat website is working hard to launch a bulletin board. This will provide realtime communications between members. We will be able to talk about pulling event strategies and any other topic that members want to talk about. Shawn will be live on the bulletin board weekly and is excited about being able to communicate with all the Tunnel Rats.

Team Tunnel Rat made our way to Fillmore Central Elementary and Middle Schools on Friday, March 12th. We had a lot of fun and made a lot of new friends.

Spring Grove Post-Prom Committee is working on getting us at their post-prom party on May 2nd. Shawn is planning to spend the night talking to the kids and having a lot of fun.

We have a busy summer unfolding in front of us. You can find our pulling events at Where We're Going. We're also schedule to attend the Mabel 125th reunion on June 12th. Shawn is giving presentations at 11am and 1pm. We will have a booth at the Fillmore County Fair in Preston on July 23rd and another one at Mabel Steam Engine Days on September 10th. Read Story

We 're excited about the 2004 pulling season Last year we had an average finish of third, but because of a partial season, we were unable to make a points run in 2003.

Over the winter we worked hard to redo the Tunnel Rat truck and are very pleased with the way that it looks and are awaiting the "test and tune" night at Cuba City, Wisc. to see if the rat truck will pull as good as it looks. The new Tunnel Rat truck is a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado. She still sports the bright orange paint. However, this year the letters have a tinge of green, which really dresses her up. Read Story