WPI/NTPA is saddened beyond measure to learn of the passing on Monday, February 24 of Richard Lustik, 73, of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania. Mr. Lustik competed in the Super Stock division with the “Super Steeler” Allis-Chalmers D21 and the first edition of the “Silver Bullet” AGCO 6195. He was the father of NTPA Grand National champion Jordan and with him founded the Bullet Motorsports performance shop.
Mr. Lustik owned the 2,000-acre Lustik Farms just outside of the village of Eighty Four, headquarters of the nationwide lumberyard company. He originally pulled John Deeres at local stock pulls at fairs around western Pennsylvania in the 1970s.
Inspired by the decade’s four Super Bowl victories of his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers, Mr. Lustik built the four-charger “Super Steeler” diesel D21 in 1980 and became a semi-regular on the NTPA’s Super Stock circuits, eventually joining the GN tour in 1994.
Soon thereafter, the Connor Brothers’ “Bad Medicine” methanol-fueled White became available. Mr. Lustik purchased it, upgraded its look to contemporary AGCO sheetmetal, and coined quite possibly the most iconic tractor name in pulling history. After piloting the “Silver Bullet” to the 1995 Grand National 7,500-lb./9,500-lb. Super Stock championship, he turned the keys over to 16-year-old Jordan, who promptly won the NTPA’s GN Rookie of the Year Award and later four GN titles of his own. So widespread were the fame and following of the immaculate “Bullet” that both men were invited to participate in the European Superpull at the Netherlands’ Ahoy Stadium.
Together, father and son owned and operated Bullet Motorsports in Eighty Four, which has produced competition vehicles for a multitude of pulling divisions.
We will post funeral arrangements as they are made public.
Our hearts are broken for Jordan, Misty, Lauren, and Jackson on their loss of a beloved father and grandfather. Moreover, we mourn the void left in the absence of one of our motorsport’s great benefactors.