2017 July - SJ4 - Delmar Carter

[acromegaman]

Let me just start out by saying that I almost didn't go to SJ4 in the beginning because of unknown variables due to selling my house and at the very last minute a family reunion of sorts, but I knew that I wanted to do my little part of this competition to help out and also that if I didn't I would be sitting here right now sick to my stomach looking at all of the social media posts and kicking myself in the ass for not going because it was awesome!!

Friday July 14th
I started out leaving the house at 4:15am which was a full 2 hours earlier than I should have if everything was to run smoothly, but 2 hours almost was not good enough! The 3 hour drive to the Nashville airport ended up being almost 4 due to a wreck which slowed traffic down on the interstate to a halt. It took over 30 minutes to drive 2 miles, but I still felt as if I was doing fine on time. I finally arrived at the airport to find that it was completely congested. Full of people and cars. It took over 30 minutes to find a parking spot because I finally decided to move a small metal barrier that was blocking two parking spots. I snuggled my truck right in the small spot and I initially thought that it may get towed or I could get a ticket, but I said screw it! I've got to get to Jersey!

 

After Parking I took a shuttle to the airport and after getting my ticket I got in a long line for the dude to scan my ticket and driver license. When I got to him I noticed another long ass line behind him that zig zagged all the way to the security check. Well, after waiting forever for that I started walking to my gate and upon my arrival I noticed only one guy with a suitcase and he was talking with two receptionist. It turned out that they were waiting on me and if I had been just a few minutes later this dude would have gotten my seat. Upon my arrival I was informed that a "Matt Hunt" will be picking me up from the airport so I went outside and waited for him. When he came rolling in, my initial thought was that this is really happening, SJ4 and Nate are right down the road!

 

So  I got in the car and met another strong dude named Matt K. and we were on our way! We literally flew from Philly to Jersey and that didn’t bother me at all, but at one point I did think to look at the speedometer to see how fast we were going and then I noticed that it didn’t work. Lol. I’ve been there before and even got pulled over for going too slow, but that wasn’t the case this time because we showed up at Nate’s in no time. When we pulled up to Nate and Maureen’s house, it and the rest of the houses were just beautiful. It was their own little piece of paradise even though it wasn’t little. We were greeted at the door by Maureen’s father, Maureen and then Ger Alt’s wife Krista. They were all great and Maureen was already wrist deep into preparing food. They let us know that the guys were prepping the conference room at the hotel already, so we turn around and took off for the hotel (2 min drive). As we walked into the conference room after our arrival at the hotel I finally got to meet Nate who I have been conversing with for years and that moment was a long time coming. Then I got to meet the rest of the guys that were already there (Ger Alt, Josh H. and Allen H) and they were all extremely nice and down to earth guys. After the meet and greet it was time to work. So while Nate was drawing precise straight lines on the paper that was taped to the gripper table, me and a couple others were applying squiggly tape lines on the floor which turned out to be a chore especially in the mental area, but we got it down and it stayed down for the contest which was really impressive considering that we pulled up some areas a couple times.

 

After finishing setup we all jetted back to Nate’s for some delicious pulled pork sandwiches which me and a few others could not stop eating ( I think I had 4). The rest of the night was a blur because the last minute details were all coming into place or being accounted for and that included a late night run to Home Depot and Advance Auto parts J. After the New York group arrived (coolest guys ever) we chatted and eventually went to sleep.. eventually.

Saturday SJ4 Day

I woke up at 6:00am and headed straight up and got a shower. I don’t think anyone else was awake, but I may be wrong. I went downstairs and already had a text from Nate asking if I was ready to go. He was a man on a mission. We took off and I got officially Wawa’d for the first time on the way to the hotel and if any of you don’t know what that is Wawa is a convenience store with a hellacious coffee bar and I firmly believe that Nate is a part owner because he frequents them so often. After Wawa we went to the conference room and Rich Cottrell was another man on a mission because he was already there wiring up the room. All of the final touches were made and I got to help with handing out the shirts and eventually the weigh-ins which was awesome because I got to literally meet everyone as they came in. It was great finally meeting everyone and that is another time I thought “Damn! I’m glad I came to SJ4”.

Comp

I did as expected, I put up some small numbers on grippers and moderate numbers on the Flask and Crusher. I did get to witness @KRC execute his Red Nail certification and that was just awesome to me. Also, the two Crushed to Dust certs were amazing because the guys doing them made them look so damn easy that it makes you wonder where in the hell did these strong as dudes come from? The special guest (Chris Rider) was an awesome guy to talk to and he had no problem sharing any advice that he had on the subject to which you were speaking. He demonstrated several different things to me which made a helluva lot of sense. He broke it down to the point to where you would think why did I not think of that?

Nate’s house

After cleanup at the hotel we all went back to Nate’s for MEAT EXTRAVAGANZA 2017!! It was amazing! Everything that I ate was absolutely delicious and I just don’t understand how Nate can maintain his trim physique with a woman who can cook like that around. After eating it was farting around time, then awards which were made by Josh Henze and let me tell you that when you see these you would want nothing but to win one because they were magnificent! Few people have as much talent as Josh and I am not sure if he is aware of that because is an honest, kind, and humble guy(great guy! No homo). After trophies it was time for the medley which looking back I should have participated in for fun but like Mr. Retarides I think I would have just taken a nap. I do have to say that his medley run was the best I’ve seen. He may not have scored a single point but it was the best! After both medleys it was more farting around time and then more prizes for the medley and then Nate received a special prize from Chris Rider himself. It was awesome autographed framed flyer from the Strongman Spectacular cast of 2013.

Bending

The bending contest was a brainchild of Nate and it worked out very well. It put everyone on the same playing field. You had 3 minutes to bend as much steel as you could and this made it to where it was a strategy game. You should have seen these guys, they were putting these bars away in reverse and double overhand! I think I was the most excited of the bunch because all of my bending has pretty been around people that either don’t care that it’s happening or they just want to see a quick show and then move on. These guys were genuinely interested in bending and that I have not been around at this magnitude before. Anton Torrella ended up being the 2017 SJ4 Bending champ and let me tell you that this guy had a flawless performance and his bending is crazy! He was like a damn machine and it was awesome. I am smiling typing this. Lol  Everyone had a blast doing it and I’m sure that we’ll be seeing more of this in the future.

Late Night

After everyone started to file out it all started to calm down a bit. We started nipping a bit making some toasts and I saw my first Gripboard fight in real life . LMAO. Then I went on to bend my first horseshoe with Jose Cabrera’s help. I found out the next morning that next time I need to use a pad on my leg because as I was taking a shower I quickly noticed my leg was tender and when I looked down it looked like I was kicked by a horse. It’s all part of the game though.

 

All in all I had a fantastic time and I am eternally grateful to Nate and Maureen for taking me in and showing me hospitality all while the biggest grip event in North America was underway. Thanks again my friends!

[acromegaman]

Also, my truck (white chevy) was still there with no ticket and someone else got smart and moved another barrier.

[KapMan]

Anton went nuts on that steel. 

[anwnate]

Sweet write up!  Super glad you decided on coming.  Thank Teri once more for me.  

[JHenze646]

Thank you. 

And you did not mention the scissors.

[Anton.Torrella]

Great write up Delmar and what a pleasure it was meeting you and hanging out last weekend - you were smiling writing this and I was smiling reading it! (double no homo) - thanks again for all your help with the comp prep and running the bending comp - and your compliments on my bending! I've been really inspired by your bending for years and to be in a comp with you and somehow wind-up winning it is still amazing to me - even more amazing is the quality of guy you turned out to be (triple no homo?) - and you're also into thrash metal! Along with @Buccos1 I've now met another - METAL BENDERS! - more good times to come!

[acromegaman]

1 hour ago, JHenze646 said:

Thank you. 

And you did not mention the scissors.

Not going to. 😉

3 minutes ago, Anton.Torrella said:

Great write up Delmar and what a pleasure it was meeting you and hanging out last weekend - you were smiling writing this and I was smiling reading it! (double no homo) - thanks again for all your help with the comp prep and running the bending comp - and your compliments on my bending! I've been really inspired by your bending for years and to be in a comp with you and somehow wind-up winning it is still amazing to me - even more amazing is the quality of guy you turned out to be (triple no homo?) - and you're also into thrash metal! Along with @Buccos1 I've now met another - METAL BENDERS! - more good times to come!

Yes sir! See you at SJ5! 😁

[bencrush]

Great write-up, Delmar!  Very enjoyable, and I'm extremely disappointed that I missed the contest and everything else.

[Buccos1]

Nice write-up Delmar!