Tractor Pulling is not a race. It is, instead, an effort of mechanical force, a test of the limits of souped-up farm equipment. How far can a tractor with a heavy sled attached to the back be driven?
For the past 49 years, Bowling Green has erupted in engine smoke, every mid-August, hosting the National Tractor Pulling Championships. Competitors from all over the country descend on the Wood County Fairgrounds, where billows of engine exhaust can be seen for miles, while bleachers of fans wait to see who can pull the furthest.
49 years of pulling
Tractor pulling began with regular farm tractors. Farmers rode with attached sleds that gained weight when bystanders jumped on, progressively increasing the weight until the tractors could not pull any farther. Today, competitive pulling tractors differ from real farm tractors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson differs from your average gym trainer; Supercharged with up to four engines and anchored by back wheels that are nearly 6-feet tall. Sleds have become mechanized with their weight-shifting, slowly pushing down into the ground as the tractor moves forward, eventually causing even the strongest of tractors to reach their run’s end.
The National Tractor Pulling Championship began in 1967. Two years later, the National Tractor Pullers Association formed in order to provide structure and to designate rules for 8 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They sponsor competitions in all of those states, as well as in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee. The NTPA now has a staff of 15 in an office in Columbus.
“If you’re into tractor pulling, you gotta’ make it here at least once,” said Eric VanValkenburg, a tractor puller who competes in a creamsicle orange tractor called “The Smuggler.” VanValkenburg has traveled from Warsaw, New York to Bowling Green for the past 6 years in order to compete. For him, and many other tractor pullers, the championship in Bowling Green is the most prestigious competition in the world.
Full Pull
The National Championships have the look and feel of a festival. Women and men dress in cut-off shirts and jean shorts. The full bleachers overflow into rows of fold-out chairs that push up right along the fence, just yards away from the two dirt tracks. Motor oil sponsors toss out swag. Food carts, like “Mike’s Cheese Shack”, offer deep-fried cheese curds from Wisconsin, barbequed meats from small Ohio towns, and frozen lemonades called “Lemon Shake-Ups” (hand-shaken for each order).
There is hardly a break in the action throughout the day. The tractors keep shooting off the starting lines, their small front wheels skipping across the dirt like motorcycle wheelies, and as drivers sharply spin their steering wheels to keep their tractors on course. Most of the fans wore ear plugs or over-the-ear muffs. One older gentleman wore a doctor’s mask. I wore no protection. I inhaled the fumes, which were mild and smelled like motor oil. And I covered my ears as best I could when the heavy-duty tractors took off. Despite the open air of the arena, the sounds still pierced my ears with the timbre of an over-powered chainsaw.
At the finish line, when the wheels still spin but can pull no further, a tall chain of exhaust pushes upward, with black smoke so thick that you can look directly at the outline of the sun. If the tractor makes it the full distance, the audience will raise their fists and shout “Full Pull!” to compliment a solid run. And in Bowling Green, the best tractor pullers from across the country have been full pulling for the past 49 years.
Mark your calendars for the 2016 National Tractor Pulling Championships, August 18-21
tractorpull.com
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Dorian Slaybod is an attorney happily living in Toledo.
