(Photos by David Whealon) – We talk about how truck and tractor pullers are often not given the motorsports credit that they are due and we have a fine example of that from an unnamed source. So a guy in the high performance industry who works for a big company in an important position was chatting with us about the state of the state and how things were going. I happened to casually ask about whether the company any business in tractor and truck pulling. His eyes lit up. He went on for 10 minutes how the pullers were his best customers because they would buy the product, install it, and use it correctly. He also said that for every 100 calls they got from racers of other disciplines, they’d get about five from pullers. How’s that for an endorsement!
These machines are brutally powerful and while to the untrained eye it may look at lot like a “stand on it and pray” type of competition, we can assure you that the guys who are really good at it are really good at it for a reason and not because a higher power is answering their requests for a couple more feet than the guy in second place. It is the application of all the power that takes you from nobody to somebody. Everyone in this group of photos is a somebody as the NTPA Mule City 300 at GALOT Motorsports Park drew out the best pullers in the country. Check it out here
I am proud to wear my pink helmet so the announcer doesn’t say “next man up” when it is this woman’s turn to hookup. The power and torque is an awesome 15 second rush for all involved. The wrenching and prep for the 15 seconds is lots of long hours and days of labor and “Wasted Dollars” as one puller vehicle is called. Yep, seems like we spend as much as drag racers and NASCAR without all the hype and rewards. We still LOVE our sport and our fans that support us.