(Words and photos by David Whealon) – When owner of Galot Motorsports Park, Earl Wells, announced the rebuilding of the old Dunn-Benson Dragstrip in Benson, NC it stoked everyone’s fire. That old dragstrip that opened way back in 1957 was about to morph into the baddest 1/8 mile hotspot. Although the re-building the strip may have taken a bit longer than projected, Earl provided something to satisfy the area’s need to see some massive horsepower on display.

Being known over the years for his love of tractor pulling so what did he do? Let’s grade off several hundred feet of dirt and have us a good ol’ tractor pull.  Hosting a NTPA Grand National event was next on the agenda.  The inaugural Mule City 300 in 2014 was created to become a huge success. Such a success that Wells had to make the 2nd Annual Mule City 300 even better. And better he did!! By adding some of Daytona Speedway’s grandstands, state of the art Musco lighting and making a two lane tractor pull track made it a premier pull track.  And what an event it turned out to be!!

With over 90 pulling rigs representing 17 states and one from Canada for six classes of pullin’ power made the show spectacular for nonstop action. Along with many of our local UPOC Region 4 pullers came a barrage of NTPA superstars. The six classes included 8,000-lb. Open Super Stock Tractors, 6,000-lb. Light Unlimited Modified Tractors, 9,300-lb. Super Farm Tractors, 6,200-lb. Modified Four-Wheel-Drive Trucks, 6,200-lb. Modified Two-Wheel-Drive Trucks, and 2,050-lb. Open Modified Mini Tractors. Most of the 2014 NTPA national champions were there to do battle with our own regional regulars. Although many of the national guys loaded up the winning hardware on their haulers and headed back to their respective states, local Super Stock puller John Strickland from Wells’ own Galot Motorsports Team kept both Friday and Saturday’s trophies right here at home in NC and Light Unlimited puller Paul Koontz piloting the “Joker” got the home state win on Friday night. Taking the Mini Rod win Friday night on his new radical design Mini was Tyler Slagh. Tyler’s new design puts the driver about one foot closer to the 2500hp blown time bomb already too close for comfort. The legend Larry Koester wowed the massive crowd with the Mini win on Saturday night. Craig Corzine (Friday) in his “Burn Notice” and Renee Theobald (Saturday) on her “Pretty Wicked “took the wins in the Two Wheel Drive class. On Saturday Keith Wayson Sr. with his new “Super Bee” Light Unlimited carried his trophy back to Maryland. Also on hand in that class was Brian Diekman from the Rat Poison Pulling Team with two Allison aircraft engines on board and was truly a cool sight to see. In the Four Wheel Drive trucks Ted Skelton (Friday) and Jason Brammer (Saturday) both from Illinois out pulled the super large field.  Mike Prible and Lee Butts took the wins in another expansive field of Super Farms.

With the dragway near completion and the pulling track already well on it’s way for any gearheads dream destination, ya’ll  better get your Sharpies out and start marking up your calendars for that trip to Johnston County North Carolina.