WEST MEAD TOWNSHIP —
WEST MEAD TOWNSHIP — Gail Wakefield likes to hear the roar of the engines while her husband, Ted, loves to watch the competition.
The couple from the Warren County town of Grand Valley say they’ve been coming to the Crawford County Fair to watch the truck and tractor pulls “forever.”
Ear-splitting noise and plumes of smoke — both belching from souped up engines — brought cheers from the crowd Friday night as drivers in trucks and tractors competed to tow thousands of pounds of weight upward of 300 feet.
The Wakefields were among more than 3,800 spectators at Friday’s show.
“I like the noise and it’s fun to see who wins — Chevy or Ford,” said Gail Wakefield. Asked why she didn’t mention the Dodge brand of truck, “I don’t like Dodge,” she said with a laugh.
Ted Wakefield likes seeing the different classes of vehicles — from stock pickup trucks to the big modified tractors and semi-trucks.
“It’s always a good show,” he said.
Likewise, Frank Urbanick of Meadville was glad to get a chance to watch the show Friday night — it was the first time he’s been able to in 13 years.
“I worked for a bank so I’d have to go represent it at the (fair’s 4-H/FFA) livestock auction on Friday night,” said Urbanick who recently changed employers.
For Urbanick’s wife, Vanuza, who’s a native of Brazil, the pull was a new experience.
“I like it so far,” she said with a smile. “It’s really noisy.”
The drivers, too, enjoy the sights and sounds of a tractor.
“I like making the horsepower rev and I like making noise,” Michael Rhoades, 32, of Guys Mills, said before Friday’s event. Competing in the street stock pickup truck class for the last five years, he’s had three first-place finishes in his division this year in competitions in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
“I’ve always been into motor sports since I was a kid,” he said. “I enjoy this.”
For Roy Metz of Strykersville, N.Y., tractor pulling has been a way of life. He competes in the super farm and pro stock tractor classes. Tractors in those classes generate 1,200 and 2,000 horsepower, respectively, he said.
“I’ve been pulling for 15 to 20 years,” said Metz, 50, who has a farm about 30 miles outside of Buffalo, N.Y. “My father was pulling tractors when I was a kid. I grew up with it.”
However, Metz still is waiting for his initial first-place victory.
“I haven’t won yet, but I’ve come in second a heck of a lot of times,” he said with a laugh.
Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.
Local News
Related Photos
-
pull.jpg
Discussion
Fair crowds revved up for truck pulls
- Local News
-
-
Conneaut Lake Park roars into 120th season
Conneaut Lake Park’s 120th season is officially under way with its in-keeping-with-tradition, four-day Memorial Day weekend opening, and the “crowds are coming in,” Jack Moyers said Saturday.
-
Area communities ready to celebrate Memorial Day
Editor’s note: The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are Monday, except those in Edinboro and Shermansville, which are planned for Sunday. -
Remembering Civil War Bucktails
A glimpse into daily life of the Civil War era is easy to see in Crawford County.
-
Area Memorial Day events
The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are on Monday, except the one at Edinboro that is planned for Sunday.
-
Civil War soldiers highlight Meadville Memorial Day events
A courageous Meadville man — wounded three times but remaining on a Civil War battlefield until he was too weak to continue — is being remembered this Memorial Day as the Meadville Area Memorial Day Committee continues its mission of observing the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States.
-
Police: Locals admit to killing Ohio woman
Two Cochranton women were arrested and jailed on homicide charges early Thursday after allegedly admitting they killed an Ohio woman and buried her body in a shallow grave near their residence recently.
-
Reader 'Faces' are coming in
Mom's car dash, Meadville, PA
Lucy Kedzierski, 12, looks at the face every morning waiting for school bus!
She took this with a cell phone. -
North Street Project sure to be 'very disruptive'
With the preliminary traffic control plan for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s North Street Project complete, Meadville City Manager Joe Chriest summed up the anticipated impact of the project, which is expected to span the entire 2013 construction season. “This is going to be very, very disruptive,” he said Wednesday.
-
Boat business booming in warm weather
It’s been a booming business in boats this spring, according to some area boat dealers.
-
City leaders not concerned after financial downgrade
During the past five years, Moody’s Investors Service has assigned three different ratings — all within the range of “upper medium grade” to the City of Meadville’s bonds. In 2007, the city was given a rating of A3, the lowest of the trio. In 2010, the city’s bond rating was raised to A1, the highest ranking in the “upper medium” category. Monday, Moody’s gave the city’s $10,000,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series of 2012, which went on the market Monday, the middle rating of A2.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
