Fair crowds revved up for truck pulls

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August 28, 2010

By Keith Gushard MEADVILLE TRIBUNE The Meadville Tribune Sat Aug 28, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

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.

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