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August 21, 2012

Roar of truck pull pleases grandstand crowd

By Konstantine Fekos Meadville Tribune

WEST MEAD TOWNSHIP — The USA-East Regional Truck and Tractor pull roared Monday evening at the Crawford County Fair Grandstand, with classes for local Crawford County contestants, sanctioned tractors, modified diesel pickups and semis blowing pillars of black smoke into bleachers of cheering fans.

“I really enjoy these events,” said Meadville resident Ryan McCormick. “It’s my first time back in about 10 years. I love the sights and sounds.”

Blaring engines nearly drowned out the applause of more than 300 people in the stands to see trucks like the XDP-sponsored diesel pickup driven by Billy Deblasio.

“These trucks can do just about anything you want them to,” said Full Pull President and CEO Rick Feicht. “TheXDP truck is probably the number one diesel truck in the Eastern U.S.”

Also present at the pull was the Pennsylvania Posse: a group of hot-running, street-licensed semis driven by state natives who almost never haul a load, according to Feicht.

“It’s neat to have a hometown event for these guys,” he said.

The pull featured drivers whose home states ran the gamut from Pennsylvania and Ohio to Virginia, Maryland and New York.

“Five states are represented here,” said Feicht. “They’re here running for some last-minute points before the year-end championship.”

The tractors hauled the “Decision Maker” pulling sled, leaning back for consecutive wheelies, their exhaust pipes presenting crowd-pleasing smoke rings and bursts of flame.

It was Tommy Williams’ Fire Storm that shot into first place with a whopping 344-foot pull on a 300-foot track.

Avid fans and casual spectators were treated to everything from first place to failure as some dreams burned out with stalled engines, transmission troubles and near misses as one tractor, the Wholly Terror, performed its namesake and terrified the crowd by swerving almost out of lane, knocking over the 150-foot marker and luckily not the flagger standing a few feet from it.

The XDP truck exceeded expectations with its haul of more than 300 feet, blowing away other pickups like “Murphy’s Law,” which made its debut by crawling just past the 150-foot marker before having to be towed off track for transmission issues.

“It’s very exciting,” said Mike Bisch of Saegertown. “I always make it a point to try and come every year. It’s a good time.”



Konstantine Fekos can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at kfekos@meadvilletribune.com.

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