Our friend Christine Shores sent D an e-mail telling us that her husband Mike had built a modified tractor for tractor pulling contests, and would be at the Douglas County Fair in Alexandria on August 20. The Shores kids spent several years in day care here and Darren Shores is Jayce's good buddy. So D thought we should go see Mike pull. Being the ever-uxorious husband, I went along, thinking why couldn't Mike have taken up acting or opera singing, or something fun like that?

We got to the fair barely in time, so Jayce and I got the grandstand tickets while D scrounged some corn dogs and French fries. We couldn't see Darren and his family anywhere, so we found a place to sit behind Ben and Ashley and settled in for the show.

For the uninitiated, tractor pulling contests are held on a flat, dirt track. The tractor is hooked to the sled with a log chain, and the object is to see which tractor can pull the sled the farthest. The tractors are divided into stock and modified classes according to their weight, as a heavier tractor can pull more than a lighter one. The sled is a device with wheels on one end and a big flat sheet of iron called a skid on the other. As it is pulled along the track, a weight moves forward on the sled, transferring its weight from the wheels to the skid, making it increasingly hard to pull as it is dragged down the track.

The track is bladed and packed after every run, to give every tractor a more-or-less equal track surface. A flagman controls the action, waving a green flag when the tractor can start its run, and a red flag when the tractor stops moving or leaves the track. A marker is placed alongside the track to show where the longest run of the class ended.

This pulling contest was being run on two parallel tracks, so the action would be pretty steady.

The first tractors were pretty slow, kinda like plowing with the H Farmall when I was a kid, but I knew by the eager look of anticipation on D's face that it must get better. And it did! A Hot Farm Class tractor called Sneaky Express came flying down the second lane, spinning its tires and throwing dirt high in the air, its motor screaming as it dragged the heavy sled down the dirt track. The look of sheer joy that lit up D's face at the scream of the engine gladdened my heart!

Li'l Red Demon, Grandpa's Toy, and Grandma's Toy completed the Hot Farm class. The driver of Grandma's Toy was named Kimberly, but I'm not sure if she's really a grandma -- kinda hard to tell when she's wearing a fireproof suit and crash helmet.

The next class was Modified Tractors, with Mike scheduled to pull second. But a rumor flew through the stands that Mike was having problems with his tractor. And sure enough, we spotted his tractor still on the trailer, with a cluster of people working on it, watched by Darren. D was so disappointed!

About this time, after a long campaign to get her mother to bring her, Caity showed up to sit with us. She was so thrilled to be there and so enthralled by the action that she would barely talk to us.

I could see that D would get over the disappointment of not getting to see Mike pull. She was reveling in the tortured scream of powerful, unmuffled engines, the smoke and flames shooting from exhausts, and the dirt thrown high by spinning tires as the tractors made their runs. And through the whole show, the little stock tractors were pulling their guts out in the other lane. There was never a dull moment. I think I even saw a tear in her eye a couple of times. She was ecstatic!

The next class of modifieds was ready to run. First up was Rock Hound, making a great pull and setting a marker far down the lane.

And the best was yet to come! Mike got his tractor, "Over Budget," running in time for his second weight class. He pulled onto the track with the red Farmall, secure in his roll cage, fire suited, helmeted, and strapped into his safety harness. He hooked up to the sled, waited for the green flag, revved his engine until it seemed it could take no more, and let 'er buck! He flew down the track, throwing fine roostertails of dirt from the rear tires, engine screaming. We held our breath!

The front of his tractor passed Rock Hound's marker. Over Budget struggled for more inches, tires spinning, her motor lugging as we all leaned forward in our seats, as if we could help by pushing the sled. Would he get first place? At last, the sled won out, and Over Budget shuddered to a stop, her tires still spinning and digging dirt. The flagman waved his red flag and Over Budget idled down, still hooked to the sled, trembling from radiator to drawbar from the effort. We all leaned to the side, to try to line up the front of the sled with the marker. Not quite there! Just a few feet short! Ahhh, just one more gasp would have done it.

Mopar to Ya, Hoochee Mama, Dustbuster, and Shadow all had their turn, but none could beat Mike's pull.

All the rest was a bit of an anticlimax, although D was pretty fascinated by the big V-8 tractor in the Open Class that made its run and then caught fire. Luckily, it turned out to be just unburned fuel coming out of the exhaust. Burnin' a little alky, maybe? And I could see she loved the scream of the big V-8 Detroit Diesel that powers Flying Red Horse.

Oh, and I nearly forgot, the 4-wheel drive pickup class. One strong-pulling pickup was well driven by a girl who, halfway down the course, where most guys are so wound up that they look like they're trying to push the pickup down the lane with the steering wheel, casually fixed her hair where it had gotten a little windblown. D said that's something women do a lot nowadays -- fix their hair while they are driving.

I thought Jayce was having a good time, but then noticed that he had gone to sleep, leaning over on the jackets we had brought along. So, I'm not sure if he is as enthusiastic as D and Caity about tractor pulling. Maybe he just happened to be tired.

When we pulled out of the fairgrounds, there was Mike, right ahead of us, hauling Over Budget home on a trailer. So we followed along and stopped by his farm to congratulate him on a good pull. By then it was time to head for home and bed, where I'm sure D and Caity had sweet dreams of roaring tractors.

Here's a link to the website of Minnesota Modified Pullers. Mike's tractor isn't shown on the site yet, but you can get an idea of what some of the modified tractors look like. Look in the photo section, where there are also some videos of tractor pulls.

http://centralmnpullers.com/index.html

This link doesn't always work; I'm not sure why.