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Sorry, Krout. It was a lovely day for tractor pulling in Roann, Indiana. The Antique Tuggers held their pull on the north end of town, as the dead weight pull was held uptown on the blacktop. I did not have the Hs there, We had set up 2 tractors for the dead wieght pull this year. The pull I will talk about at this time will be the deadweight.... I bounced back and forth to both pulls, I talked with alot of grat folks at both tracks, Deadweight pulling in Indiana has been at a standstill until 3 years ago. Yes, there are some clubs, and festivals in other locations have these old fashion pulls, but up until 3 years ago, Our area had not seen a deadweight pull, for over 20 years. There are 3 classes, light weight, up to 5000lbs middle weight,5001-8500lbs, and heavyweight,8500up to 15000. The lite class was a large class, got some real tough Allis Chalmers in this class, But, I belive they all got beat by a 8N ford. Ironic, how a little 8N, has won against some of the best deadweight pulling had to offer!!! I pulled my MM ZAU in the middle weight, I did make 1 full pull, was happy to do that, for a first time out on the track with this tractor. The allis chalmers D-17 owned by the Shuler family from Roann?? won the middle weight by a landslide. Just could not stop him. There was also a JD G I would like to mention, These boys are serious dead weighters, always in the top 5 with this tractor, Very impressive showing of balance and JD power. Good Job PINKY!! Then there was the heavy weight class. We was also in this class with our 59 JD 730 gas. The Shuler D-17 was looking good again, but as time went on, the sled got heavy, and got stuck on the north side of the street in a pothole!!! Over 10, 8500-9400 lbs tractors could not move it. The sled sat there for over an hour. Finally, It was time for our tractor to pull. We had 3 drivers on the tractor, My mother, Mary Jo, is a vetern deadweight puller from the late 60s early 70s from when the last time there was a deadweight pulling circuit in the area. She back in the ol 730, hooks up for the first pull, The sled moved about 10 inches. BUT, SHE MOVED IT! The crowd went crazy!! She backs it in for the second hook, and walks away with it. Full pull!! The crowd was on it's feet for her!! She ended up going out the next round, so then it was my turn. The boat was back in the hole again, I was nervous, let me tell you, I backed in for the first hook, I moved it again, this time 59inches, not a bad first attempt, hokked on for the second pull, The 730 came up, and took it out of the hole again!! You see, that is how the D-17 was doing so well, he knew that if he stuck that boat, and he was the one who put it there, he was still in the round, and also he gets to watch the other tractors go out, 1 by 1. Not the case with the big 730. I kept on making full pulls, until the sled was too heavy for him to pull, either way the D-17 did win the class, I went out a few rounds later, got 7th place out of 35 tractors in the class. THE NEXT DAY>>>>
Roann had a second deadweight pull. this time it was LADIES ONLY!!! I will tell you this, When a woman or your wife, mother, sister what ever, says they are gonna pull, they mean it!!! The ladies put on a great show, had just as many lady drivers, if not a few more than the pull the night before. Who ever says that ladies cannot drive tractors the way the men do, need to come to Roann, and get educated by the women. They aint scared!!! My hats are off to the fine job they did. Keep up the good work!! Aint nothing more fun than watching an all female tractor pull!!! Thats' just a small part of what happened at Roann's Covered bridge festival. I don't have the winners sheets yet, will post them soon. Wanna hear more??? Chads
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