By T.J. Hug
The Village Reporter
Competition drives everything in this world.
Throughout the course of human history, people have always striven to be the best at what they do, regardless of what it is. In modern times, this urge has taken a barrage of forms, with naturally born competitors looking for any vehicle to exhibit their need to prove themselves.
And sometimes that vehicle is a tractor.
Anyone who happened to be in Wauseon on Friday may have caught a glimpse of the Thanksgiving International Antique Tractor Pulls. Such a contest would serve as a true display of just how great the desire for victory is within some people.
Spangler Arena, of the Fulton County Fair Grounds, played host to the event. Competitors, both male and female, flocked to the structure, coming from various parts of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to take part in the tractor pulls.
They all had to wait a bit before they could do so, however.
Originally intended to begin at 9:00 A.M., organizers for the pulls delayed activities for the first hour. The reasoning behind this was to make adjustments to the order in which each challenger would act, as well as allowing for more of them to register. By 10:00 A.M., the first tractor was given the go ahead to pull.
Starting with 3,750 pounds of weight, the antique machines took turns hauling the sled up and down the muddy straightaway within the building. By the end of the competition, weight classes beyond six-thousand pounds held several tractor owners ready to do battle against one another. With speeds ranging between three and five miles per hour, there were definitive limitations put on the drivers. Violation of these limitations resulted in immediate disqualification.
A crowd of spectators slowly built throughout the day, with several people flowing in and out of Spangler Arena during the ten hour or so span in which the tractor pulls occurred. There were a few vendors on hand to offer them their wares, such as warm shirts. Also, the concession stand sold great tasting food straight from the grill all day long.a
By the end of the day, only the elite few drivers could call themselves champions. Many competed throughout the day, but most had to settle for something other than first place. But, as the tractor pulls move on to a new location, most of the participants in Friday’s action will follow, almost nomadically. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, though.
Competition is doing all the driving.
T.J. Hug can be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com