Kids make sure they're up close with front row seats at tractor pulls.
It never fails.
“I'm sure if you talk to any of these old guys that are in here pulling, that's how they started,” Chad Fallon said Saturday at the Washington County Fairgrounds. “Standing there watching.”
The Arlington Youth Sports (AYS) tractor pull — the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association's Rumble in the Dirt Championship — raises funds each year for both AYS and the Arlington FFA Chapter. With that its focus, its no surprise the event regularly draws families to the outdoor arena for a show.
“It's just neat because it's usually really stiff competition and a lot of people we know locally,” said Fallon, an Arlington pull regular from Elkhorn. “That makes it fun.”
But the Outlaw association isn't just full of the best drivers and machines from the area.
“We're bringing in pullers from all different states,” Arlington's Randy Dunklau said. “They enjoy coming down here.”
While his tractor wasn't at full speed and able to pull Saturday, his brother Tim's was primed and ready. Before any machines were hooked to the pulling sled, though, Randy agreed with a comment Fallon had made earlier in the evening. Though front-row kids are entertained by tractor pulls, they could also learn by the example set by folks in the pits.
“Everybody wants to help each other out,” Dunklau said. “At the time you go down the track, you're all in competition. But if somebody breaks something, they open their shop. Or, if they got parts, they'll let them use them. That's what its all about.”
In the pits, people help people in need. Saturday's pull itself helps AYS to teach lessons of sport, teamwork included.
