Smokestack Lightning

I had no idea what to expect of my first truck/tractor pull.  I really could not have envisioned what we saw, a major motorsports event in tiny Wisner, Nebraska.  And, it was a very enjoyable evening too.

Thunder By The River, or Thunder In The Valley-I have heard it called both, more than lived up to its billing.  From the first black smoke belching tractor run down the 300 foot track to the last pass by a wheel standing 2 wheel drive truck, the evening was all about power and noise.  The man made berms parallel the track, and no matter where you sit, you are extremely close to the action.  We were no more than 50’ away from the east lane-the track runs two lanes-and not only could we hear the power, we could feel it.

Only in America would someone have the ingenuity to bolt a Chinook helicopter engine to a hot rod tractor frame and try to pull a sled weighing thousands of pounds for 300’ or more.  Only in America would people call this entertainment and pay $22 for the privilege of viewing it.  More than 10,000 fans will attend the three show event, cheering John Deere or Farmall or International or Case or Ford tractors do their thing.

I wouldn’t call truck and tractor pulls environmentally friendly, but I hope I can be excused for my love of motorsports if I try to go green in many other ways.  I have no clue how many decibels filled the airwaves with each run, but even Matt asked me for ear plugs last night.  I am pretty sure that black smoke shooting 100’ into the air is air pollution, but then again, this is Nebraska, and the air is a lot cleaner in Wisner than it is in Los Angeles.

My two favorite classes were the 7,400 pound modified tractors, and the 2 wheel drive trucks.  The modifieds were amazing contraptions powered in most unusual ways.  I mentioned the Chinook helicopter engine, but another of the modifieds was powered by a Rolls Royce engine that powered Spitfire airplanes.  Several sported triple big block Chevy engines-yeah, I wasn’t seeing things, there were three Chevy engines powering the tractor, and a few more had dual Hemi’s for power.  Seeing them was a treat, hearing them a motorsports lover’s delight, and watching them pull was awesome.

I have no idea what type of fuel the 2 wheel drive trucks use to run their incredibly powerful and noisy engines, but it must be close to explosive.  The trucks ran in the far lane, but you could absolutely feel the power as they drove by.  I guess if they shook the berms it could be called an earthquake, and if they didn’t, they came awfully close.  Hearing them, watching their nearly 300’ wheel stands was worth the price of admission. 

Differing from auto racing was the fact that anyone could walk through the pits.  And what an enormous pit area it was. The pits were a half-mile or eight blocks long, and at least three blocks wide.  This would be double the size of most dirt track pits, but the pits were packed with over 200 trucks and tractors.  Most of the trailers hauling the trucks and tractors were far more bare bone than the rolling shops of trailers of late model tour drivers.  Plus it seemed like almost every trailer was surrounded by two or three family vehicles.

 

I was very impressed with the organization of the event.  It takes 300 volunteers to run the three shows, and the organization is apparent from the start with the team parking cars.  Several tractors pulling trams haul people from the parking area to the track.  Four more tractors “farm” the track after each pull. Others man the concession stand-and the concessions were very reasonably priced, including ribeye and beef tip sandwiches.  You could bring your own coolers in, which we did, but beer was only $2.00, and that you don’t find very often at dirt tracks around the country.

The “farming” choreography was well designed, and as one lane was being prepared for the next pull, the other lane was in action.  Even with ear plugs, I could easily make out what the announcers were saying, so the P.A. system of a track used only two days a year was far better than most dirt tracks, definitely better than one that sits halfway between Omaha and Lincoln. The show lasted over four hours, but the only down time was a brief intermission, or when a tractor broke and had to be pulled from the track.  Even that was far better coordinated than many dirt tracks who perform those tasks numerous times during the racing season.

Our neighbors on the east coast and west coast are often chauvinistic about the “hicks” who live in the Midwest.  I admit that Wisner, Nebraska could not host a King Tut exhibit like San Francisco.  However, San Francisco couldn’t run a Thunder In The Valley event, so that evens things out.  Actually, I have been to the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco to view the King Tut exhibit several years ago, and I have been to Wisner to see Thunder In The Valley.  I enjoyed them both.  So to the chauvinists from the coast I say “bite me.”

Random thoughts:

-leave it to a city boy guiding a person wearing shorts and no coat on a cool evening to think it was a good idea to sit on the downwind side of the track, facing into the sun.  Steve Basch was the city boy, and Matt was the coatless, shorts wearing person. 

-no, it is not farmers in short sleeves wearing a straw hat driving these machines.  Drivers wear a fire suit just like their compatriots in auto racing, and the tractors have a roll cage.

-if you go to a dirt track you often see drivers walking the track during intermission, trying to read the dirt.  The same thing happens at truck and tractor pulls.

-many of the tractors pulling are owned and driven by farmers.  It sort of belies the image of a poor dirt farmer when the announcer says “the engine on this machine has four turbochargers costing $30,000.”

-if Americans are creative enough to strap three engines to a tractor, we ought to be able to come up with a workable change to a health system that is far from ideal.  OK, I shouldn’t put politics into my blogs, but that was my thought when the first modified tractor with three Chevy engines took to the track.

This is an event you should see in person at least once.  Thanks for stopping by.