We arrived in Manson shortly after 5 o’clock on Friday afternoon, and you could feel the anticipation in the air as we rolled down Main Street. After finding our way to the fairgrounds, we were pleased to get a parking spot right next to Jerry Hansen. Jerry is who my friend, Brian, had bought his pulling tractor from last year. A little ways away we saw Jerry doing an inspection on Dave Geiger’s modified tractor, Ready To Run. He was too busy to talk, but was glad to see that we had made the trip. As I watched Jerry and the other Techs do their job I seen how important the safety of the puller and the crowd is to the ITPA.

I made my way down to Wayne Longnecker’s trailer, and he was getting ready to unload so it was just a simple hello. I made my way back down to where we were parked, and seen Brian and Jerry talking. Jerry was checking his kill switch, and moving some weights around. After Jerry got done he walked over to look at Brian’s tractor. Brian had gone to get Dennis Goodwin to look over the tractor to see if he could pull, I guess it had something to do with the roll cage. They showed up with an official to look things over. Jerry and Dennis discussed how this and that was built, the driveline set-up, and things of that nature. Dennis decided to let him exhibition pull, but with a few modifications he’d be welcome to pull at future ITPA events.

You could tell that the residents of Manson was pleased to be a part of the ITPA pulling schedule. There were guys running around on antique tractors pulling the Super Farm class up to the staging area. The bleachers that lined the north edge of the track were filled almost shoulder to shoulder as the fans were on the edge of their seat waiting for the night’s spectacular show of smoke and horsepower. The Super Farm class filled the night air with bellowing clouds of black smoke, as the crowd cheered for their favorite colors. First place went to Keith Vsetka with his 4255 Deere, Instigator, with a distance of 295.10 feet. Coming in with a close second place was Fear the Deere driven by Wayne Lamoureux. Wayne was just 8 tenths of an inch away from beating out Keith for the win. It was a close matched class for horsepower and driver skill as the top finishers were all within a few feet of each other.
As the black clouds from the Super Farm class drifted away it was time for the thundering horsepower of the Modified class. First up was Manson’s own Jerry Hansen and his Allison powered tractor Dust Devil. Jerry made it look easy putting the front of the sled out past the 300’ mark. I guess the officials thought the same, so they added more weight to the sled and restarted the class. Wayne Longnecker gave an amazing show of skill with his winning pull of 288.11 feet. Wayne started out on the north side of the track going straight along the edge of the white line. Then at about the 265-270’ he swung left and shot towards the 300’ marker on the opposite side of the track. It wasn’t a gentle lane changing on a freeway maneuver he literally turned left and shot across the track at an angle. I was standing 10’ from the River Rat when it came to a rest, and in between me and Wayne was a big puddle of water. After the sled was moved back I looked across the track and seen what he had, not to mention the big puddle of water. I’m not sure if the crowd seen it the same way I did, but I do know they liked it.

The skies to the north and east of town started to darken and streaks of lightning could occasionally be seen. Dave Geiger was standing near me talking with his daughter, and I told him things didn’t look good off in the distance. It wasn’t 2 minutes later the wind started blowing and you could just feel the temperature drop. I went back to the truck to pack stuff up before things got any worse. The wind calmed down just a little so I went to see Vern Huser before leaving. It was now sprinkling so Vern and the Dee Zee Team was busy putting stuff away. They was parked close to the track so I did get to see Randy Hinton’s winning pull of 292’ in the Unlimited Super Stock class on his tractor Stray Horse. Then in the blink of an eye it was pouring down rain, and the evening ended the same as it started with Black Clouds and Summer Thunder.

Special Thanks to Dennis Goodwin, and the ITPA for the kind reception that ProPuller.com was given at the event. Also, special thanks to Brian & Michelle Beukema for their assistance, and long-standing support.