This past Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Boone County Fair for the Outlaw Truck & Tractor Pull with two life-long friends, Brian Beukema, and my Dad, Larry Meyers. My Dad was born in Boone, and spent his early childhood on a farm that was located at the present day junction of U.S. Highway 30 & State Highway 17. On our way to the pull Dad entertained us with pulling stories of yesteryear, and how he got his start. We learned that his first tractor was an IH 706, and that the Boone pull was one of his first pulls. At that time he was living in Maxwell, Iowa on the family farm, and he actually drove the tractor to Boone for the pull. Yes, this did warrant a puzzling look from me when he said it. He laughed and said, I wanted to pull and there was no other way to get it there, but to drive it there. Now you got to remember this was back in the day, before mechanical sleds like Stan's Mule Skinner, and long before the fancy big rig transporters that are used today. Thinking it'd be easier on the tractor he removed all the weights for the trip. Arriving in Boone he stopped at the local implement store, and asked the owner if he could borrow some weights for the pull. I reckon the storeowner gave him just as puzzling look as I had, but he loaned him the weights for the pull. His efforts were rewarded with a winning pull, and afterwards the storeowner told him he was more than welcome to borrow those weights anytime.

The city of Boone, Iowa offers many attractions, annual events, and historical sites. One of the most historical is the restored birthplace of First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower. It is also home to the Kate Shelley Bridge; the longest, highest, double-track railroad bridge in the United States. Saturday night April-August you can find racing action at "Iowa's Action Track" the Boone Speedway. The first weekend following Labor Day each year is the annual celebration Puffer Billy Days. With all that Boone has to offer it easy to believe the fact that the Boone County Fair is considered one of Iowa's best county fairs. Featuring quality entertainment and fun for the whole family to enjoy, with 4-H exhibits, livestock shows, a midway of rides, and nightly grandstand events.

We got to the fairgrounds shortly before the pull was set to start so I grabbed my backpack, and beat feet for the pits to get some pictures. Our first stop was to visit with Vern and Nick Huser at the Dee Zee Pulling Team trailer. Vern and Dad have known each other for as long I can remember, and spent many years helping one and another out on the pulling circuit. After making a trip around the pits for pictures it was almost 7:00 so I didn't have time to visit with many pullers before the pull. The announcer did a great job educating the crowd on the history of the pullers, and in informing the crowd of past and future events for the Outlaws. This was the last stop of the Outlaw Western Sweep, one of the many sweeps the association has throughout the season. The sweep started on Thursday night in Onawa. Iowa, then from there they traveled to Hinton, Iowa for Friday night. The Hinton pull is known for drawing a great amount of spectators with thousands of people sitting on the hillsides and bleachers to watch the action. The host for the action on the third stop was Carroll, Nebraska on Saturday night. So tonight's pull was for all the money, and it was destined to be a spectacular event.

Starting out the evening was the Light Super Stock class. Loren Ford had dominated the class with wins at the first three stops of the sweep, and he put the finishing touches to a perfect sweep with a winning pull of 335 FT with the Runnin on Empty tractor. Another strong competitor on the sweep was Glen Frese, Jr. and the Indian Hill Special tractor. Glen finished the sweep with three, 2nd place finishes, and one 3rd at Hinton just a thousandth of an inch behind David Zenz. It is amazing how precise they can measure the distance of a pull it gives new meaning to, Being beaten by just a hair.

Wayne Longnecker and the sweet sounds of his Griffon powered River Rat, kicked off the Modified class. The most impressive pull of the Modified class was made by Vern Huser on the Slater Shaker. He brought the Slater Shaker out of the hole nice and easy, and put 23 feet on the current leader with a distance of 347 FT. Watching Vern's winning pull showed that there is more to winning than just mashing the throttle when the green flag drops. Dave Geiger came in 2nd with a distance of 324 FT, with Jerry Hansen's Dust Devil nipping his heels for 3rd at 323 FT. Cotton Candy driven by Cameron Neaves rounded out the 4th spot with a pull of 319 FT.

The biggest class of tractors for the night was the Super Farm class, and it was one of the best classes of the night. It was a strong competition for the win with the majority of the class pulling 297 FT or better. Boone local, Wayne Lamoureux, made a good hometown showing on his John Deere 8100, Fear the Deere, with a winning pull of 315 FT. Wayne was within less than an inch of being nabbed by the Bounty Hunter driven by Rodney Knott. Another strong challenger and leader of the sweep was Bill Figanbaum and his Deere, Instigator. Bill ended the sweep with three, 1st place finishes and a 3rd at Boone.

The overall biggest class of the night was the 4WD Modified Trucks, and was another class that showed to be very competitive. Out of 18 contenders in the class 12 of them were within a foot of each other, and all were 300 FT plus pulls. Several of them were within tenths of an inch from each other. Dave Billinger's truck Heatwave took the win with a distance of 313.11, but it was close with Albert Kendrick taking 2nd place at 313.02.

Randy Hinton is the man to beat in the Diesel Super Stock Tractor class. With six 1st place wins in the last seven Outlaw/ITPA hooks Randy has proven to be strong competition this season. Randy Hinton drove the Stray Horse to another 1st place finish with an amazing pull of 311 FT beating out Matt Goodwin for the win. Matt took home a 2nd place finish with a distance of 309 FT with the Intimidator. Eugene Williams pulled double duty on Pure Pleasure, 306 FT, and Buck's Fever, 305 FT, taking both the 3rd and 4th place finishes for the night. Dennis Goodwin who had placed in the top 3 throughout the week finished the evening in 5th place with a pull of 304 FT.

The Lone Star state had good representation in the Modified 2WD Truck class with the top 4 places going to the guys from Texas. First place with a pull of 309 FT went to the Texas Stampede driven by Brian Nelson. Billy Loftice persuaded his Super Mule into a second place finish with a distance of 306 FT. Third place honors went to Robert Zajicek with a pull of 302 FT in Texas 2 Step. Coming in fourth and just short of the 300 foot line was Jim Perry and his Ragin Ranger with a distance of 296 FT. Just short of the Lone Star bunch was Doug Lively in Double Vision at 293 FT. Doug was a strong contender on the Outlaw Western Sweep with wins on both Friday and Saturday night.

With the closing of the night's events we made our way back to the van for the ride home, and more of Dad's stories of yesteryear.

I'd like to give thanks to Doug Roberts, the members of the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association, and Kelly Williams for their assistance in the coverage of the event.