NORWICH – The crowd converses continuously in the gaps of action, the announcer’s speaker echoes over the noise, naming the newest contestant who immediately fires his engine in a reverberating roar as thousands of horsepower project a towering plume of diesel smoke 200 feet over the grandstand.
The tractor shudders, and the front wheels bounce off the ground as the strength of the rear torque begins to drag a sled, several times its own weight, down the playing field with not a sound able to be heard over the crowd’s deafening cheers and tractor’s snarling mechanics.
Welcome to the Chenango County Fair’s annual tractor pull competitions.
Thursday, local farmers began heading to the fairgrounds with their reliable modern day workhorses while others arrived with competitive stock tractors used in state and national wide tractor pulling competitions.
More than 70 local farmers attended the lower level competitions and 25 super stock pullers entered the most competitive event.
“Most of them are not enhanced and are used for the everyday chores of farming, we call it ‘Out of Field’,” explained the president of the Chenango County Agricultural Society, Mary Weidman, whose group organizes the 2009 fair.
The 70 contestants kicked off the day’s competitions at 10 a.m., pulling through 15 different classes, divided by the weight of the tractors, until 7 p.m. when hundreds of spectators filled the grandstand to watch the final Super Stock tractor pulling matches.
Hank Tumilowicz, who began riding a tractor on his farm at 14, said his family has been participating in the event for the last three decades.
Hank and his brother Bob brought three Allis Chalmers tractors with them Thursday for three different class competitions: an I-90 farm tractor, a super D-21 painted bright orange and appropriately named Agent Orange, and an even more powerful super stock competitor. The Tumilowicz’s three tractors are separated by thousands of pounds in weight and between 1,000 to 1,500 extra horsepower between each.
“Why do we do this? Why do people golf or do any of the things they do? We work on a farm and we find enjoyment in the tools of our trade, I guess. All the people here are showing off what it is they do for a living. We’re proud to be farmers,” said Hank.
“People just like to pull tractors. It’s a long tradition and the roots, I believe, can be traced back to friendly neighbor or community competitiveness between farmers trying to outshine each other,” said superintendent of the tractor pulling event Robert Kuhn.
Another puller, Ashley Cirigliano, said the local farmers in Puckville competed with other local farmers more than they did for top placing spots in the over all competition.
“We’re just down here to compete against other Puckville pullers, mostly our friends and neighbors. We just want to compete and beat each other,” she said.
Bob Tumilowicz agreed that local competitors often had long-standing rivals not far down the road from each other.
Many at the tractor pull have made the occasion into a family event and whole clans congregated to support their relatives and carry the passion for the sport to the younger generations.
Both Hank and Bob were surrounded by an army of relations at the competition, including Hank’s son Henry and Bob’s sons Adam and Alex, all of whom have competed in Chenango pulling events before. Both Adam and Bob walked away with first place trophies at yesterday’s competition.
“We just enjoy tractor pulling and in all good fun we enjoy competing with each other,” said Bob.
For more information, visit the Agricultural Society’s website, www.chenangocountyfair.homestead.com or contact them via e-mail at chenangofair@frontiernet.net or by phone at 334-9198.
First place winners, by weight class, in Thursday’s tractor pull competitions.
3,500 Pace: Luther Higley
