Night Under The Lights: Sled Pulling Action From SEMO District Fair

It’s 70-degrees outside and 100 percent humidity, but it’s September in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The 162nd annual SEMO District Fair kicked off last weekend with your normal fair entertainment like the demolition derby, concerts, and rodeo style events to name a few. But we came for the ITPA (Illinois Tractor Pulling Association), Xcaliber Pulling, and Bootheel Pullers Hot-Rod Truck and Tractor Pull.

As I pulled into the pits to find a place to park, I noticed a sea of tractor trailers full of tractors and trucks. This was the most flooded I’ve ever seen these fairgrounds, with anxious competitors. This event is normally a one evening event, but in the years past, as the truck and tractor pulls get more and more popular, the changes were made to have it two nights in a row.

After catching a few glamour shots of the track and the competition surface, you could smell the fumes in the air, as the engines were preparing to unload all the ponies. A few other pleasant fumes were present as well. That is if you like all the fried fair food or maybe a stick of cotton candy.

All brands of tractors were in attendance at this year’s event: John Deere, Minneapolis-Moline, International Harvester, Massey Furgeson, and Ford seemed to be the majority. The diesel trucks on the property were all very unique, but common at the same time.

All the trucks were utilizing different manufacturers and years from old body style F-250, 1990s Chevrolet, and even late model Dodge trucks. Every diesel (truck) on the property while very different, had the same powerplant platform – A Cummins.

With three different sanctions at one event, it was a packed house. There were at least 60 vehicles pulling and that’s just what we could see. Even though they weren’t diesels, an honorable mention goes to the 3,000-horsepower alcohol truck and tractors as well as single turboshaft engines out of helicopters.

One really cool idea the owner of Old Windy had was to utilize the HUEY dash from the helicopter on the tractor. Not to mention the gunner handle from the helicopter was now the throttle handle. This thing was way too cool not to share! The owner replied, “It will cook hotdogs.”

Overall it was a great weekend of sled pulling and diesel power. We look forward to the next event from these three great sanctions. Are you a fan of sled pulling? Show us your pulling rigs in the comments below and be sure to check out the photo gallery!

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