The benefit truck and tractor pull for the Michael and Amy Graham family will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 29, at the Venango County Fairgrounds.
The rain date will be June 30 at 2:30 p.m.
The classes will include antique V8 tractors, Hot Farm Tractors, 8200 Hot Diesel, Performance Street and Street Gas. There will be food, a Chinese auction and a 50/50 raffle.
Sean Matteson, who works with Amy Graham at Allegheny Toyota and is organizing the benefit, said he hopes to get 75 to 100 competitors.
Matteson souped up his 1972 Ford F-250 to pull weights it wasn’t originally designed to pull.
And that is what a truck and tractor pull exhibits in all its four-wheeled glory.
“You will see parts flying out as the trucks pull the weight,” said Matteson as he described the workings of the event. “You got to put a lot of work into the vehicle to make sure it can take the weight.”
The vehicles will be hooked up to a sled, with a sliding weight on top of it. As the truck or tractors pull the sled, the weight slowly slides from the far end of the sled toward the end closest to the truck, putting more demand on the vehicle as it does so.
“The object is to see how far a truck or tractor can go before the weight stops it,” said Matteson. “Three hundred feet is a ‘full pull’.”
In the world of the enthusiasts of this event, competitors travel over the region, including Ohio, to enter several competitions, with “point-pullers” accumulating points all season (June to September), hoping to be a champion at the end of the season.
Because of those accumulative points, Matteson said, “if there is a point-puller, he will be at the fairgrounds for this event.”
Anyone with questions about the benefit or about street gas class rules can contact Matteson at (814) 657-0310.
