NEW AND OLD FACES WIN AT WESTMORELAND
The first ever PENNSYLVANIA POWER PULL at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds near Greensburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 4th had a mix of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ in the winner’s circle as two former champions took home wins and two upstarts showed their respective classes that a new era may be dawning in the sport.
PA POWER PULLS is a series of high-quality early season events that are produced by Full Pull Productions and sanctioned by the USA-EAST Sanctioning body. These pulls are found at venues throughout western Pennsylvania in the weeks prior to the first fair pulls of each season. The Westmoreland County version of this event was the brain child of two champion pullers – Nathan Graham and Mark Petros – both of whom reside in the County. Abe Hayes of Kecksburg was in charge of rounding up the track equipment and getting the advance tickets sold by the Norvelt EMS and by the Trauger Fire Department. Much of the leg work in getting this pull “off of the ground” was undertaken by Karen Graham who was able to generate a significant amount of local sponsorship monies that allowed for an extensive advertising campaign that had the entire county buzzing about the event.
And the pull was a huge success with thousands of eager fans pouring into the very nice pulling arena in Westmoreland County. A very strong field of tractors and trucks and semis put on a great pull of the spectators and assured the the PENNSYLVANIA POWER PULLS would return to Westmoreland County in 2012.
Two of the four pulling divisions were won by former champions. Mark Petros took home the top spot in the Pro Street GAS 4x4 class with his Mopar-powered Dodge named “Public Enemy”. Petros, the 2010 champion in this class, found a new adversary for this season as the all-new and yet unpainted “Parts and Pieces” of Ron Cuttrell just missed pulling the upset. And the Limited Pro and Super Farm class went to the classy Super Farm from Mount Pleasant named “FireFox”. Mark Bell drove the JD 7800 that was coincidentally sponsored by Bob Rusch Diesel, one of the event sponsors on the night. The Tom/Jim Williams Team from the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia made the trek north to grab both second and fourth places with the Internationals named “Cadillac Red” and “Firestorm” respectively. Local favorite, Merle Harr from Latrobe, got third with the vastly improved “Devil Dog” International as the IH brand took positions two through seven in a field that showed the top eight tractors only separated by seven feet!!
The upsets on the night started with perhaps the only time in recent memory where both Jim Barron and Gerry Hairhoger, two of the perennial ‘top dogs’, were defeated at the same time. The perfectly prepared Mack V-8 of Jack Griggs from Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania pulled the upset with a single foot victory over Hairhoger’s Kenworth. Grigg’s Mack was built a year ago with the assistance of Dale Francis at Francis Machine in Leroy, Ohio. Five of the “PA Posse” semis made the pull-off at Westmoreland County.
Another unexpected winner came in the form of the Dodge from Justin Garwood from Columbiana, Ohio in the 2.6 Diesel 4x4 division. Garwood’s “Goat on a Rope” prepared by Haisley Machine of Indiana, put on quite a show in grabbing its first win of 2011 vs. a stellar field of 30 diesel trucks. This 2.6 Diesel class is going to be a very strong division in USA-EAST pulling this season as five trucks made the pull-off, including the Caleb Baker and “Black Out Performance” prepared Duramax driven by Caleb’s wife, Corrie, that finished 4th on this night.
USA-EAST now moves to the Crawford County Fairgrounds in Meadville, Pennsylvania for this Saturday (June 11th) pull with four truck classes competing in the SERTOMA TRUCK PULLS, another division of the PA POWER PULLS. Pro Street GAS and the PA POSSE semis will be in action once again and the pull will mark the first hook of the season for the ultra high-powered Pro Stock Diesel 4x4 division. This pull will also run the 2.6 Diesels, but this time with a special added attraction as the NADM trucks will join in for a great class of pulliing. Action gets underway promptly at 6:30pm.
