55th western farm show championship pull

The annual Western Farm Show descended upon Kansas City, holding a Truck and Tractor Pull at Kemper Arena.  Some folks we knew were unable to attend, so we jumped at the opportunity to use their tickets.  We had a fun night filled with an overabundance of air and noise pollution, as diesel fumes, roaring engines and screaming superchargers filled the air inside the old arena.

While unable to count particulate matter, Security seemed to have a good sense of the danger to second and third levels.  They chased us off the second level after only three trucks made their run.  It worked out for the better though.  A General Admission event, we ducked in and out of several aisles on the first floor before settling on front row seat at midfield.  The air was noticeable of a higher quality too, but the noise levels were much higher.

Recalling an app on the phone for monitoring decibel levels, the event averaged 85 dB, and peaked at 98.6 dB.  Undoubtedly, hearing protection was required.  We neglected to bring any, and for the most part it was not completely necessary; that is, until near the end, when the “noisy boys” made their debut in their Modified 2WD Trucks.

Some no longer really resembled trucks in the traditional sense, and they were loud.  We noted children everywhere using hearing protection earlier, but when these started up, hearing protection appeared everywhere.  Thinking we could suffer through a few rounds, after the first one made its run, we grabbed the spare napkin and divided it between us.  It was not the best, but worked in a pinch.

Very few mishaps occurred otherwise. A couple of uncooperative clutches prevented a few tractors from running at all.  The only Dodge running in the 4x4 competition blew something halfway down the track and left a nice puddle of oil of some sort.  The road crew quickly cleared that up, and did a great job of maintaining a solid field of play throughout the event. Late in the night, one of the tractors bounced the sled a bit much too, and an intermission ensued while the grounds crew worked on the re-enabling the beast.

The whole thing lasted much longer than the 3½ hours indicated on the web site.  We left after five hours, before the Limited Pro Stock Tractors took the stage.  They are the only missing run from the video below.  If you were there, share your own into the album too, if you like.

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