Students attend ‘real’ country event

By Andrea Vukcevic
Features Editor

It was a warm, peaceful Friday evening and the sky over Lumberton was laced with pink cotton-candy-like clouds.

By darkness, the tranquility had been shattered by jet engines and clouds replaced by thick gray smoke.

Among boiled hot dogs, Pepsi and John Deere merchandise, two international UNCP students joined thousands of screaming Robesonians to witness a tractor-pull event, held at the Robeson County Fairgrounds on Sept. 5-6.

The event, sponsored by National Tractor Pullers Association, featured 63 vehicles including two-and-four-wheel-drive pick-up trucks and turbo diesel tractors. Chevrolet and Ford fans cheered their preferred car makes and drivers to victory on a straight 310-foot dirt track.

Each driver’s goal was to pull a weighted sled as far as possible, aiming for 300 feet. Reaching the 310-foot mark guaranteed the driver a spot in the final “pull-off."

As a truck or tractor advanced in distance, a weight on the sled moved progressively forward, adding up to 65,000 pounds of resistance. Most of the trucks slowed or stopped at the 250-foot mark.

Graduate student Guanglin Dai said she didn’t expect such a turnout to “come and watch (drivers) pull this big, heavy thing.”

Her friend, Ya Hsuan Lin from Taiwan, said she was happy to get off campus and said she would have just as happily gone to see an opera.

“I want to experience all kinds of American culture,” Lin said.

Drivers came from Indiana, Kentucky and all over North Carolina and their trucks had names like Rump Shaker, Makin’ Traxx, Nixon and Run n’ Scared.

The classes included two- and four-wheel drive trucks. After almost an hour of technical difficulties and false starts, tractors billowed thick gray smoke and their jet engines roared so loud that observers were forced to cover their ears.

“I want this smoky thing stopped,” Dai said.

Some vehicles had over $80,000 of modifications and, on average, boasted 1,100-1,300 horsepower engines that ran on pure alcohol.

Dai and Lin did not stay for the duration of the race but were grateful for the new experience. Dai was surprised by the fan enthusiasm.

“This is really local culture, really country,” she said. “It’s a big deal for them but not for us.”