Woman continues family tradition of tractor pull competition
Tuesday September 2, 2008
Charlotte Albright
Orleans, VT
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At the tractor pull, contestants drive a vintage tractor pulling another vehicle called a weight transfer sled.
The weights on the sled move forward as the tractor advances, making the cargo so heavy that the tractor soon grinds to a halt.
That's when the measuring tape comes out.
(Announcer) "Okay, Let's get started. First, I as always, want to thank you fellas and ladies. Are there ladies pulling this year?
(Haley) "My name's Katie Haley and I live in Orleans. I'm pulling this WD 45 Alice Chalmers tractor-it's my father in law's tractor and before I met my husband I never had pulled tractors before and it's just something I got into with my family.
This is my third time pulling. I have pulled this tractor the farthest of anybody in my family-yeah!
As far as training, it's kind of just like driving a standard car but yeah, it's a little different and it took me some practice.
My husband's father, when he was growing up his father had a tractor like this because they lived on a farm, so when the family kind of got into pulling tractors he bought this tractor in Pennsylvania and we drove down and got it. So ever since then we've been tweaking on it a little bit getting it ready. It has a lot of work that needs to be done; the motor actually needs to be redone because it doesn't have a lot of compression but we're still here just because the rest of the family is here and it's just something we've always done together."
(Announcer) "The First Lady of the day to pull and this is Katie Haley from Orleans driving a 1952 Alice Chalmers WD 45, Katie Haley is the final one in this class."
(Tractor pulls sled)
(Announcer) "Good pull, Katie. How about a good hand, Katie Haley right here Alice Chalmers WD 45. A good pull, Katie. Take your time. Don't be nervous."
(Haley) "Not great, I pulled 152 feet, I just was a little nervous-156-oh, not bad, I'm not last."
(Announcer) "There's a girl we haven't seen the last of. We'll see Katie Haley pull again. I can assure you of that."
(HOST) Twenty year old Katie Haley placed ninth out of thirteen in her tractor pulling class at the start of the Orleans County Fair.
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