BOWLING GREEN — The sun was hot, the air humid, and the decibel level at the Wood County fairgrounds was in the “Cover your ears!” zone every 10 minutes or so.

But the 15,000 people who packed into the stands, some in shade but most not, didn’t seem to mind one bit.

Too sunny? Wear a hat. Too humid? Have a cold drink. Too loud? Well goodness, use your earplugs because, son, you’re in PullTown USA.

For the 53rd year, the National Tractor Pulling Championships arrived in Bowling Green for the weekend. Before the event ends late Saturday night, some 300 super-fueled, ear-piercing, thundering tractors and trucks will have roared down the dirt track pulling a sled designed to be the anchor to counterbalances all that harnessed horsepower.

More than 60,000 fans are expected to take part throughout the event. The championships, which began Thursday, have five sessions — Thursday’s went past midnight — and 13 classes of pulling tractors or truck with the entrants all chasing one thing: a coveted ring indicating they were champions at Bowling Green, the most important venue in the world of pulling.

“This is like the Indy 500 of pulling,” said Paul Webster, co-owner of Cenpeco Lubricants, a company that makes oils used by competitive tractor and truck pullers, and one of several sponsoring firms.

Doug Theobald, a farmer and competitive tractor-pull driver from Shelbyville, Ind., agreed.

“It’s just the mystique of Bowling Green. You mention Bowling Green in tractor pulling anywhere in the sport, people know what Bowling Green is. It‘s the biggest and best event that we have,” Mr. Theobald said.

Friday was a banner day for the Theobald family. Mr. Theobald drove his 8,000-horsepower “Full Blown Wicked” tractor to a third place finish, but in doing so clinched a season long National Tractor Pullers Association 2019 circuit championship, which is based on total points at 13 pulling venues.

He won for the light unlimited modified tractor classification at Bowling Green Friday.

“That’s what we run all year for,” said Mr. Theobald said, though he admitted it would have been nice to get a Bowling Green Championship ring.

“We lost a tiebreaker by three feet. Three feet!” his father Keith said. “But we have our first championship. We’ve been pulling since 1981, so it’s all good.”

David Schultz, director of the event and a member of the Northwestern Ohio Tractor Pullers Inc., which puts on the championships, said studies show the event brings in $37 million to the Wood County area and showcases the area to the world. The championships are streamed live on RFD-TV, a Pay TV channel that focuses on rural issues, broadcast on radio, and followed by a tractor and truck pulling press.

It is even covered by Dutch magazine journalists, because the sport is huge in the Netherlands and a Dutch team was in Bowling Green this weekend to compete.

“For some, the attraction is the level of mechanics involved. These are highly powered machines,” Mr. Schultz said. “For others it’s the agricultural ties. And then there’s the people that just love the sport.”

For the uninitiated, tractor pulling is akin to drag-racing, except in drag racing the object is speed whereas in pulling the object it is power.

Running on a surface of sand, clay, or packed soil, the machines drag a metal sled filled with weight. The load is winched forward as the tractor and sled moves down the track, increasing the drag until the machine bogs down and stops. The distance the sled is pulled, which is measured in thousandths of an inch, determines the winner.

The “tractors” — often just several powerful engines linked together under a tractor-like skin — easily can cost over six figures after all modifications are made.

“I would compare this to NASCAR, the (National Hot Road Association), or something like that,” said Tiger Pohlmann, a radio host and podcaster for Pure Horsepower News, a site dedicated to the sport of pulling.

“There’s a farmer fanbase, but then there’s the gearhead fans, and they are all there to see these powerful machines. The unlimiteds can have 12,000 to 14,000 horsepower,” he said. “And in the end it all comes down to the tape measure.”

On Thursday night, the event paid tribute to one of its pioneers, three-time grand national champion Larry Koester, who helped take a purely regional sport and turn it into a national phenomenon. Mr. Koester, of Wadesville, Ind., died in July.

“Larry Koester, he was one of the biggest ambassadors of our sport,” Mr. Schultz said. “He not only represented the Modified Mini division that he competed in, he represented all of pulling whenever he spoke.”

The event’s full schedule is available online at pulltown.com

First Published August 17, 2019, 12:29 a.m.