The official, precariously placed between the two clay tracks with nothing more than a lawn chair and a pair of headphones for protection, waves the green flag to his right. Just when you think it couldn’t get any louder, the engine on Dale Ebker’s Ford F250 Ranger roars.
His truck is tugging on the chain that is hooked to the weighted sled like a horse chomping at the bit. He waits for just the right moment to pop the clutch, throw her into gear and take off down the track.
Ebker and his family came all the way from Owensville, Missouri, to take first place in the 6200 Super Street Truck class at the inaugural Mexico FFA Truck and Tractor Pull on Saturday.
“We pieced the clutch together just to be here,” said Ebker.
Ebker, who traveled a little over 100 miles to compete Saturday night, was far from the only out-of-towner. Out-of-state pulling teams from as far as Wisconsin and Louisiana were also spotted at the event.
Mexico FFA Chapter Advisor Christina Terry believes the event went extremely well and estimates at least 1,500 people in attendance.
“I think we did really well money-wise,” said Terry. “It was an excellent fundraiser. It went great and hopefully we will get to do it next year.”
This year was purely experimental and now, with some experience under her belt, Terry knows what to expect and already has ideas on how to improve future events.
“There are some things that I would do differently, but I think everything in general was really well planned and organized and we had a lot of help,” she said
The Mexico Jaycees offered their support at the concession stand and the Mexico Young Farmers volunteered their time and money as well.
Terry said the night would not have been possible without the help of Mexico Young Farmers: Kyle Roth, Ross Becker and Matt Deimeke.
“They really did most of the hard leg work on it,” said Terry. “The Young Farmers fronted all of the money for us and they helped me every step of the way with it.”
