Pulling teams from all over the midwest and east coast returned to Mexico to leave it all out on the tracks at the Mexico Young Farmers Truck and Tractor Pull Saturday.
Josie Otto of Meta, the woman behind the wheel of Blue Power Express, started her season like many of her fellow pullers - at the Mexico FFA Chapter’s Truck and Tractor Pull.
She returned to Mexico Saturday night as the number one seed in the Light Limited Super Stock Tractors class with only three hooks left.
While she was skeptical about her chances Saturday, Otto said she had a good team of tractors behind her.
“We’ve been lucky enough to catch some first place hooks in Kahoka, Missouri; Mendon, Illinois; and Owensville, Missouri,” Otto said. “We travel quite far.”
There were a lot of last hooks Saturday so, despite less-than-ideal track conditions, competition was fierce.
Pullers faced a dry track ahead of them, which made it difficult to get enough traction, despite preparation by the Mexico Young Farmers who poured thousands of gallons of water on the tracks in the days leading up to the pull.
Otto’s first pull of the night just wouldn’t do as she signaled to the judges that she would like a second chance with a big thumbs down.
“My husband really made the decision,” Otto said. “We didn’t want to be first in the class because of the track conditions, it’s a little drier than we like it and being first in points, we kind of want to drop to the back and see what the other guys do.”
She finished the night in fourth with a total distance of 344.16 feet.
Overall, the Mexico Young Farmers were revved up about the turnout this year.
Ashley Troesser, a member of the Mexico Young Farmers, said this year drew one of the biggest crowds the Young Farmers have seen and there were over 125 pulls.
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