First Gardenton Truck and Tractor Pull has heart at its center

Antique and modified tractors and trucks roared into action billowing thick smoke out of their stack pipes as the first Gardenton Truck and Tractor Pull revved into gear last weekend.

The event at Gardenton Museum and Park was founded by Tolstoi resident Jake Wiebe. Wiebe, a five-year puller who owns his own construction company, decided to hold the competition in Stuartburn a year ago. Initially, he wanted to have it in his hometown, but wasn’t able to so he asked the Gardenton Museum if he could hold it on their grounds.

“I’m very grateful for the park here that we have, that we can use these facilities here. It has been very nice,” he said.

In preparation, Wiebe mowed the exhibition grounds, removed the topsoil and laid down the clay for the track, and he installed safety measures for the event. He got sponsorships from businesses in Steinbach, Grunthal, Altona, and Gardenton to help with the grounds and equipment.

Pulling involves a truck or tractor dragging a weighted skid (2,000 pounds to start increasing to 25,000 pounds as the event goes on) 300 feet or more within 30 seconds. The driver who can pull the farthest and fastest is the winner.

A cash prize is given to the drivers by Wiebe as an incentive for them to come back next August.

“There is no profit in it for me at all. I’m donating everything back to the pullers because I want them to come back. I want to be happy when they come and I want (them) to come back next year and bigger and better,” he said.

Having pulled in Canada and the United States for the past five years has given Wiebe a lot of contacts and drivers were willing to come from as far away as Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Tennessee to compete against Manitoba racers. A total of 32 “hooks” pulled between Friday and Saturday, including Wiebe in his modified Ford F-250 that had one of the longest pulls of the evening at 369.66 feet.

Wiebe described the rush he gets inside his truck “Clutches” as being unexplainable.

“Some people think, ‘You must be crazy doing that…,’” he said with a chuckle.

Wiebe’s cousin Barry Wiebe came from Morden driving a modified Ford nicknamed “The Hunter.” Barry said “it’s the worst feeling” before he steps into his truck during a pull as he’s incredibly nervous, but that all fades away when he begins to drive.

“There’s so much happening in there…There’s a crowd in front of you, right? So, you want to be pleasing to the crowd and I can’t even explain it,” he said.

“The Hunter” is a modified Ford truck with a Boss motor and supercharger with 2,800 horsepower. Barry pulled 353.28 feet at 20.5 mph.

Although this was an event that centered around powerful cars, the real heart of it was the Wiebe family’s tribute to their son, brother, and husband Gerald, who died suddenly on Jan. 3, days before his 31st birthday. Gerald died from a heart condition he didn’t know he had.

“I think he would be extremely proud. That’s the only thing I can say,” said Jake, who pulled in memory of his son. “He would enjoy it. This would be one of his dreams.”

Jake’s wife Marge shared that Gerald would go to all of Jake’s pulls and had his own pull truck, “Grandpa’s Old Beater,” which was driven by one of his brothers at the pull.

“He would have been in there like a dirty shirt. He would have just had a blast,” said Marge warmheartedly. She recalled how her son was compassionate and kind to everyone and would “give the shirt off his back for anybody.”

“Just keep your loved ones close,” she said. “Spend as much time as you can with them because you’ll never know when it’s the last day.”

Gerald’s wife Rebekah also pulled in his honour at the event going as far as 189.53 feet in her truck “Gerald’s Keeper.”

“I think it’s very honorable (how they’re paying tribute). I mean, it was great to see Gerald’s memory being portrayed this way and I loved it,” said Jacob Reimer, who has known the Wiebe family since childhood and attended the event with this wife and daughter.

Almost 1,000 people came to the two-day event surprising Jake who called it “phenomenal.”

“I was not expecting this. I figured we would get 50 people, maybe 100 people, and the stands are full, and the ground is full. It’s amazing,” he said, noting people come for the excitement of the noise, car modifications, and the power of the engines.

“To see what the guys built to make this work, it is sometimes unbelievable what is out here. I mean, we have trucks here with 3,000 horsepower.”

Reimer’s wife Helena and daughter Ariella enjoyed the pull on Saturday with Helena describing the event as “high energy” and “a blast.”

Reimer said it was the first time he came to a pull with his family and added it was the best pull he had ever attended.

“I love it. I would like to come every single year,” he said.