Norwalk Tractor Pull marks 50 years

The late Dennis Hubbard could always be depended on to add historical perspective to the tractor pull. Here he is with son David in 1985.

To see more historical photos of the Norwalk Tractor Pull, click here.

By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor

The new idea went over like the proverbial lead balloon with screen doors. At least that is the way Dave Schreier remembers the response when he suggested the Norwalk Lions Club sponsor a tractor pull more than 49 years ago.

“Tractor pulls were a new idea then,” he recalled in an interview last week.

Despite the popularity of horse pulling, the idea of dragging a stone boat down a street in Norwalk was a hard sell not only to Lions Club members, but also to local residents.

Schreier recalls that several of the town’s leading businessmen vacated the village for the weekend to avoid any connection to what they predicted would be an epic embarrassment.

Despite the initial skepticism, Schreier recalled, once the idea began to take ahold, Lions club members developed enthusiasm for the project.

And why not? The club’s general fund had sunk to $15, and it appeared it would generate few opportunities to raise money for its obligations.

Still hedging its bet, the club made the decision in June 1967 to hold a “celebration” in August. No one was quite ready to call it a “tractor pull” at that point.

“That did not give us much time to get ready,” chuckled Schreier, whose love for tractor pulling resulted in a lifetime career in the business.

Schreier was just 26 at the time and had been to a few pulls. He and his brother Dick had opened a John Deere dealership in Norwalk, so though they knew lots about tractors, running a pull was to be an amateur,shirttail operation.

In a fit of optimism, the club abandoned the term “celebration” and named the event what it was — “tractor pull.”

To the amazement of many, by the time the last rumble of a tractor motor was heard, the consensus was that the first-ever Norwalk Lions Tractor Pull had been an unqualified success.

Ninety-seven tractors had registered in four classes, as had five garden tractors. The Lions served 624 chicken dinners, along with other refreshments.

The first pull was not without incident. Plane rides, a feature of the event, were halted after a bumpy landing damaged a wing, and a parachute jumper from Volk Field encountered problems, but fortunately was not injured.

But in the best news of all, the Lions’ treasury balance soared from $15 to $2,029.95. That silenced the naysayers, and the club committed itself to another pull the next year.

Meanwhile, the reputation of the pull grew, and 107 tractors turned out for the second year’s event. The Lions added a raffle to the event, and the club’s treasury balance more than doubled.

Not that there weren’t plenty of places to invest the club’s newfound wealth.

The Chicago and Northwestern had closed the line between Elroy and Sparta, abandoning the Norwalk terminal and selling the right-of-way to the state. It was clear the area would make an ideal village park that would welcome bikers on the newly designated Elroy-Sparta State Trail.

Looking back now, Schreier regrets abandoning the old Norwalk depot.

“I don’t know why we ever did that,” he said.

The depot was not of major historical significance. Clearly the railroad made a greater investment in the Kendall and Sparta depots.

And though the depot is gone, what the Lions replaced it with has been of far greater value and use.

In 1970, the club invested $10,000 in a 40-by-100-foot shelter with bathrooms. Over time, the club has continued to maintain and improve the structure, adding a new kitchen in recent years. Through the years, the Lions have continued to develop and improve the park, adding another shelter in 1983.

Funds from the tractor pull also have been used for creating scholarships and sponsoring school events and many other community endeavors.

As the years rolled by, new events and activities were added to the Norwalk Lions Tractor Pull. Buttons were sold for admission to the pull, the Lioness Club added a pie and ice cream social, antique tractors and equipment were displayed, a flower show was added, and a parade and fireworks are a few of the events that have come and gone.

One of the most popular traditions was added in 1969 — a Norwalk High School reunion. Over time, the reunion grew to include nearly everyone associated with the community, and tractor pull weekend became “coming home to Norwalk” weekend.

Despite the Lions’ steadfast commitment, things began to change. In 1999, the Eliminator failed to make an appearance, as its owner had encountered trucking trouble. Tractor pull fans ate their chicken, gulped down more beer, had pie and ice cream and waited. And waited. By mid-afternoon, it was abundantly clear the only “pull” would be disappointed fans and entrants pulling away from Norwalk.

A few weeks later, to save face and make good to the sponsors, the Lions held a dirt pull on Arnie Schmitz’s property and discovered that dirt pulls drew more fans.

According to Glen Degenhardt, it wasn’t long afterward that the Lions again faced a funds crisis. The popularity of the blacktop pull had begun to wane, and with the loss of interest went the revenue and the sponsors.

The checking account had less than $1,200, and meeting the obligations and expenses of the pull appeared problematic.

The solution appeared to be abandoning the blacktop pull and creating a dirt track that would qualify the event as a National Tractor Pullers Association-sanctioned pull.

To draw crowds, the Norwalk pull had to include the high-powered class that pulling fans were accustomed to seeing at the Tomah tractor pull.

In the intervening years since the Norwalk’s pulls beginnings, Dave Schreier closed his implement business in Norwalk, moved to Tomah and took a position as president and CEO of World Pulling International and as the executive director of NTPA.

Tractor pulling at this level is loaded with regulations, and Schreier was worried that the Lions Club might have difficulty making the jump. To Schreier’s delight, the Lions came through.

Although it wasn’t always easy. One of the biggest challenges, according to Degenhardt, was negotiating with the DNR.

The pull is only one weekend a year, but the DNR initially was not very supportive of the dirt track infringing on the Elroy-Sparta State Trail. Degenhardt thinks that once the agency understood how much the Lions donate to community improvements, it dropped its opposition.

The next challenge was creating a track 350 feet long and 40 feet wide. Three feet of what was once the old rail yard was removed, and tons of clay donated by Allan Martin of Wilton were used for fill.

But that clay did not prove suitable for a pulling track. Degenhardt said that an excavation project on the Glenn Muehenkamp farm turned up the desired soil, and a large chunk of the first type was removed and replaced.

The expense of converting to a dirt track plunged the Lions’ treasury into the red. Nevertheless, the club forged ahead, holding the first pull on the new track in 2002, with the first sanctioned pull in 2006.

Though some harbor an attachment to the quaint pulls of the old days, clearly the decision by the Lions to upgrade has been good for the bottom line.

And for those who enjoying strolling back in time, there will be plenty of opportunity. The all-school reunion will be at 5 p.m. Friday. And it really will be “all-school,” according to Degenhardt, who noted that along with graduates from Norwalk schools, Ontario and Wilton school alumni are also invited.

Farm classes also will have an opportunity to strut their stuff on Sunday, and there even be a guest appearance by the old stone boat.

For a full schedule of events, look for the tractor pull advertisement on page 3 (click here to see this week’s e-Edition).

THE FIRST WINNERS: The 1967 Norwalk Tractor Pull

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