Puller Sled Benefits Crowd, Fire Department

Without a proper pulling sled, people could not enjoy the excitement of the Sidney Chamber’s tractor pull event, scheduled this year for Saturday, Aug. 27 at the Richland County Fairgrounds.

The Douglas, ND, fire department makes this event possible by supplying its homemade sled to the Sidney Chamber each year for use in the event. This ensures that those who attend the event have a great tractor pull to watch, and it also garners funds for the Douglas Fire Department. The fire department uses the sled rental money to finance expenses of this tiny fire department. “Douglas is a small community about 30 miles south of Minot,” says Douglas volunteer firefighter Del Groninger. “A local mechanic/farmer who is now the fire chief made this sled several years ago and we use it as a fund raiser to support the fire department. In its early infancy, we went to a pull every other weekend, but now we only attend six or eight pulls each year.”

He adds, “We’ve never been to a show and had the sled break down. There are safety features built into it, with shear pins in key locations to prevent breaking.”

Groninger explains that the Douglas fire chief built the sled from antique parts dating in some cases back to the 1940s. Other parts, taken from discarded vehicles, make up the remainder of the sled. The sled also has both straps and cables for hookup. “We can use either straps or cables to hook up to the vehicles that pull the sled,” he states. “If we have a real track we use cables for the hookups. If we have a looser track we use the straps. This saves wear and tear.”

Winners are determined by the amount of weight pulled. “We give the prizes to the guys who pull the most weight for the size of the truck or tractor, not to those who pull it the furthest,” Groninger remarks. “Pull scores are based on percentage of weight.”

The Douglas fire department began attending the Sidney tractor pull several years ago at the request of the Sidney Chamber. “We’ve taken our sled to pulls for years,” Groninger remarks. “An individual from Sidney who attended one of our pulls approached the Chamber in Sidney about having us come to their pull. The Sidney Chamber then contacted us about bringing our sled to their event. We agreed, and we’ve been going to Sidney for the past three years.”

Groninger appreciates the support Sidney area residents give to the Sidney tractor pull, and he says this attendance has helped the Douglas Fire Department purchase a much needed new fire engine. “We’re a small town and we do everything we can to finance our fire department,” he comments. “We sell advertising through posters that we send across the state, and we net about $4000 per summer that helps our fire department. We also received a homeland security grant and had to come up with 15% for a new truck. Hiring out our sled has helped us have the funds to purchase the new truck which went into service in May. This has helped us become a better fire department.”