Outlaw events reach more than 500,000 fans with an average attendance of 10,000 people per event. The association has 16 classes and more than 350 competing vehicles. The light super stock class uses an ag tractor rear end and the motor has to match the hood (i.e. a Ford hood must have a Ford motor). “After that, you can do pretty much anything you want to them as far as making them go fast.” His class has 19 events this year. One of Mark’s two tractors has finished in first place at 16 of the 17 events held through the end of August. With just two events left (at press time), he’s in a strong position to become the overall season points champion for the second year in a row. Still, Mark is realistic about the ups and downs of the sport. “It all cycles around. There’s been times we’ve been beat so bad we didn’t want to go again.” Mark traveled to National Tractor Pulling Association (NTPA) events for three or four years in the 1990s. “We’d leave in June and come back in September, maybe be home for a few weeks here or there.” His travels took him all over the Midwest, plus Canada and the southern, eastern and northern parts of the U.S. Several of the panels from Mark Ulmer’s tractor named “The Weapon.” Mickey Harris, a world-renowned airbrush artist who lives in Menno, painted the panels.
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Mark sat out of the event side of tractor pulling for almost 10 years from 1996-2005 to be home for Little League games and other activities his kids were in at the time. But staying home didn’t mean he’d left the world of tractor pulls behind.
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