Horsepower invades arena
Miles Douglass/Columbia Basin HeraldJoe Tate pulls the sled as a cloud of dust stirs behind his truck at Saturday's Columbia Basin Sled Pullers event at the Grant County Fair.
MOSES LAKE - The Grant County Fair wrapped up the 2008 events with a demonstration of horsepower in the 4-H arena Saturday evening.
The Columbia Basin Sled Pullers took to the arena to test the limits their trucks.
The vehicles wowed the crowd with ground pounding excitement in the fourth sled pulling event of the season.
D.J. Calloway of Moses Lake founded the Columbia Basin Sled Pullers as a way to test the power of current street machines.
"I just thought it was a way to have fun and see how much we can actually pull," Calloway said.
The machine the trucks pull is a custom-built sled constructed by Mark Valentine of Royal City.
Valentine is a retired farmer and said he thought it would be fun to build the mechanical sled.
"I built it after I retired and I take it all around the state for pulls," Valentine said. "The boys here have a real good time with it."
The Columbia Basin Sled Pullers accept all street legal vehicles at their events, provided the trucks pass a strict safety inspection.
At the events, drivers have the opportunity to test how much horsepower the vehicle is generating according to a mobile dynamometer machine.
A mobile dynamometer machine tests the maximum horsepower of standing engines.
Overall horsepower and Dodge division championship honors went to Vinnie Hiemes in his Dodge Ram with a total of 655 horsepower.
Terry Becker earned the top Chevrolet division honors at 342 horsepower.
Chris Morris represented the Ford division with 406 horsepower.
The contestants were separated into six classes, with each vehicle making two attempts to pull the sled down a 300 feet track.
The Columbia Basin Sled Pullers next compete in Quincy on Sept. 12.
Complete Results
Class: Gas
1 - Michael Lankhaar
2 - Jim Dills
Class: Stock Diesel
1 - Leif Christopherson
2 - Michael Lankhaar
Class: Modified Diesel
1 - David Notar
2 - Cody McDowall
3 - Steve Ford
Class: Heavy Modified Diesel
1 - D.J. Calloway
2 - Wayne Jensen
3 - Joe Tate
Class: Single Axle Semi
1 - Luke Roberts
2 - Bill Harwood
Class: Semi
1 - Harold Buell
2 - Nick Boorman
3 - Ron Hay