Friday’s heavy rain might have meant the 41st annual Tanner Tractor and Truck Pull was shortened from two nights to one, but it also meant some great cooler weather and a large crowd for Saturday night.

The tractor and truck pull, originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday night at the drag strip next to the Tanner High School football stadium, ran only on Saturday after rain forced the cancelation of Friday’s pull. But event chairman Daniel Bates said the event still was a big success for the community.

“It was unfortunate to be rained out on Friday night, but the rain brought the temperatures down on Saturday, and it was actually pretty cool on Saturday night,” Bates said. “I’ve never known it to be that cool at the tractor pull. Normally the last weekend in July is miserably hot, but this year after the rain, it was about as perfect a weather as you could ask for.”

The cancelation of Friday’s pulling meant all the pulling would be done in one night, and it really brought the crowds out, Bates said.

“Everything went great,” he said. “We had a really good crowd on Saturday and plenty of pullers. It was a great event once again.”

The tractor and truck pull has run each year in Tanner since 1977. It began with 10 classes and a total purse of $2,600. This year, there were 16 different classes and the total purse was $48,800.

The longest pull of the event came in the Heavy Super Tractors division, with Brandon Hunt’s pulling 344.244 feet in his vehicle Liv’n A Dream. Mark Ford had the second-longest pull of the night, pulling 342.986 feet in the Two Wheel Drive Trucks division with his vehicle Tremor.

Jason Croomer won in two different divisions, pulling 317.600 feet to win the Limited Light Super Stock Tractor division with Old Yeller and then pulling 316.772 feet to win the Pro-Stock Four Wheel Drive division with his truck Top Gun.

Jacob Fugua won the Light Super Stock Tractors division, pulling 319.616 feet in his tractor Tennessee Tracks, while Nathan Replogle won the Four Wheel Drive Trucks division with a pull of 314.316 feet in his truck Let R Rip.

Randy Thomas won the Super Farm Tractors Division with a pull of 315.290 feet with Bad Bodacious and Anna Belle Bradley rounded out the winners by winning the Limited Pro-Stock Tractors division, pulling 307.542 feet with Tennessee Red.

The event acted as a fundraiser for the Tanner Quarterback Club.

“All funds raised through the event goes to the club,” Bates said. “The club then supports Tanner High School athletics and Tanner youth sports.”

Bates said it takes a lot of support to put on a successful tractor and truck pull, especially doing it 41 consecutive years.

“I just want to give a personal thank you to all of our sponsors,” Bates said. “If not for the help we get from them, it would be very difficult to do this. We’ve got some that have been with us a long time, and we also get new ones every year. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to put on this event.”

While the 41st annual tractor and truck pull is in the history books, the sights are set on making the next year’s event even better.

“We want to get over this one before we start thinking about the next one. I’m getting too old for this,” Bates said with a laugh. “But seriously, we’ve actually already started talking about next year. Everything was good and we want to keep it that way.”