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Art A rions and hîms Green Monster featured dune 4 More than two million spectators turn out across the nation each year to witness the dust-churning tug-of-war spectacular -- truck and tracter pulling -- perhaps the slowest-moving but fastest-growing competitive event in the world of motorsports. Ariother eighit million viewers watch the sport on televisien. However, there may stili be some people wondering what truck and tractor pulling is ail about. "WeIl, it gees like this," explains Art Arfons, once the world's fastest man on wheel s, but currently the driver of a 6,000 hp turbine-engine medified tractor that will be at the Brooklin Spring Fair this year.. "You've got 300 ft. of dirt ahead of you and 40,000 lbs. behind. Each competitor hooks' on that weight -and whoever moves it farthest down the track is the winner.' Arfons, an Ohio native who usually places in the top 10, rnoved into tracter pulling in the 1970s after 20 years of record-brealdng performances on the dragstrip and the Bonneville Sait Flats of Utah. He came for a change of pace -- literally -- and stayed for the intense competition and colour that characterizes a sport whose attendance is growing at an ever-increasing rate. "I used te try te go faster than the competition," Arfons says. "Now I just try to go farther." The concept of truck and tractor pullîng began with the horse pulls of yesteryear. e1 frst reorded competition pull by a tracter came iri 1929. The first pulling orgaruzation was founded in 1969. Since then, the sport h as quickly found a way te. its fans' hearts. The vehicles pull a weight transfer machine or, as it is commonly called, a sled. They resemble flat-bod trailers with a large metal skid _plate in the front where wheels would be and a weight box over the skid plate, creating friction te, step even the most powerful vehicle. The amount of weight in the box depends on track conditions and the power of the clans of vehicle pulling it. A typical sled weighs 40,000 lbs., with 25,000 lbs. in the weight box. The pullI distance is measured from the starting point of the front of the sled te its eventual stepping point. A pull the length of the track (generally 300 ft. outdoors and 150 te 225 ft. indoors) is called a full pull. Two or more vehicles making a full pull corne back for one more round of competition te determnine a winner. One may think that truck and tracter pulling is a sport of horsepower. This is simply net true. There are many variables with which each driver has to, contend -- such as balance, gearing, tire conditions and track conditions. Both vehicles and sleds must adhere te strict safety restrictions. Vehicles go through a thorough inspection at every pull. ART ARFONS' 'Green Monster modified tractor, fuelled by a kerosene/unleaded mix, has 5.00-15 front weighing 7,200 Ibs., has two GE T-64 turbine engines tires and 30.5L-32 pullers for rear tires. from a Sikooeky helicopter, 6,000 horsepower, is -14- .--j