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European tractor team to vie for 1st US title
By Ashley Luthern
CANFIELD
For the first time in Canfield Fair history, a tractor team from Europe will compete in the Championship Truck and Tractor Pull tonight.
Willem Dingerink, 62, owns Team Lambada of the Netherlands, which has won multiple Dutch and European titles. Dingerink and his sons Wim and Gert will be on the track at 7 p.m. in the Grandstand.
“They’ve won pretty much everything they could over there, and now they’re in pursuit of their first American title,” said Craig Myers, fair- board director who organizes and announces the event.
Myers compared the U.S. tractor pull circuit with NASCAR, where there is a preset schedule, and winners are awarded points based on finish place. The team with the most points at the end of the season wins the prize money, which could be as much as $1 million.
The Canfield Fair Truck and Tractor Pull began in 1971 and hosts competitors from the USA East and National Tractor Pullers Association. In addition to series points, tonight’s winner also will receive $1,000.
Team Lambada will pull its full modified tractor tonight and leave the minimodified tractor on the sidelines. Both have been built from the ground up.
The Dingerink family has stayed in a house owned by Bill and Wanda Lee Humphrey of Columbiana since June 14.
Bill and Wanda live across the street and have been their American host family. They said the Dutch crew has experienced a bit of culture shock.
“In the Netherlands, you could be in Germany in 31/2 hours,” Bill said. “They had to get used to the travel and the 14 or 16 hours to get to a run. When they endured those trips, it became a reality. It was like sticker shock to them.”
The Dingerinks will arrive this morning at the fair, after driving about three hours from a pull near Toledo.
Wanda has helped the team with laundry and cooking, learning a few things about Dutch life along the way.
“Dutch people don’t eat sweet corn. They say that it’s for pig feed, so I’m glad I didn’t fix it even though it’s in season,” Wanda said, chuckling.
The trio paid $25,000 to have the tractor carried by ship to America and will have to pay the same amount to get it back.
“They’re not here interested in sightseeing. This tractor is the full focus. It’s disassembled after every event, and every part is cleaned and put back together,” Bill said.