Photo by Bill Green A multi-engine tractor races down the 300-foot track Monday night. A capacity crowd filled the stands as 40 tractors competed.

And those years, and many more, Irene K. Palmer has watched from the sold-out grandstand.

Palmer, who is 101, has been attending the fair almost her entire life. On Monday she cheered the tractor drivers on from her front row seat, next to her son, Gordon F. Palmer Jr., and her daughter, Betty P. Ratajczak.

"I'm with my children, and I enjoy that," Irene Palmer said, between the earsplitting noise of each pull. "My son enjoys it and I like to come with him."

Her front row seat was "the closest I've ever been," she said

Gordon Palmer said he does, indeed, enjoy the tractor pull, because viewers can see each pull from beginning to end. "But, she likes it too," he said, gesturing toward his sister. "She just won't admit it. She's a sleeper."

Irene Palmer has been coming to the fair since 1915, first as a young girl and then as a young wife and mother. She continues the tradition through her golden years and still attends several days each year.

"Her mother and dad lived in Shookstown and they used to come to town in the horse and wagon," Ratajczak said. "They would leave the horse and wagon at a barn on Fifth Street, and then walk to the fairgrounds. Her mother would fry chicken and they would have a picnic."

Irene Palmer said the tractor pull is "just like family." The Palmers lived across the road from fair board ,member Jim Grimes, and they know many other longtime fair officials.

In fact, Clem, the tractor pull announcer, is the son of the Palmers' former milkman in Lewistown.

Family traditions are a big part of the pull itself. In the first class, three generations of one family competed against each other.

These tractors are a long way from the down-on-the-farm variety. The engines have been enhanced for highest pulling performance. Some even have jet engines or helicopter engines -- all just to drag a weighted sled at least 300 feet, for a "full pull."

Forty drivers competed Monday for a first place prize of $600. Those who came in last in each class won a case of oil donated by Grimm's Automovation, which had tow trucks on standby for the event.

The drivers begin on the track in front of one end of the grandstand and hook up to the sled, which gets heavier as the tractor pulls. The tractor roars, the front wheels leave the track, and fire spouts from the exhaust. It's all part of the fun.

Dawn Taylor and Tim Bee watched from the grandstand Monday. Bee said he drives monster trucks. Their favorite part of the tractor pull is simply witnessing "all that horsepower!"

Breanna Burdette, age 4, said she enjoyed seeing fire shoot from the exhaust. She was in the grandstand with her father and grandfather, her ears protected by heavy ear muffs. Breanna's hair was neatly pulled back into a ponytail held by five colorful prize ribbons she won showing her Jersey cows at the fair this year.