Spend a few minutes and get to know us !

Sneaky Pete's Garden Tractor Pullers are based out of Rosemount, Minnesota. Cy and Carol Schmitz are responsible for all scheduling, managing and organizing the pulling events. The club owns two pulling skids; one for the lighter class tractors and one for the higher horsepower tractors. Sneaky Pete also provides the scale and pull-back skid loader and does some track preparation work to be sure everything is in order for the pull. Several volunteers help to keep everything going smoothly for each tractor pull as they travel with Sneaky Pete though the season.

Fred Schwoch, Joe Persoon, Rich Danich, and Bob Tix help Cy unload the skids, skid-loader,  the scale,  the sound equipment and other equipment to put on the pull.  Orange colored safety cones are placed on the outside of the track so pullers can easily spot the out of bounds areas and a marker is set at the start of the track showing where the skid is returned after each tractor pulls. Once the scale is set up, pullers usually gather pretty quickly so they can weigh in and set their hitch height. It starts to get pretty congested by the scale area with all the pullers putting on and throwing off weights as they "dial" their tractors in for their weight classes. Bob usually fill in at the scale to help zero the scale and check the hitch heights.

Meanwhile, the ladies in charge of all that important paper-work are busy setting up tables, chairs, sign up sheets and unpacking copies of the Club's rules, schedules, entry forms and other necessary paperwork. Carol Schmitz and Kay Tix are always well organized and ready to answer any pullers questions about signing up their tractors or registering for points. Letty Schwoch is the club's announcer and after she tests out the sound system; she organizes information sheets about the pullers and their tractors and also helps with the sign up. There is an enormous amount of information that the registration people have to process and organize in a very short amount of time.

After everyone has signed up for their respective classes, the pulling order is posted trackside and the entry and result sheets are prepared with as much information as possible. A driver's meeting is held in the pit area, shortly before the pull starts with Cy addressing the driver's questions or concerns for that day's event or announcements/changes on future pulls. Letty  plays the taped National Anthem and everyone is off to their assigned post.

Rick Danich, Joe Persoon, and Rich Thron alternate reading the laser to record each puller's distance and radio the information to Kay who records the footage on the puller's entry sheets. Letty announces each puller's distance to the audience as Carol updates the result sheets and  payback envelopes as each class is completed. Fred Schwoch is the official flag man.  Rich Thron and Wally VandenEykel take turns unhooking the tractors at the end of the track.  Dan and Tyler Morrow and Bob help line up and back up the tractors to the skid. They hook the chain and kill switch cable and push the pulling tractor ahead to take the slack out of the chain.

Brandon Johnson, Chris Bushor and Jeff Thron usually take turns running the skids, as Gary Miklya, Gene Lukes and Dale Scheffler alternate running the skid loader while Cy watches VERY closely. It takes a lot of good people to put on a safe and entertaining tractor pull. Sneaky Pete's Pullers are well stocked with club members knowing that safety comes first. The members of Sneaky Pete's Garden Tractor Pulling club love to pull tractors, that is the bottom line, and they do a great job of working together to make the pull event enjoyable for all.

Local and first time pullers  who remove the mower deck that day just to try pulling, are encouraged and supported by the "seasoned pullers". Pullers borrow tools, wire, weights, nuts, bolts, duct tape or a helping hand to anyone that has a last minute technical breakdown.

When the last tractor pulls as far as it can down that sometimes long track, everyone takes a breath and the whole process is reversed to pack and load everything up. The pullers collect their pay-back winnings, check the placing order and discuss what they did wrong or what they should have done, and what they may have overlooked or who they may have under-estimated. The tractors and equipment are loaded and everyone is off for home with ideas brewing in their heads to get that tractor to pull just a few more feet or in some cases, inches at the next event.

So come on and join us at a tractor pull, mingle with the pullers before and after the pull and watch us do our best to entertain you and maybe, just maybe, you will catch the "tractor pulling bug"!

Cy & Carol Schmitz	Cy holds a drivers meeting	Letty, & Kay at registration
Jeff aboard one of the skids	Cy supervises at the scale	Fred gives the green flag to a puller
Rich relays the pullers distance to Kay	Cy watches the track closely	Brandon gets a wild ride down the track

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