Sports Editor

Mike Finucan has never enjoyed a better finish in Tomah.

Finucan leap-frogged several Grand National regulars to finish 10th Saturday night in the two-wheel drive truck division of the Wisconsin Dairyland Super National Tractor Pull at Tomah’s Recreation Park.

“I thought the weekend went pretty good,” said Finucan, who competed in every Tomah pull between 1999 and 2006 but was forced to miss last year’s event when he was unable to get his truck ready. “There were quite a few trucks that should have beat me and have beaten me in the past, but we had a pretty good run this year.”

Finucan, who lives between Oakdale and Camp Douglas, pulled his 6,200-pound two-wheel drive truck ahead of 22 other drivers in Saturday evening’s competition. His “Dollars and No Sense” Dodge pulled 305.4 feet to edge 11th-place Craig Nation of Rich Hill, Mo.

His Sunday afternoon pull wasn’t successful. He was disqualified after 292.7 and finished 28th out of 34 competitors. Another area puller, Dan Walsh of Lyndon Station, tied for first in the division.

While Finucan doesn’t compete nationally on the Super National or Grand National circuit, he still competes in many events close to home. This weekend, he’ll compete at the Regional National in Antigo.

“We pretty much run the regional circuit through Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota,” Finucan said.

Finucan’s division is considered the “funny cars" of tractor pulling. Because the weight remains toward the back of the truck, the front tires often lift high in the air.

Pullers nearly got through all six shows without anything getting wiped out by bad weather. The only rain casualties occurred Friday night when the Super Stock Division, the final event of the night, was rained out and Sunday afternoon, when rain halted the two-wheel drive division before a pull-off could decide a winner.

One other area puller stood out during the weekend. On Sunday, Anne Linehan of Sparta finished second in the Super Farm Tractor Division.