Tampico woman continues pulling tradition begun by her grandfather

By Jessica Squires
First Posted: June 28, 2012 - 1:23 am
Last Updated: June 28, 2012 - 1:24 am

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Tribune photo by Aaron Piper / Tampico resident Sharon Markel drives her International tractor down the course at the Grassy Fork Volunteer Fire Department%u2019s 46th annual Truck/Tractor Pull and Fish Fry on Friday at Tampico. Markel%u2019s tractor stopped just feet of the full 310-foot course mark.

Tribune photo by Aaron Piper / Sharon Markel of Tampico prepares to back her family%u2019s International tractor that she was using to compete with on Friday during the Grassy Fork Volunteer Fire Department%u2019s 46th annual Truck/Tractor Pull and Fish Fry at the fire station in Tampico. Markel%u2019s father, Phil Teipen of Seymour was helping with the task. Markel says that tractor pulls are in her blood, and that most of her family back to her grandfather competed in tractor pulls.

There’s nothing quite like the cheers of a hometown crowd.

Sharon Markel of Tampico knows this firsthand. Markel, who some know by her maiden name of Sharon Teipen, drove at the annual Grassy Fork Truck and Tractor Pull supporting the Grassy Fork Volunteer Fire Department on Friday night.

As Markel backed up her tractor to meet the sled, the rumble of the crowd turned to excitement as the announcer’s voice boomed from the loud speakers that “the woman of the show, Sharon Teipen,” had taken the field.

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