It’s a rite of spring in the town of Oakdale when Mike Finucan revs his tractor for the first time.

“We get so excited for the tractor pull when we hear him firing up his truck,” said neighbor Kelli Squires, who lives about two miles away. “We come out here every year.”

Squires and several of her friends were at Tomah Recreation Park Friday to cheer Finucan in the two-wheel division of the Wisconsin Dairyland Super National Tractor Pull.

“He works so hard on his tractor all year long,” said Mandy Squires, another neighbor. “He’s one of the hardest working guys I’ve ever met.”

Friday’s session could have gone better for Finucan and his friend Todd Hanson, who competes in the mini-rod division and works from Finucan’s garage.

Finucan’s tractor, “Dollars and No Sense,” got off to a good start but came to a stop at 252 feet when the blower belt snapped (a full pull is 300 feet).

“When this breaks, you have no power,” said Finucan as he held up the broken belt. “You never know when they’re going to break.”

Finucan, a competitor in the Dairyland pull since 1999, had to remove the starter and fuel pump to replace the belt, a process that takes about 15 minutes. He had more than enough time to get his vehicle ready for Saturday night.

“We’ll pull the valve covers off, check the oil filters — other than that, it should be ready to go,” he said.

Hanson was making his first-ever Tomah run. His “Make It Fit” mini-rod stopped at 187 feet.

“It was a good, straight run,” Hanson said. “We were just a little heavy on alcohol.

“We had to run it rich so we didn’t wreck anything. If you lean it out, you’ll melt it down and blow it up. There’s a perfect balance, and it takes awhile to get it right. It’s trail and error.”

The pull’s publicity director, Julie Zebro, was very encouraged by the first two days of the three-day event.

Zebro believes attendance at the first three sessions will be comparable to last year. She’ll have the final numbers early next week.

“Based on what I saw (Saturday) night, it was a little bit down, but I think that’s weather-related,” she said. “It could have been a lot worse — we got everything in Saturday. Once again, God was on our side.”

Finucan said the track conditions were excellent.

“It’s a good, biting track,” he said. “Some of the other tracks run really loose — they don’t have a lot of red clay. I probably should have run a gear lower.”

Hanson was happy with the opportunity to compete against the nation’s best pullers.

“You’re pulling against the best, and it’s a great feeling,” he said. “It’s an honor to pull against this competition.”