“There are currently no other women doing this full time in our class,” Dawn said.
Dawn, who works as a senior director of youth markets for the American Heart Association, her husband Carl O’Dell, an electrician and a farmer, and their longtime friend, Kenny Lucas, who works as an account manager for a local hydraulics company and also farms with Carl, formed a team in 1999 after Lucas invited the couple to join him as partners. Lucas is also from Germantown.
“Kenny bought his first truck in 1998 and we watched him compete,” Dawn said. “I knew about truck and tractor pulling after being around it growing up and I’d also done some announcing work.”
Little did Dawn know that within a year or so, she’d be driving one of these powerful trucks, with a motor of 2,500 horsepower and the power to pull weighty “sleds” distances of 300 feet or more.
“I surprised Dawn Christmas about ten years ago with her competing license,” Lucas said. “We let her drive a few times and she really seemed to enjoy it.”
Once Dawn started driving and competing in truck pulls, she was hooked by the rush of speed and power.
“I’m very competitive and I love all the people I meet along the way,” she said. “I love horsepower!”
No different from other truck pulling teams, the O’Dell/Lucas team involves members working together to produce a winning result. Until last year, Dawn was the driver, Lucas was the mechanic and Carl acted as spotter.
The team works so well together that they won the Ohio State Tractor Pullers Association state championship for their class for two years. And Dawn was also named “Puller of the Year,” in 2010. Last year, the team was named the OSTPA “Family of the Year,” and they also added a second truck, which they built together.
This summer Dawn and Carl’s time on the competition circuit will be limited as they are expecting their first child, a daughter they will name Carlie.
“We want to expose Carlie to pulling from an early age,” Dawn said. “There are so many good lessons to be learned from this, including responsibility and finishing what you start. It’s also important to teach her to be humble. If she loves the sport, it will be important that she learn everything about it because, as a female, she will most definitely be tested.”
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