Battle By The Bay Making A Return For Labor Day Weekend!

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — After facing obstacles like COVID-19 and inclement weather, the event coordinator Nick Simonds is happy to announce Battle By The Bay is back!

Battle By The Bay is a truck and tractor pull competition featuring 10,500 Hot Farm tractors, 6400 4×4 trucks, food and drinks. Dragon Motorsports sponsors the event (on top of many other sponsors), which is a major power pulling league that has a circuit with some of the best pullers.

This event is Dragon Motorsports’ only stop in Maryland, so for the motorsports community in Southern Maryland, this is a great opportunity to compete against some of the best truck and tractor pullers and a chance to win prize money. Additionally, there is over $20,000 worth of prize money for the winners of this competition, according to Nick Simonds.

“We are their only stop in Maryland, so a lot of competitors that are coming are coming from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland will be here, and we have a handful that live in Southern Maryland. This is a chance to have some of the nation’s best competitors come and travel here to compete,” Simonds said.

As great as this opportunity is for Southern Marylanders, the event took a while to come back for the second time around. The first Battle By The Bay happened in 2019, but since then, there has been a struggle to host the event because of COVID-19. Now, as they prep for the event this weekend, they still have to keep certain restrictions in mind.

“We had a lot done for the second anniversary, which was 2020. Then, it got canceled. It was a little hard to swallow, but we understood the reason behind it,” Simonds said. “Although things are lifted, we are still thinking about the state of affairs.”

They had the second anniversary of Battle By The Bay scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, but inclement weather derailed their plans. Now, it’s been a while since the first event, and there is a fear that people may have forgotten the excitement of the last event in 2019. Fortunately, this event not only symbolizes a chance to be seen as the best but as a symbol of normalcy returning to society.

“Not having an event since 2019 really hurts the event. After a certain amount of time, it gets tougher for people to remember what a good time they had at the last one. So really, more than anything, I am excited to have this under our belt,” Simonds said. “I think everyone is ready to get back to some normalcy. We have had a lot of support.”

Gates will open at the St. Mary’s County Fairgrounds for the event at 4 p.m., while the pull begins at 6 p.m. on Sep. 4, 2021. The gates will open at noon, while the pull starts at 2 p.m. on Sept. 5, 2021. If it rains on either of the days, the make-up date is Sep. 6, 2021.

The tickets cost $20 for adults and $10 for kids, and children under five are free. After this event is over, Simonds mentioned they plan to have the Battle By The Bay again for Memorial Day weekend of 2022!