[AT] When did tractor pulls become prevalent?

Spencer Yost spencer at rdfarms.com
Sun Jan 20 21:28:00 PST 2019


When I was a kid, the small local fairs that I went to all had horse pulls. I never saw tractor pulls.  This was on 1960s.  One fair in particular I can still see in my mind’s eye quite clearly.  It’s damn impressive to see a team of Belgians(Belgian is my memory anyways) go at a nearly immovable object.  A front loader/bucket would show up, and put weight on the sled,  eliminating teams until one was left.  My memory is of two horse teams.

I would normally suspect my experience was slanted toward Amish as I was born and  raised in my formative years in Pennsylvania; but we didn’t have a lot of Amish communities as I was on the western side of the state, not towards the middle (ie Lancaster).  Even so,  it was after a my father’s job relocation to Georgia as a 12 year old before I ever saw a tractor pull.

I’m sure they were around much earlier than that, and my recollection is probably tainted by sampling bias (which fair’s my family took me,  geography, etc).

When did tractor pulls supplant horse pulls in your area?

Spencer Yost


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