[AT] When did tractor pulls become prevalent?

[Alan Riley]

The first tractor pull I saw was at a circus (not a fair) in the early 
1950s.  It pitted a Ford 8N against an elephant.  Boy, I was a mad kid 
when the elephant started dragging the 8N backwards!


On 1/21/2019 12:06 AM, Indiana Robinson wrote:
> I started watching tractor pulls about 1953 or 1954...
> I never saw horse pulls here at all. When tractors fully replaced 
> horses here mostly by about 1945 - 1946, the horses pretty much went away.
> The tractors I saw pulling were pulling a dead sled in a muddy lot at 
> county fairs. Back then most of the pullers were tractor dealers and 
> rules were pretty loose.  Tractors like Fords, Fergusons and Allis 
> didn't usually do too well since their big work advantage was due to 
> the hydraulics. Tractors like Deere 60's, Farmall M's and Oliver 88's 
> tended to prevail. At first they didn't seem to have classes and a 
> TO-20 Ferguson might end up pulling against a tractor at nearly double 
> its weight, with 50% more HP and double the amount of rubber on the 
> ground.
> At the local fairgrounds they decided to pour a large concrete slab to 
> pull on and it almost did in the pulling. Dealers pulling new tractors 
> and most farmers refused to pull on it because it literally ate the 
> tires down visibly in one or two pulls. They then went back to dirt. 
> It was some time before the progressive sleds took over.
>
>
> .
>
> On Mon, Jan 21, 2019 at 12:28 AM Spencer Yost <spencer at rdfarms.com 
> <mailto:spencer at rdfarms.com>> wrote:
>
>     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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> -- 
> -- 
>
> Francis Robinson
> aka "farmer"
> Central Indiana USA
> robinson46176 at gmail.com <mailto:robinson46176 at gmail.com>
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