[AT] When did tractor pulls become prevalent?

[John Hall]

Never heard of a horse pull until around 1990. When I did hear of such, 
my did did not really like it, considered it abusive to the horses--He 
grew up using horses and mules.

Neighbor used to sell fertilizer at his farm, so he had a set of scales. 
He used them to put on tractor pulls on Sunday afternoons in the 70's, I 
never got an opportunity to go. It was pretty much slightly hopped up 
farm tractors. My uncle and cousin carried both the 4020 Deere's down 
there (against my grandmothers wishes--the tractors were hers.) The two 
tractors pulled very close to each other, but got blown out in their 
weight class.

1980's saw a local pull develop in a neighboring county. Lot of 100hp 
modified tractors, I never went until about 91/92. Very legit setup with 
the diesels as well as the multi engine machines as well.

Late 80's saw antique tractor pulling come around here. Lot of "cheater" 
machines and the occasional arrogant redneck as well. One nice machine I 
remember pulling was a Oliver 70 on tip-toe rear steel, it appeared 
legit stock. Had a guy from Virginia bring in a Farmall M on a roll 
back--he ran a salvage yard. Tractor looked like a junker. He hooked up 
and made one pass, blew everyone away. Have no idea what he did to that 
power train but wow is all I can say. Both of these were at the Silk 
Hope, NC show---first place I ever saw a stone boat for a sled, and guys 
with designated places along the track to step on.

Early 90's there were some larger tractors pulling in eastern NC. In 
that sandy land they had to run WIDE tires or sink. Used to be a guy 
with a Deere R that he called "Mr GanGreen". He ran an explosion blanket 
over the flywheel. Never made but one or two hooks at a pull but wow, he 
couldn't be beat. He was eventually banned from competition in some 
pulling circles and would only make an exhibition pull. He was a real 
crowd pleaser.

1995, Mt Pleasant Iowa. Nothing but OLD tractors and steamers. I found 
out real quick what dodging hot cinders was all about. Their sled was a 
huge sheet of steel with a dozer parked on it. They had a hydraulic 
cylinder hooked in the tow chain setup and recorded pressure readings. 
They were pulling some HUGE machines.

1996, Lebanon Tennessee. It was the IH national show. Watched the pull 
for about 3-4 hours--nothing but IH machines. After the first 20 or so 
Farmall M's went down the track in low gear, it got BORING. We finally 
left and they were still pulling.

John Hall



On 1/21/2019 12:28 AM, Spencer Yost 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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