The Moon Rocket was a familiar sight at tractor pulling competitions across the Prairies in the 1970s and 1980s.
When it went on the auction block at a farm sale last year, it could have gone anywhere.
Instead, it was bought by the daughters of the man who drove it – Fred Summach of Asquith, Sask. They then donated it to Saskatchewan’s Western Development Museum.
Summach was retiring to the city and had decided to sell Moon Rocket, which he had bought in 1975 and modified.
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Summach’s nephew, Lori Moffat, said the tractor was bought from International Harvester in Wisconsin, but then enhanced to increase its horsepower tenfold.
Moffat said his uncle was one of the pioneers of tractor pulling in Saskatchewan.
The first meet was held in 1972 at Pioneer Days in Saskatoon.
“A group of men related to the Saskatoon Prairieland Exhibition organized trips to Louisville, Kentucky, where they had big indoor shows,” he said.
The noisy, smoky power contests looked like fun and the men wanted to set up more events on the Prairies. They recruited other mechanically minded farmers, some of whom used their regular work machines, while others put car and aircraft engines into their tractors.
Tractor pulls were a weekly event during the heyday of the sport. Moon Rocket was often a winner.
Moffat said it put out 1,200 hp and had twin turbos with 100 pound boost. Its diesel engine revved up to about 5,000 rpms, about double what a farm stock tractor would generate.
“I was farming a lot on Fred’s farm during the summer while he was pulling out of town,” Moffat said.
“Once he broke an input shaft on an evening shift during a pulling event. They split the tractor apart, I got a shaft and Fred and a son-in-law put it in. We were pulling the next afternoon in Regina.”
Moffat said Summach’s wife and daughters were regular fans at all the events and were always anxious about a tractor breakdown.
“Fred and I knew we’d always get it fixed in time., but we didn’t tell them,” said Moffat with a smile.
“There was lots of wrenching in the background for the love of the sport.”
Although tractor pulls are still held in Western Canada, one fan would like to organize more.
Ken Beauchemin of Warman, Sask., had the first super-charged pulling tractor in Canada in 1977.
“I decided to put a car engine in a tractor. I would give these guys all the trouble they need.”
It ran on methanol and he built it with the help of his brother and two friends.
The smoky noisy roar of their tractor was a novelty at first, but wins by Beauchemin became commonplace.
The Saskatchewan Tractor Pulling Association faded away toward the end of the 1980s because of drought and tough times for farming, he added. The prize money would often just pay for the winner’s expenses.
Beauchemin has been involved in auto sports since 1961, starting with stock cars and drag races and leading up to Team Boss Blue, a racing organization that he ran as a business, but now as a hobby.
He has pulled at events in 37 states, including Hawaii, and said the U.S. Midwest remains the hotbed for the sport. From 1991 to 2001, he was a promoter of tractor pulling, first in Alberta, then with Pro West Pullers.
Beauchemin has a pending induction into the Canadian Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Toronto. He started his 32nd year in tractor pulling this year, as a promoter, driver and mechanic.
“I’m working with a group to put on a new series of tractor pulls prairie-wide.”
People like the drama of tractor pulls, Beauchemin said.
The track at a pull event is 300 feet long. The tractor is hitched to a sled, which as it is pulled transfers weight on a skid. The farther the tractor pulls, the tougher it gets.
That led to a well known motto for the sport: “if you’re throwing dirt, you’re losing ground.”
Beauchemin said the sleds his machine has pulled over the years have weighed 35,000 to 60,000 pounds.
He joked that when the pulling events started, people would stand at appointed distances down the track and jump on the sled to add weight – “talk about stupid, eh?” In later years the weight was added with steel bars.
Beauchemin said a few pulls are still held each year but they are not standardized. Some are held in conjunction with fairs and the classes can vary from antique and mini-tractors to modified trucks.
He said there should always be room for the unmodified farm tractor because it represents the grassroots of the sport.
While fuel is one big expense, he said, “the price of everything is restrictive. Back in 1977 you could put your pulling tractor in the back of a grain truck and haul it. That’s changed quite a bit since then. You need money and sponsors.”
To help organize a pull in your community, contact Beauchemin at 306-975-2116.
