Tractor pulling events usually attract large crowds south of the border, where some events rise to the level of major auto races.
In Canada, however, the attraction of tractor pulling doesn’t seem to garner the same enthusiasm, but that isn’t to say there isn’t an appetite for it, particularly with those who spend their days in a tractor cab.
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At the Ag in Motion farm show held earlier this year near Langham, Sask., a vintage tractor pull event drew pretty significant crowds of show goers, who were mostly farmers.
“I was just blown away (with the size of the crowd),” said Stacey Getz, who organized the event.
“It was fabulous.”
Getz is an old hand at tractor pulling and has been involved with dozens of events across Western Canada and into the northern United States. The drag sled used at the show was one he built himself.
“In 2010, I built a big sled and we did modified shows all across Western Canada and into Montana,” he says.
“I’ve been roughly 40-some places with my sled, and even more with tractors pulling.”
The event at Ag in Motion was for tractors built in 1965 and older, which Greg Flath, one of the competitors, thinks is a key attraction not only for crowds who can remember working fields with similar tractors, but also for those who own the tractors.
“So now it’s, ‘oh look, I used to drive a tractor like that,’ ” he says of people’s reactions to seeing the machines entered in the event.
“I grew up on the farm and we drove this stuff.”
Like any motorsport, there are established rules for tractor pulling, says Getz.
“The sport of tractor pulling goes way back into the ‘60s. When they started organizing it, the rules for the track are 30 feet wide and 300 feet long. Everybody has become accustomed to pulling 300 feet. The way the sled is designed is to stop the tractors around that 300 foot mark.”
At vintage tractor pulling events there is always a variety of makes and models, but John Deeres are often the most popular.
“Very popular is the mid-’30s to early ‘60s John Deeres,” says Getz.
“At some places there’ll be 25 or 30 of them.”
The Ag in Motion pull, however, had one of the rarest machines to ever show up at a vintage event, a 1936 Co-op.
There isn’t usually one particular make or model of vintage tractor that outperforms its competitors, Getz says.
“It all comes down to the tractor, what shape it’s in and how it’s been tweaked,” he says.
As for tips or techniques, there isn’t much a driver can do to get an edge, says Flath.
“Everybody likes to say they have a secret. Lots of guys play with their tire pressure. And with lots of guys, it’s premium fuel versus regular fuel. But there’s not a lot you can do. You just hope it runs the day you’re at the pull … because of course you want to beat your neighbour.”
