The sport of truck and tractor pulling has its roots in
the midwestern United States. Over a period of 40
years, it has grown into a popular motor sport as it has
branched out to other regions of America. In so doing,
it has cultivated a wide appeal among many diverse
groups. Still, it has not abandoned its rich rural heritage, which has helped it translate to other regions of
the world with common rural cultures. Truck and tractor pulling, but specifically tractor pulling, is rural
America’s contribution to motor sports.
History
The sport can trace its roots to America’s farmland.
Farmers had long met to test the pulling prowess of
their horse teams, so it was only a matter of time before
they met to do the same for their tractors. Those origins
explain why its rural image is so persistent and why its
core audience has stayed so fiercely loyal. A contest involving vehicles that many spectators grew up with can
forge deep bonds and create intense loyalty.
In 1969 representatives from eight Midwest pulling
states met in Indianapolis to establish uniform rules and
to give the activity structure. Their action turned pulling
into a bona fide sport and led to the formation of the National Tractor Pullers Association (NTPA), which has
since grown into America’s premier sanctioning body for
the sport. The organization has approximately 1,500
members and sanctions more than 325 events annually.
Rules and Play
The basic premise of the sport is the classic contest between an irresistible force (the pulling vehicle) and an
immovable object (the sled). The goal is for the pulling
vehicle to go a specified distance—most commonly
100 yards—while it is the sled’s job to stop the vehicle.
He who goes the farthest wins the contest.
Early on, sleds were simple, deadweight pulling
platforms, loaded with concrete blocks, a tractor, or a
truck. Another early type was the step-on sled. These
early sleds were replaced by the mechanical weight
transfer sled. The credit for this introduction goes to
Billy K. Watkins (1929–) of Illinois, who in 1970 was
granted a patent for his sled, which has evolved into the
sophisticated pulling sleds used today.
The sport has changed considerably, and now has
weight classes in which the vehicles compete and new
kinds of vehicles, such as pickups and semis. But by far
the most significant changes have been in horsepower.
In the sport’s earliest years, participants competed with
the same vehicle they used on the farm. The phrase
“pull-on-Sunday, plow-on-Monday” with the same vehicle succinctly describes early practices.
From the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, pulling vehicles were restricted to a speed of 8 miles per hour.
When this rule was abolished in 1974, the nature of the
sport, with regard to both vehicle performance and fan
appeal, changed dramatically. Speed entered the game
and brute pulling force took a back seat.
In the beginning, organized pulling was the
province of only two kinds of vehicles. One was the
stock tractor, a vehicle just as it came from the factory.
But as changes were made to the drive train and the engine, the all-purpose tractor that was used for competition one day, for farm chores the next, slipped into
history. What emerged was a vehicle used strictly for
pulling competition. Eventually, the stock tractor went
through a series of technological changes until it became today’s Super Stock tractor.
The other kind of vehicle also started out as a stock
tractor, but there the similarity ends. Participants took
a stock tractor and replaced its engine. Examples of the
engines used in this “modified” tractor came from automobiles, airplanes, even tanks. This type of vehicle is
known as Modified. The Modified vehicle took another
path change when two Ohio brothers, Carl Bosse
(1943–) and Paul Bosse (1945–), adapted some engineering they saw used in other applications to the
sport of pulling. What they devised was a way to hook
up more than one engine and send that combined
power on a single driveshaft. Their “invention” was
called the crossbox and it changed the face of pulling
forever.
Following the Bosse brothers, Modified competitors
took stock tractors and gutted them, leaving only the
frame, and then piling on engines. It led eventually to
the multi-engined vehicle that is today the sport’s most
significant pulling vehicle from the standpoint of
power.
Tractor Pulling Today
A majority of the pulling events are held at state and
county fairs, and tractors are still the sport’s most recognizable vehicles. Pulling has not flourished in other regions of the United States as it has in the Midwest. This
may be because of cultural attitudes. The rural South
would seem to be ideal tractor pulling territory, but so
far it has met with limited success, perhaps because the
South already has a strong stock-car racing tradition.
However, the South has a strong following with regard to truck pulling. In fact, trucks as pulling vehicles is
the South’s contribution to pulling.Although the sport is
basically a rural American phenomenon, its adoption
outside America has been relatively easy, since all it takes
to play is a vehicle.As more and more Europeans became
interested in pulling,more vehicles were sold overseas.In
1978, pulling was launched in Europe, where the audience also is largely rural in ten nations. Their sanctioning body is the European Tractor Pulling Committee.
—MICHAEL B. CAMILLO
Bibliography: Puller. (1971–) Worthington, OH: National
Tractor Pullers Association.