Rain and mud cant stop the garden tractor pull at the Fair
By Jennifer Kneuss
August 9, 2011
558
Summary: Monday nights rains added plenty of mud to the infield at the Holmes County fairgrounds, but did little to discourage garden tractor pull enthusiasts from competing.
There were deep piles of mud all around the infield, but that did not seem to faze the garden tractor pulling enthusiasts at the Holmes County Fair Tuesday morning as they revved up their engines, donned their helmets, and roared their way down the track.
Darryl Orr of Holmesville was on hand to watch his brother, Dale Orr pull.
Its rather wet out there this year, he admitted.
Darryl Orr explained how the garden tractor pulling contest works.
Theres different classes, for how much weight youre going to pull, how much weight is allowed to be on the tractor, how big it is, and the horsepower rating. If you cant make it past the 30 foot mark, then you get to re-pull, but once you pass that point, youve got to take that number. Whoever pulls the farthest, obviously, wins.
There were 19 different pulling classes in the competition, which was organized by the Strasburg Pullers Club, and ran great part of the day.
These arent your back yard lawn tractors. Theyre modified. They can bore the motors out, stroke the length of the piston travel to get a little more RPMs out of them; they put bigger jets in the carburetors. Theres a whole bunch of different things they can do. They just start with a garden tractor. The money you put in is a never ending process. Some of these guys get as much money in these garden tractors as the big boys do in their big tractors. There are all kinds of specifications about what you can and cant do to modify them.
Kurt Wyler is from Fresno, and was waiting his turn to pull. The sixteen year old has pulled around the state with his father, John Wyler.
We use airplane fuel, and it burns really hot. For our modified tractor, once it gets to the end of the track, we shut it down and pull it off with another tractor, because it just overheats too quickly, commented Wyler. Theyre time consuming little things. It can be a lot of money, but you can also have a lot of fun pretty cheaply if you want. But airplane fuel is about ten bucks a gallon, so that adds up.
This is a 15 ½ cubic-inch, super stock motor. It runs on alcohol. Its all after-market stuff on here, commented Corey Gerber, pointing to the tractor in front of him. If youd want to buy a brand new motor for this, youre looking at five to six thousand dollars. Once you get into the rear end, clutch, and stuff, you could probably buy one used for about ten thousand bucks. This is all custom. We made our own frame from sheet steel, then all the other parts are after market. If you just want to start as a stock tractor, youre at a thousand or so, then you start adding. This one here is maybe a seven to eight thousand dollar tractor at this point. Ive been racing since I was about five years old. I do this because its a pretty good thrill, and we enjoy it. Its something my dad and I did together when we were younger, so we just keep it going.
Clayton Arnold, along with Kenny and Denny Bayer, are part of Strasburg Pullers, and were keeping things moving at the pull.
If anyone wants to know more about garden tractor pulling, you can call us at 330-340-5904 or 330-264-6326 to find out more, said Arnold. We have lots of pulling events still ahead this summer.
