By Colin Wood
Sep 4, 2020
Don't get us wrong, we enjoy good old drag racing as much as the next person, but we have to admit that pulling a giant, heavy sled when you do it seems to add another level of excitement to the equation.
To get a better idea of the sport, competitors are tasked with pulling a sled down a track that normally measures about 330 feet. Each class of vehicles gets a set weight, and the winner is the competitor who pulls the sled the farthest.
Of course, that's not all. As it's pulled, the sled mechanically transfers its mass from the rear to the front, which increases the amount of friction the sled has with the ground. That means the farther the sled is pulled, the harder it is to move.
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9/3/20 2:19 p.m.
I've seen them pull, but I've also watched real tractors pulls with farmers using the same tractors they plow with at a county fair. I've also watch "lawn tractor pulls" with a little "lawn tractor" sized pulling sled. The most interesting one had a lawn tractor with a Honda Gold Wing motor in it!
9/3/20 2:35 p.m.
In reply to djsilver (Forum Supporter) :
I like the sound of those lawn tractor pulls.
9/3/20 3:02 p.m.
I used to watch these on ESPN decades ago when they televised motorsports.
9/3/20 3:08 p.m.
You have never seen a catastrophic engine failure until you have seen a top level pull tractor let go at full scream.
9/3/20 3:12 p.m.
A few years back I got to watch the NC State Fair tractor pull from the ferris wheel. That was a fun perspective.
9/3/20 3:53 p.m.
Now THIS is a tractor pull.
9/3/20 3:53 p.m.
I built tractor pulling engines in the '80s. We did have some impressive carnage. When you've got a big block twisting to 8k rpm and the tires unload bad things happen. Spectacular, but bad.
9/4/20 7:50 a.m.
There's a guy locally who has a lawn tractor for Mini-tractor pulling. It's powered by a small block chevy.......
9/4/20 7:59 a.m.
Many, many years ago I watched a tractor pull at our local fairgrounds in Lachute, Quebec. The tractor pull was in front of the grandstand/horse track/show ring. The whole area is strung with those triangular plastic flags, all zig-zagged across the track. No problem until Art Arfons lines up his tractor, which was powered by a jet turbine and had the exhaust turned 90 degrees, straight up. All the plastic bunting catches fire, it's all strung from a wooden grandstand that's a hundred years old. Luckily, one of the events that night was a demo derby and bucket brigade competition, so the local fire department had a pumper truck on site. A few years later vandals set a fire under the grandstand and hundred year old wood burns very quickly.
9/4/20 8:05 a.m.
I've seen a tractor with either five, or seven BBC engines (I don't remember which). One was longitudinal and the others were mounted at right angles to the tractor center line. I couldn't see how they were all connected, but it had to be pretty impressive.
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