On the second weekend of March in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains, the
Arizona Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Association holds a meet each year. Last year the temperatures were in the 80's, this year it was overcast, drizzle, and cool but there was still a good turnout.
This year they were featuring John Deere tractors so green & yellow was much more prevelant than red, orange, or gray. There were even a few crawlers at the meet.
One of the highlights of the meet is the tractor pull. This club uses a percentage derived from the tractor weight divided by the total weight on the drag plate to rank the tractors that enter the pull. The steel wheel tractors ran first and this LP fueled Ford proceeded to dig a hole before getting the sled to even move.
The sled has a weight box that starts at the back behind the axle and moves towards the front, progressively adding weight to the drag plate the further the sled is pulled.
This Oliver 1950 was my favorite because it was powered by a four cylinder GM diesel with its instantly recognizable 2 stroke high pitched exhaust. (The tractor in the back is used to pull the sled back to the starting position.)
There weren't many Farmall tractors, but there was one Super M, several years newer than the M that Dad had.
One of the strangest (and rarest) tractors was this Power Horse, controlled with reins like a team of horses.
In addition to the tractors, there were lots of small (to not so small!) engines. Some were static displays but many were running.
This is a British engine that powered a grain elevator in Canada.
A few of the engines were powering tools such as this corn sheller. The disappointment was that there weren't
any Lister engines,
but there was a beautiful B model Mack truck and lots of fun for $5 admission.
And a Big Welcome to folks stopping by from
HitchItch. I noted the traffic and was amazed to see we were mentioned on the front page. I hope you enjoy your visit and decide to stick around while we continue Finding Our Way.
One of the strangest (and rarest) tractors was this Power Horse, controlled with reins like a team of horses.
Growing up in Michigan I went to a number of tractor (and truck) pulls. As a kid I suppose I was mainly impressed with the sounds and smells of raw power. Pounding air molecules so hard that ear protection was a must if you wanted to be close to the action. Sounds waves thrummed straight into my chest and up through bleachers into soles of feet and seat of pants. As an adult it's still a thrill to experience but now I get a kick especially from seeing old iron in action. Small town shows can't be beat for that! :)
ReplyDeleteMy first tractor pull was over 30 years ago - also antiques but included steam tractors. Great fun watching them do a "full pull." For the full body sound experience I preferred the NHRA Top Fuel dragsters when they were in town until their spectator pricing got too much for my blood.
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