The first recorded tractor pull likely was held in 1939 in Missouri on a farm. “Farmers wanted to go home with the bragging rights on who had the better tractor,” said Dennis Thomas, who has run the Midwest Tractor & Track Pullers for decades.
Today, it’s not the farmers who are competing, but motor sports enthusiasts trying to earn fame and fortune by showing who’s got the best souped-up and engine-modified farm tractors and diesel trucks. It’s all about carrying heavy weight without stalling.
The Midwest Tractor & Track Pullers will bring two shows on June 25 to the Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake. One show is at noon. The other is at 6 p.m. Tickets are $15. Ages 14 and younger enter free.
Different classes compete to see who can pull what’s called a weight transfer sled the farthest. The shows in Lake County will have 300-feet long tracks for the vehicles to drive.
“What makes the show exciting? Three words,” said Thomas. “Fire, smoke and noise.”
“The diesel tractors throw out a lot of excessive smoke. Some tractors throw out big flames of fire and supercharged engines throw out a lot of noise,” Thomas said. “The tires are spinning faster and faster, maybe 60 miles an hour, as they pull this heavy weight load.”
It likely wasn’t nearly as noisy during the 1950s, when tractor pulls started to become popular, but in the 1960s as tractors got bigger, it got noisier and smokier, plus now the competition includes many diesel pickup trucks.
“It’s gotten to be very popular, especially with the younger generation really being into diesel pickup trucks,” Thomas said. “It’s something they own so they can relate to it.”
The first session at noon will include the slower, less boisterous antique tractors along with more modern souped-up tractors. The evening show will be a combination of diesel pickup trucks, gas trucks and modified tractors. It will be the noisier and smokier of the two sessions.
An audience favorite is Captain America, who has put a helicopter engine in his tractor. “He shoots a six-foot flame going down the track. It just drives the crowd nuts, especially the kids,” Thomas said.
The list of participating vehicles includes pro stock gas trucks, street diesel trucks, altered farm tractors, barnyard gas trucks, outlaw gas trucks, outlaw diesel trucks, among others.
Anna Jacobs, Thomas’s daughter, helps with the shows and runs J&A Branded, LLC, which promotes the tractor and truck pulls and pro bull riding events.
“The tractor and truck pulls are very entertaining,” Jacobs said. “My dad is the announcer and he has a lot of knowledge. It’s not a race. It goes more by horsepower. My dad will get the crowd going as the vehicles go down the track.”
Awards are not only given out for the vehicles who pull their weights the farthest, but also for those that break down in the process. “That gets the crowd going when something breaks,” Jacobs said.
Brats and burgers will be available for purchase, plus several Lake County nonprofits will be doing fundraisers at the event.
Pulling in the Prairie Tractor and Truck Pull
When: Session 1: noon-3 p.m., Session 2: 6-9 p.m. June 25
Where Lake County Fairgrounds, 1060 E. Peterson Road, Grayslake
Tickets: $15, free for ages 14 and below
Information: 262-210-2920; lcfairgrounds.com/
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
