#Ocala tractor pulls driver
#Ocala tractor pulls full

Rookies to the tractor pulls that have diesel engines, went to the top of the stands for a great view. They have to do some deep reading of the track.”Īs the tractors warmed their diesel engines, a light white smoke came out of the stacks. “The tractors and two wheel drives don’t want to stand up in the air. “They are going to have to play with the weights today,” said Swift, meaning the steel plate ballast weight each truck and tractor has hanging on the front and side to make minimum weight as well as shift the weight fore and aft on the vehicle to balance the traction to the track conditions. Whiting noted the cost of a new sled: $350,000.Īlthough Sunday’s crowd had to brave the elements to get into the arena, once inside, that cool, dense air allowed the engines to make much more horsepower, but also allowed the clay track to get moist, creating much more friction than the racers dealt with on Saturday night.

#Ocala tractor pulls full

For comparison, an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet full of fuel, external fuel tanks, and ordnance weighed 60,000 pounds! The sled itself has an operator in a cab, just like rear-steer hook and ladder fire truck used in Jacksonville’s downtown area, and has a self-contained engine that pulls the sled back after a pull, and a variable change gear system to move the weight up the rails faster for the larger classes of tractors. Once the weight box is fully forward, the puller has to tow up to 60,000 pounds as far as they can, or to the end of the track where they earn a “full-pull”. Then the weight slides forward until it is right over the tow point of the sled. Picture dragging it on dirt with no wheels. More weight is added for the larger classes of trucks and tractors.įor a comparison, a Ford Crown Victoria weighs 4,127 pounds. The further down the track, the heavier the plate on the front of the sled gets. The weight box begins to move up a rail system on the sled that is driven and geared to the wheels. Just to start, the sled is 4,000 pounds that each team has to get moving to start a pull. So what do the tractors and trucks pull you may ask? “The Humiliator” was its name a sled of dead weight that moves in a transfer box. The truck from Cabot, PA has an engine alone that cost over $30,000. Whiting pointed out Tyler Martin’s 1992 Ford F-350 with a 408 cubic inch engine that can turn over 10,000 RPM. Some of these guys are real serious about this.” We want to win fair, out on the track,” said Whiting. Everyone helps one another if they break. “This is the most family friendly sport I know.

#Ocala tractor pulls driver

Randy Whiting from Clermont FL, Driver and Owner of The Money Pit Pro Stock four wheel drive Ford Ranger said the sport is very family oriented. The same holds true for truck and tractor pulling now.

History has that the sport borrows a line from the famous Daytona race mechanic Smokey Yunick, who had on the side of his race day support trailer “So you want to go fast? How much money do you have?” The top class were the 8,500 pound tractors.

They are serious about making sure no one has a weight advantage as right on-site, there were a set of electronic scales that every truck and tractor had to go over and ensure they made minimum weight for their class. Then when tractors came around, they took over for the horses, and people on the plate were replaced by concrete blocks every 10 feet until it stopped” and thus was born the sport of tractor pulling.”įrom Alcohol, Diesel, to Gas fuels, two wheel drive, four wheel drives, the minis, as well as a different weight class for everything. As it went down, people would step on until it stopped the horses. The horses would start pulling a flat piece of metal. ““The sport goes way back to horse days and settling who had a better plow pulling team. It’s unbelievable, but they do it,” said Event Coordinator for MFTPA, Rodney Swift.

“It’s unreal how you put a 4,000 horsepower engine in a 2,000 pound chassis. The show brought in over 30 pullers in eight different classes to see who could tow the sled down the 315 foot track. Dora, Clermont, Dade City, and Ocala to show off a much different kind of horsepower, somewhere in the range of thousands as the arena was converted into a straight line racetrack. GREEN COVE SPRINGS - The Clay County Fair Grounds Cattleman’s Arena normally has Barrel Racing and Bareback Riding to showcase horsepower, but the smell of diesel and plenty of kicked-up dust filled the air Sunday afternoon in the final Clay County Fair extravaganza with the Mid-Florida Tractor Pull Association’s inclusion into the fair’s entertainment this year.įor the second year, the Mid Florida Tractor Pull Association (MFTPA) made the trip from Ocala and invited friends from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Vermont, and all over Florida including Mt.