Tractors

It's Columbus Day weekend, and I just spent the last two days being the announcer at Sandwich Fair's antique tractor pull. Had a blast, as did everybody else, and I can never go to one of these without noticing the similarities between the antique tractor crowd and the dirt track racing crowd.

First, it's heaven on earth for the shade-tree mechanics. Even more so for the mechnical dummies like me, because the tractors look like even I could work on them. Engine, drive train, four wheels (sometimes) and a seat.

There's also a lot of overlap with both the participants and the fans. There's a lot of the same people in the pit area, and in the stands. It seems to be a place where burnt-out racers go to get their gadget fix. It's a good place, because the entry fee - i. e. the price of an old tractor - is relatively low, and you don't go banging up your equipment against the other guys.

It's also a lot more family friendly. Literally anybody can drive a tractor. The youngest competitor over the weekend was 12, and one of the class winners was 13. Another of the winners was 77. Men and women both compete with equal standing. Dirt track racing on the local level is also very family friendly, but the pit area is a lot more intense and, quite frankly, more dangerous as well.

The most disturbing thing, although it's also very amusing, is how John Deere is the center of the universe. You either love or hate John Deere tractors. There seems to be little middle ground here. I guess it's not all that black and white, as both sides will easily acknowledge the value of the other's preferred tractors, but it is rare to find somebody who collects both. You're either all JD, or all anything else.

At the antique tractor pull JD's won their share of prizes. They also have a very distinctive sound all their own. They seem to do best at low rpm's. Still, it's such a partisan thing that, to me at least, rooting for John Deere seems too much like rooting for the Yankees. The Farmalls, Olivers, Cases, Cockshutts, and the rest certainly held their own in every division, and no single brand dominated.

The greatest extreme that anybody takes brand loyalty to would have to be Rick Merrill of Loudon, NH. Rick has a working farm, so he's not just a rich collector with a herd of trailer queens. From what I understand, most of his tractors earn their keep. They'd better. He owns 45 of them, and every single one is a Farmall. Still, many agreed with Tom Marston when he stated that, "Tractors are green and yellow. All the other colors are for scrap metal."

Don't get me wrong; I'm not quitting the races to go tractoring. Still, it's a great atmosphere, and if you get the opportunity to go to an antique tractor event, you should. I know, if you're reading this blog, that you're going to have a great time.