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From the Tractor Puller
I like pulling antique tractors because it a fun way to tweak equipment. To take a 50 to 60 year old machine, and put it through it paces is a blast. It's a slow, usually low budget, motor sport. And putting 25 feet on the guy with the "wrong colored tractor" is a blast. Although it's good to win with a puller you bought, it's better to win with one you built. Rivalries grow, that can be fun, between other pullers, or tractor colors.
The Best Present is Yourself
Want to do something nice for your antique tractor puller? Go to the pull. Wear a t-shirt with their name and/or a picture of their tractor. Congratulate them when they win. Console them when they lose. Visit them now and then when they're out there by themselves tinkering with the tractors. Go to the Awards Banquet with them. Let them show off for you and root for them like crazy. They like that.
What is Tractor Pulling?
In a nutshell, tractor pulling is when a bunch of people hook their tractors one at a time to a big heavy sled and compete for whose tractor can pull it the farthest without going out of bounds or breaking something on the tractor.
The sled works by weight transfer, meaning that as it is pulled down the track, the weight it carries moves in such a way that is becomes harder to pull the farther you go.
The pullers experiment (depending on the rules) with different combinations of motor adjustments, tires and weight distribution to help them improve the tractor's ability to pull the sled and move it a greater distance.
Find out about Antique Tractor Pulling
You can find out what they're up to without much effort. The following resources should help. Imagine the fun of finally understanding what they're talking about!
Ask your Tractor Puller
If you want to find out about tractor pulling itself, ask your tractor puller. I've never met one who didn't love to tell stories about the pulls and the tractors. It's a simple looking activity from the outside, but you'll be amazed at how involved it actually is.
Roger Welsch's series of tractor pulling books
If you want to find out what going on in their heads, these are the books to read. They are wonderful, entertaining, funny and very educational as to the appeal of tractor pulling. We both had a wonderful time reading these books. Seeing you reading one of these will be sure to prompt questions from your tractor puller...
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Acoustic Guitar
Antique Tractor Pulling
Autism
Barbecuing
Bed Dweller
Bellydancing
Chocolate
Flyfishing
Homebrewing
Military Scale Modeling
Roboticist
Woodworking
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Gift Ideas
It is very hard to buy for tractor pullers. You never know what they need at the moment. Even if you do figure out that they need tires or a fuel filter or wheel adapters, unless you know what you're doing, you've got almost zero chance of picking the right one for their 1943 WhooseyWhatsis 84M. And anyway, digging through junkyards and auctions looking for treasures seems to be part of the fun. Based on experience and some informal surveys, my recommendations follow.
Cash
Whether you put it in a jar, a card, an envelope or whatever works for the two of you, tractor pullers need cash. They need it for fuel, hook fees, food booth money and emergency runs to the parts store. Any way you slice it, cash is good. Making sure they have a ready supply also lets them know that you're rooting for them.
Permission
They're always going through catalogs, eBay auctions, parts stores and talking wistfully about the pieces-parts they want. Pay attention. You'll start to get a feeling for what they need and how much it tends to cost. When gift time comes around, I often give my husband a card or printed certificate telling him it's okay to go ahead and get himself the welder or have some part of the tractor worked on. We then order it together or go to the store to pick it up. We stop for lunch or dinner while we're at it. It's nice!
If you know where to get the desired item, see if they sell gift certificates. Give your tractor puller the gift certificate along with a picture of whatever it is they had their eye on. If you're not sure what they're after, I've found that these places always have something he needs or wants.
Tractor Supply Company
They don't have online ordering, but you can stop in and pick up prepaid gift cards in various amounts.
Summit Racing
This place has a lot of the fancier stuff. Shiny chrome, filters in colors to match the tractor, lots of fun stuff like that.
Antique tractors need things that you can't buy new. Also, certain classes require that the tractor only have the kind of parts that it would have had originally. For every person who needs a particular older part, there's somebody who just found one in their barn. They look for each other on eBay.
Publications
The Hook
Published bimonthly, The Hook is packed with the stuff tractor pullers love. Schedules, pull results, lots of pictures and more. It's published by people who are up to their elbows in tractor pulling, so it has an authenticity often lacking in niche magazines. Get them their own subscription, so they can stop borrowing the latest issue from their friends.
Clothes and Other Badges of Honor
CafePress Tractor Stuff
Unless your tractor puller has a lot of different tractors, they tend to be very brand loyal. They like John Deere, or they like Massey Harris or they like Allis Chalmers. Look at the name on the tractor or ask your tractor puller what kind of tractor it is. Believe me, they won't mind telling you. It is a good bet they will like to wear t-shirts and caps with that name, or a picture that looks like their tractor, or a slogan about why their kind of tractor is better than all the other kinds. There are many places to get this kind of stuff, but CafePress collects a lot of it in one place.
Vanity Plates
Tractors generally get to pulls by being hauled on a trailer with a truck. See if your tractor puller would like vanity plates for the vehicle with a tractor pulling theme. Tractor makes and models tend to abbreviate nicely into combinations of letters and numbers acceptable for vanity plates. Contact your local Department of Motor Vehicles to find out the correct format for your state.
Recognition
Once again, the best gift isn't necessarily a thing in a box. This is a competitive sport. These folks love to win, and then they love to gloat. Bragging rights are the real prize. Help them brag, or even better, brag about them yourself.
Pictures
Take or collect pictures of their tractors and of them pulling their tractors. Frame them. Hang them. Put them in scrapbooks with the ribbon they won and a list of everyone they beat that day. They seem to especially like the ones where the front wheels are off the ground and the ones where the tractor is making lots of smoke.
CafePress Create and Buy
Now that you've got all these pictures, put them on stuff. CafePress will print pictures and sayings on a variety of products and they will do so one at a time. Get a T-shirt made with a picture of your tractor puller on the tractor proclaiming yourself a fan of the Joe Tractor Pulling Team.
Movies
Video cameras have gotten pretty easy to use and simple video editing packages are everywhere these days. Put together some clips of their tractor pulls. Throw in clips of their friends joking about how they drive and telling stories about beating each other by .004 inches. You may never actually catch them watching it over and over again, but they will.
Space to Work
They really do enjoy this and winning is important to them. Give them space to work and store their parts and tools. If you happen to have a farm and a barn, then no problem. If not, you may have to give up the carport or your side of the garage. Do it. It's worth it. Your grateful spouse will start cleaning the snow off the car for you and may even stop using the kitchen sink as a parts washer.
Space to Show Off
They get things for pulling the tractors well. There are clippings, ribbons, plaques, trophies, pictures and other such paraphrenalia. Clear off shelf space in a prominent place in the house and display their winnings proudly. They'll love you for it.
Participation
If you can manage it, try pulling the tractor at a real pull. It's not really hard. It's fun, they do let your tractor puller walk beside you while you do it (just in case) and they really like to see you driving their tractor down the track. Especially if you win and they can needle their friends about you beating them. Plus, it's likely that you're a few pounds lighter than they are, so they can get the tractor into another class or use more nose weights and stuff like that. Its really fun if you beat your tractor puller too!
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