As soon as tractors started to replace horses, farmers pitted their new-fangled machines against each other.
The first tractor pulls took place in the 1920s. The tallest landmarks are the Cooper Farms grain elevators, the steeple of Trinity Lutheran Church and a limestone obelisk commemorating the battles.Īcross the river from a reconstruction of the namesake fort sits Ambassador Park, a 52-acre complex that has hosted tractor pulls since the early 1970s, about the time pulling started to get organized. The village is surrounded by acres upon acres of flat, green cornfields. The Americans returned a couple of years later, defeated the Shawnee and their allies, and never left. In 1791, a Native American army wiped out a thousand American soldiers here. The village is a mile from the Indiana-Ohio line, along the Wabash River. “They’re going to be targeting us,” she says.” They’re not going to let us get away with that.”įort Recovery is tractor country. The team wants to win a third title in a row, but that’s going to be tough given the quality of the competition. She also has a keen eye for the best line down the track. She records each competitor’s run on video and notes the distance in a logbook. His 71-year-old mother, Barbara, remains a member of the crew. Hothem’s father, John, died the spring before they won their first national title.
#South carolina tractor pulls pro
He was Pro Puller of the Year in 2015, and was national champ in the unlimited super stock class in 20.
Hothem joined the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League, a national circuit, in 2011. That’s how a stock motor rated at 130 horsepower puts out 4,000 horsepower. The engine is fueled with methanol and attached to three turbochargers. The only John Deere parts are the hood and fenders, and the 466-cubic-inch engine block, bored and stroked to 640 cubic inches. “Fully Loaded” has been heavily modified. To be competitive, it costs more like $200,000. It costs $125,000 just to get a tractor like “Fully Loaded” on the track, Hothem said. “All the expenses were coming out of our pocket.”Īfter the 2009 season, he sold “Loaded Gun” to a puller in Norway and built the alcohol-fueled tractor he calls “Fully Loaded.” “At that point, we had no sponsors,” Hothem says. He started competing the next year on the Ohio State Tractor Pullers circuit, and was named puller of the year twice and Ohio super stock champion in 2005. His tractor placed fifth, and Hothem was hooked. “The power, the speed, everything going on.”
“That was just a phenomenal experience and the feeling going down the track was just absolutely,” he says, grasping for the right words. Hothem’s first competition tractor was a super stock diesel John Deere dubbed “Loaded Gun.” He remembers competing in his first pull at the Darke County Fair, trying so hard to do everything right, from the throttle to the brakes to getting off the line. His tractor stays in the spotless workshop on the property with a collection of the team’s trophies. Hothem lives on a farm in the rolling hills of Carroll County near Dellroy. Part of it is adrenaline, but Hothem, 41, says he also enjoys the camaraderie with his second family of competitors and fans. What drives someone to spend $100,000 or more and travel hundreds of miles a weekend for a 12-second run in a souped-up tractor that struggles to break 20 mph as it pulls a 40,000-pound sled? Hothem asked his parents Barbara and John Hothem that question in 2001, just before the family bought their first competition tractor, but the question resonates deeper. “What do you think about tractor pulling?” It won’t count for points and if the engine blows, it could put the “Fully Loaded” team out of the next day’s pull.īut it’s already Hothem’s second competition of the season on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Champions Tour, and he needs to sort out his engine woes soon if he’s going to win his third title in a row. Back in the pits, Hothem talks fuel-air mixtures with his crew chief and plots one more run for the night.
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