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The sport of pulling can trace its roots back to the early days of draft horse pulling at the county fairs in the early part of the 20th century.
The first recorded "motorized" pulling event took place in 1929 at Bowling Green, MO. As man and machine grew together, the sport of pulling started taking shape. It grew throughout the 50's and into the 60's. What it lacked through these years was a uniform set of rules from state to state and county to county. Competitors never knew what the rules were going to be from event to event. By the 70's, different associations across the country were formed to establish uniform rules and to give the sport the structure it needed. One of the associations formed was the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association.
In OTTPA early years of pulling, the mini rods, whose ancestor is the family garden tractor; evolved into a chasis with a supercharged V-8 providing the power. Then another group of vehicles entered pulling and captured fan loyalty immediately. This new division was the four-wheel drive. This was the first truck division to be associated with pulling. As competitors looked for the competitive edge in this division the size of the engine grew from the 450 range to 600 and 700+. They are naturally aspirated, no blown engines. To find blown engines, fans need only to look at the two-wheel drive division. This division became official in 1982 and the wheel standing action makes it one of the crowd's favorites.
In OTTPA's early years of pulling, the tractors used were no more than farm vehicles; pull on Sunday, plow on Monday. There were basically two divisions, stock and modified. The tractors in the stock division were standard types, John Deere, International, Allis Chalmers and others. Modifieds then were single-engine tractors that were powered by non-tractor type engines. As the competition got stiffer, the modifieds kept adding more engines. Aircraft engines were introduced and the horsepower wars continued until limits were finally placed on the modified tractors. Today's Outlaw rules allow 2 supercharged alcohol fueled engines with a 650 cubic inch limit and a 14-71 blower or 3 naturally aspirated engines (no blowers or turbos) or a single turbine or piston aircraft engine.
The stock division soon caught up as well when the word "super" was added and the "pull on Sunday, plow on Monday" idea slipped quickly into history. Still wearing the familiar sheet metal of John Deere Green or Case/IH Red, it's what's hidden underneath that counts. With only six huge pistons these machines now have exotic billet aluminum heads and high tech fuel systems with as many as 4 tubochargers pumping fresh air into one and another and finally into the cylinders. Many other modifications have been made to strengthen the remaining drivetrain. A recent change has many of the Super Stocks now buning alcohol instead of diesel fuel increasing the power even more. Milder versions of the Super Stock Tractors can be seen at many Outlaw Events. They are called Super Farm and Pro Stock. Several limitations such as a single turbo and smaller tire sizes plus a diesel fuel only rule limit horsepower somewhat but still makes for very exciting pulling action. With the changes in the modified and super stock divion, the sport really rocketed.
The other actor in the OTTPA story is the other half of the pulling equation - the sled. Starting out in the early days, sleds were simple deadweight pulling. Another early type was the step on, in which people were positioned along the track and would "step on" the sled as it came by. In these early years, vehicles had to maintain a speed limit as part of the rules. This is a far cry from what takes place today, with top modified vehicles turning their tires in excess of 100 MPH. But of course sleds are marvels of engineering technology, with sophisticated gearing systems that move up to 65,000 pounds of weight to stop the powerful modified tractors that prowl the tracks every summer. What began back in OTTPA's infancy has grown into a major motorsport, with some 450 members who compete on four different levels of pulling throughout the Midwest from Minnesota to Texas. the OTTPA has come a long way since its humble beginnings to become one of the recognized sanctioning body's in the motorsport of truck and tractor pulling, stressing safety and fair competion.
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