It is the world heaviest motor sport competition. It is also known as power pulling. It is very popular in United States, Denmark, Australia, Brazil and Netherlands. It is called heavy sport because it determines the strongest machine, best driver and not the speed. They tend to look at the distance pulled, and come up with a winner. The tractor minimal size is 30 ft. wide and 320 ft. long. It looks more or less as a farm tractor but the difference is the modified engine, to withstand many challenges as possible. The engines range from jet turbines to aircraft and industrial engine .The trucks can either be two or four wheels. They naturally consume diesel and semis.
The tractor tends to pull a heavy metal sled that contains weight that mechanically winch forward. Due to this physics the tractor tend to lose its momentum. This is the challenge, to be able to reach the end of the course when your tractor is losing balance. The tractor that pulls the sled the farthest distance is usually the winner, it is measured from the start mark to where the sled is. It is measured in inches. It is very rare if a tractor reaches the end of the course but in case it does it is called the ‘full pull’. In case there is a draw, the pull-off is what determines the winner.
This motorized truck were put to use in 1929. The first events were held in Vaughansville, Missouri and Bowling Green, Ohio. This is why the National championships are held in Bowling Green. It became a popular game in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time it had different rule games in different countries and states making the game confusing and in 1969 there were 8 state representatives who created a uniform rule book.
The tractors had a single engine and 2 wheeled till 1970 where they allowed adding more engines and 4 wheel truck. The 4 wheel drive became popular in 1976, this led to the four-wheel drive division. Today this division is the most popular, it has led to success of many trucks including Bob Boden’s “Studley Studebaker”.