A spectacle of dirt, horsepower and diesel exhaust will take place Saturday afternoon, as the Cal Poly Tractor Pull Club hosts the annual Open House Truck and Tractor Pull at the pull site near the crops unit.
With a tradition that dates back to the East Coast in the late 1960s, the tractor pull has become a definitive event for both Cal Poly as well as the greater California agriculture scene. Cal Poly has been at the forefront of tractor pull innovation on the West Coast, factoring in the technological progress of tractors over the years. The result has been an increase in both horsepower and overall entertainment.
“These pulls originated as a sort of contest between farmers on the East Coast, with each boasting about how his tractor could pull more weight than the others,” said Mark Zohns, a bioresource and agricultural engineering professor and club adviser. “A member of our faculty, who was getting his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan at the time, saw the pulls going on and thought it would be the perfect thing to bring to Cal Poly. We later had the first tractor pull on the West Coast at the 1972 Poly Royal.”
The contest consists of a tractor pulling a sled down a strip, with weight being added on as it moved. The winner is the tractor that goes the farthest.
“Initially, the tractors pulled sleds down the strip, and students and people would jump onto the sled as it came by, which allowed for the increase in weight,” Zohns said. “Heavier class tractors would have both tractors and people on the sleds to provide an even bigger weight differential.”
The bulk of tractor pull innovations on the West Coast have originated at Cal Poly, like when one alumnus built the first modified tractor on the West Coast with the engine of a Ford Mustang. Another notable innovation was the first weight transfer machine on a sled, built as a senior project in 1973.
“When the tractors started working 300 mph instead of 60, the sleds weren’t safe for people to jump on,” Zohns said. “So we designed and implemented the weight transfer machines for the sleds, which have the same effect.”
Instead of people jumping on to increase the weight, the weight transfer mechanism features a solid steel box, which moves from the back of the sled to the front. The sled is easier to pull when the box is at the back, allowing for startup, but the burden on the tractor increases as the box moves forward.
The Tractor Pull Club has two tractors, each with its own storied history. One, aptly named Mustang Fever, was designed and built entirely from scratch in an equipment design and building class as the class design project. Three students worked on the tractor for 10 weeks, and the end result can be seen at any pull in which the team competes.
“The motor on Fever is a vintage WWII V-12 airplane engine,” said Matt Bassett, president of the Tractor Pull Club and an agriculture systems management senior. “We’re still using the stock motor in its original state, and she has over 115 pulls under her belt.”
“This is easily one of the most consistent tractors out there,” Zohns agreed. “This tractor has had the most driver changes of any in the circuit, with a new driver just about every time it competes.”
Zohns also owns his own tractor, as do several of his friends, and he’ll be competing in the Open House pull as well.
“It’s fun because it allows for a teacher versus the students sort of thing,” Zohns said. “The winner will be able to haggle the other for the rest of the year.”
The Tractor Pull Club hosts the Open House pull and handles all the work and preparation that the event entails.
“We do everything for the pull, from the port-a-potties to the bleachers to the turf on the actual tow strip,” Bassett said. “We begin planning the event in November and, especially in crunch time, we’re real busy making sure that everything runs smoothly and looks nice.”
The Cal Poly Tractor Pull Club hosts the event, while the Tractor Pull Team competes. A variety of students from a diverse selection of majors participate in each, and there’s a considerable amount of overlap between the two. Both organizations take a tremendous amount of pride in both the Open House pull and other competitions elsewhere, and all proceeds from the event go into a general scholarship fund.
“This is a really good event because it lets the students go out and show off,” Zohns said. “This is the loudest event at Open House by far.” In addition to the students’ families, the Central Coast community also shows their support for not just the Open House pull, but of the club and team as well.
“Cat Country Radio 96.1 gives us a lot of radio time, and we get a lot of the local shops helping out with tractor parts,” Bassett said.
The Open House pull averages about 3,000 people per year, and the club makes sure to build and maintain enough bleacher seats for up to 4,000 spectators.
Aside from all the planning, the club stays busy by building and maintaining the tow sleds, tractor trailers, and everything else that goes along with tractor pulls.
“Everything involved with these events is done by the people here,” said Bassett, who noted that Cal Poly is the only university in the circuit to compete in tractor pulls. “It’s not just ‘sit in a tractor and drive’; it’s much more than that.”
The Cal Poly Open House Trruck and Tractor Pull will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday, at the tractor pull site, which is just off Mt. Bishop Road.