The roar of garden tractors will fill Riverside Park Saturday afternoon.
After being rained out during the Allen County Fair, the little guys will take to the arena as part of Farm-City Days, starting at 3:30.
“There’ll be all sizes and shapes, from drive-off-the-showroom-floor garden tractors to ones with engines rated at 25 horsepower that will generate from 75 to 100 horsepower on the pulling strip,” said Larry Crawford. Mini-tractors such as his will dial up horsepower measured in the hundreds.
Crawford has been involved in the sport since the 1970s, when he built what probably was the first mini-tractor in Kansas with a V-8. It had a 318 Dodge engine, and transmission and rear end all from under one car. Since then he has upped cubic inches to a 360 MoPar and added safety features that weren’t originally required.
Crawford got the idea for a V-8 when he watched a pull in Louisville, Ky.
He knows many of the 40 to 50 competitors who plan to be here for the Farm-City Days pull. “They do it every week,” he said, with Saturday’s pull the last of the year for a Lawrence club, the Renegades, many members of which will be in Iola.
“I pulled four or five times last year,” Crawford said, and is eager for Saturday’s event. “I rebuilt last winter and this will be my first time to pull this year.”
Crawford recalled his first time out with the V-8. “I pulled at Leon and was second of five in my class,” he said. He was surprised by having a second opportunity, and “I had my program together.” He went 299 feet, winning by more than 100 feet.
Joining Crawford may be two or three others from Allen County, but the bulk will be from Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence, Kansas City and El Dorado.
“It’s serious business with some of these guys,” he noted. “It’s not unusual for them to have $30,000 in a garden tractor engine.”
Regulations require the configuration of a stock graden tractor must remain intact, but modifications to the engine can occur.
