Tractor pulling has sentimental value at Frontier Days this year – SwiftCurrentOnline.com

There was a bit more weight involved in tractor pulling this year.

While these machines usually pull as much as they can, this year they helped keep Dennis Unrau’s memory alive.

Unrau was a Wymark-area farmer who died of cancer last winter. He was the proud owner of several John Deere D-Series tractors and often rode them in the Frontier Days and Canada Day parades.

With his passing, his presence is missed by many members of the vintage tractor community, including Clayton Gross. Gross owns his own John Deere D Series, which he entered not only in the tractor pulls, but also in the parade in Unrau’s honor.

“It made me proud that I was the only one driving a D-Series (in the parade) this year,” Gross said. “Because that’s the car Dennis always drove.”

During the tractor pulls, Gross noticed that Unrau was not the most avid puller. While most of the tractors in the pulls are old work machines that are no longer in use, Unrau’s tractors, especially all of his D-series, were meticulously maintained. His eye for detail is something Gross remembers fondly.

“He was most proud of his ’29 Model D with steel rims,” ​​Gross said. “He always had that in the parade for the last few years, whether he was driving it himself or having it on his trailer.”

There were plenty of good pulls at the Tractor Pull event this year, from the smaller units that managed 50 feet to the large heavy-duty tractors that managed 100 feet with the sled.

The sled is a special trailer that has a massive weight that slides forward when tractors pull the unit. The further it travels forward, the more weight is transferred to the tractor’s hitch, increasing the drag of the skid plate in the ground. Eventually, most tractors start to spin their wheels as they are held in place by the weight of the sled.

“It’s just a great way to show off the horsepower of your tractor,” Gross said. “Some of these old pieces of equipment don’t work in the field anymore, but this is a little bit of a show-off.”

Since these tractors are mostly retired farm equipment, a lot of work is needed to keep them running. Some of them are even close to 70 years old, dating back to the 50s and 60s. Spare parts are harder to find at this stage of the equipment’s life.

“Often you have to make the parts yourself,” said Gross.

If you missed this year’s competitions, you can be sure to find them again next year at Frontier Days.