ABOUT LTPC

Tractor Pulling started in the USA in the 1940s. In the beginning, it was called “horse pulling”, where two workhorses would pull a barn door along a track. Officials stood along the track and gradually jumped onto the door, making it heavier and heavier to pull. The horses that managed to pull the door with all the officials on it won.

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When tractors became common in agriculture, competitions shifted to using these instead. Since then, Tractor Pulling has developed into one of the biggest motorsports in the USA. Tractor Pulling came to Europe in 1977 during the Plowing World Championship in the Netherlands. The first Tractor Pulling event in Sweden took place in 1982 at a plowing competition outside Ystad. Today, about five competitions are held each year in Sweden.

Tractor Pulling is all about a tractor pulling a so-called weight sled along a 100-meter track. A weight sled is a specially built vehicle consisting of a sled at the front, a set of wheels at the back, and a movable weight box.

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The tractor is hooked up to the sled with a heavy-duty chain and an emergency stop connection that instantly stops the tractor if the chain breaks. The driver starts carefully, tightening the chain to avoid jerks and potential damage, and then sets off along the 100-meter track.

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At the start, the weight box is positioned at the back of the sled (over the wheels). As the tractor moves forward, the weight box shifts toward the front, transferring the load from the wheels to the sled. Pulling becomes progressively harder. The goal is to go as far as possible. If the tractor completes 100 meters, it achieves a “FULL PULL”. The tractor that goes the farthest wins.

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If more than one tractor achieves a full pull, a final called the “PULL OFF” is held, with added weight on the sled. In a pull-off, the goal is simply to go the farthest, measuring the total distance even beyond 100 meters.