Tractor pulling: how a pull runs, the classes, and who runs them

Tractor pulling is a motorsport where a tractor hooks to a weight-transfer sled and pulls it as far as it can down a dirt track. The sled gets heavier the farther it goes. The tractor that drags it the greatest distance wins the class. Pull it the full length of the track and that is a full pull; when several tractors go full pull, they pull off against each other for the win. Distances are measured to the hundredth of a foot.

The sport runs at every size. Full-size pulls run farm stock, hot farm, super stock and modified tractors, mini rods, and truck classes. Quarter scale tractor pulling, which many people still call garden tractor pulling, runs purpose-built pulling tractors about one quarter the size of a farm tractor, built up from lawn and garden tractors far beyond anything that ever cut grass. ProPuller was built at the quarter scale track and runs any of them: the registration, the draw, scoring and points work the same way whatever is on the hook.

How a pull runs

1. Registration. Pullers enter each tractor in each class, online ahead of time or at the table on pull day. A puller can run more than one tractor and a tractor can hook in more than one class.
2. The draw. Each entry draws a number, from a bag at the booth or by an automatic draw, which sets the running order. Big classes are split into heats.
3. Heats. Every tractor in a heat hooks to the sled once. The top finishers in each heat, set by the organization's advancement chart, go on to the finals.
4. Finals. The finalists draw again and hook again. Finals distances decide the placings for the class.
5. Results and points. Placings become season points. Points follow the tractor, not the driver, through the whole series, and the standings are published after every pull.

A tractor can be disqualified for things like a sled hit, an out-of-bounds or a tech failure after a teardown; each organization's rulebook spells out what scores and what doesn't. On ProPuller every organization publishes its rulebook, searchable by word, from its own page.

Quarter scale and garden tractor pulling classes

Classes sort tractors by engine, weight and how much is modified, so each hook is a fair race. The names differ a little by sanctioning body, but these are the common quarter scale classes across NGTPS, PQS and the organizations on ProPuller:

• Stock Altered: a stock-appearing tractor with limited engine and chassis changes. The entry class for many pullers.
• Pro Stock: more engine work, a stock-based block, tighter rules on fuel and components.
• Super Stock: the most modified single-cylinder class, big power on a small frame.
• Super Stock Carb: Super Stock with a carburetor limit.
• 30 Cube: engines limited to 30 cubic inches.
• Pro V-Twin: twin-cylinder engines, the loud ones.

Who sanctions and runs pulls on ProPuller

• NGTPS, the National Garden Tractor Pulling Series, runs the national quarter scale circuit across the Midwest and East Coast.
• PQS, the Pro Quarter Scale Series, runs the quarter scale nationals, including the Princeton Fall Nationals and the Bluegrass Nationals.
• TTPAI, the Tristate Tractor Pulling Association, pulls with PQS.
• ITPA, the Illinois Tractor Pulling Association, CNYGTP, Central New York Garden Tractor Pulling, and CQS, Canadian Quarter Scale, each run their own season on ProPuller.

Every one of them posts its schedule, live results and season standings on ProPuller, and any tractor pulling organization can. See the organizations and series page, the live results and upcoming pulls page, and the suppliers and resources page for who builds and sells the parts.

Follow a pull from your phone

The ProPuller app for iPhone shows the running order and distances live while the class is on the track, the finals draw, final placings and the season points, and it alerts a registered puller when the class before theirs starts, when they made the finals, and when results post. Organizations use the same system at the booth to register entries, run the draw, score every hook and publish the results, so what you see on your phone is what the booth sees.