Tractor pulls four generations at fair

For John Garringer, the “Rusty Tractor Guy,” loving his rusted 1937 Case CC tractor is a family affair.

The old machine belonged to his father.

The tractor pull is one of several events at the fair, which runs through 6 p.m. today. At 3 p.m. is an antique tractor show.

With a sweep of his hand over the rusted hood of his tractor, Garringer indicated the host of other classic tractors at the 2024 Cleveland County Fair for its annual event. Lined up all around the dirt track of the fairgrounds were old Allis Chalmers, Farmall, McCormick, Ford, and plentiful John Deere tractors, some close to a century old. There’s even a Minneapolis Moline painted hunter orange called “Big Ugly.”

“I’m third generation. My kids have been here and pulled, so four generations have driven this tractor,” Garringer, a Shawnee resident, said. “My Dad never wanted to paint his tractor. So I am not painting it either.”

He said the family also still owns his grandfather’s.

A fine patina of rust covers the boxy hood of his tractor. Jutting out from the front are two metal I-beams with a battery and weights attached. Other weights hang all around the chassis. The reason, he explained, is that when pulling the sled, the front of the tractor has a tendency to rise up like a dragster, so the weights help mitigate that.

On the dirt track at the fairgrounds, as the tractor pulls, a large water tank crawls up the sled, making the weight harder and harder for the tractor to pull. Garringer said he made some modifications to the Case to increase the horsepower from 30 to 100. In the end, success is usually measured in a combination of weight and horsepower, Garringer noted.

“Right now I’m in a 5500 weight class.” He pointed to the sled. “That sled is a transfer sled, that big tank crawls up the sled, and the farther we go, the more weight it puts on the back of the tractor, and we usually spin out,” he said. “It gets to where you lose traction,” he said. “They either lose traction and spin out, or you lose all the power. It’s a game of weight balance. I’ve got weight brackets in four different spots on this tractor.

Somebody shouted. He waved back.

“They’re waitin’ on me,” Garringer said, hopping into the tractor’s saddle.

After dismounting and hitching to the sled, he jumped back on, throttled up the rusty machine and rumbled forward, towing the sled behind. As the water tank crawled up the sled, the tractor labored, belching exhaust out the stack. Sure enough, about two-thirds the way down the track, the big rear wheels started to spin in the dirt and the track attendant dropped the red flag. The run was over.

Post run, Garringer said spinning out is usually the end game. But it’s far from the end for Garringer or his tractor. He said it’s why he started his Youtube channel, the Rusty Tractor Guy. He wants to interview others for their tractor stories.

“Everybody here has this story,” he said. “If there’s a tractor in the family, they have a story.”