? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 05:37AM
There are photos and video from the early 70s of super stocks and mods, but not much about minis. I can think of one early 70s video that has mini footage within it.

I believe Joe Adams was the first NTPA mini champ in 1974, but the class had to have been around before that. For example, twds were around a few years before NTPA sanctioned the class in 1983.

With that said, does anyone know when/who built the first mini? Which club first sanctioned the class? Tangent ?- I assume minis developed out of garden tractors at first. When did people start pulling garden tractors?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2020 05:41AM by The Original Michael.
Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 10:03AM
I am not sure on these questions, but I do know in 72-75 it was very large in the state of Kentucky, my Dad built his first one in late 71 or early 72


Eric Prewitt
The Prewitt Pulling Team
Public Relations for
The Pulling Radio Network
Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 10:41AM
I can shed some light on this as Joe Adams is my uncle. (Eric Prewitt is a friend of mine) My dad built the engines and transmissions for Uncle Joe. I can mainly speak to what was going on in NW Ohio and SE Michigan in the late 60s and early 70s. Garden tractor pullers were putting car engines in garden tractors initially, mostly 4 cylinders, But as pullers do and continue to do, someone takes it to the next level. It's all part of the challenge. Small V8s, 215 Buicks, 350 Chevys, SB Mopars found their way in the frames. Then eventually pullers made their own chassis. I know Uncle Joe's first homemade chassis for a 273 Plymouth was from chrome moly tubing with a Chevy 12 bolt rearend somewhere in 71/72 time frame. Bowling Green had an "exhibition" class of minis in 1973. I have attached the class of 30 mini pullers that first pulled at BG in '73. The NTPA started to sanction them in 1974 and you are correct, Joe won the points in both 1500 and 1700 lb classes. The weight classes then started to go up 50 to 100 lbs and by the late 70s there were supercharged Chevys in minis and blown Hemis by the early 80s.
Your question of the first mini may never truly be answered as they seemed to morph, rather quickly, from a garden tractor to completely homemade pulling tractor. Some had a factory garden tractor frame and V8, some had a homemade frame and a Kohler or Briggs. These were fabulous days of innovation and experimentation. There were some crazy and dangerous combinations in the late 60s/early 70s. Wisconsin, Kohler and Briggs engines running on Nitro to small block in a Cub Cadet. Most had no fenders and the drivelines had little, if any, covering. Throttles stuck open, crankcases full of nitro exploded and cylinder heads went flying sky high. There were pulling tracks where full pulls went out on the street. Uncle Joe made a FP one time in Milton Center, Ohio near BG were he lifted a bit to see if any cars were coming and then punched the pedal for the FP, people between amused and horrified. There are pullers in their 60s and up that could give you more stories with greater details as I was in elementary school during these times. Kevin Dick Spirit of '76 Legends/Thumper


Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 12:07PM
I went to a pull at the Cicinnati Gardens in about 74 or 75. Some of if not all of the minis had very tall very skinny tires like you might find on an Allis Chalmers G. Never seen it before that or after that. Anyone else seen anything like these tractors?

S'no Farmer
Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 01:01PM
Todd, Are these the tires on a mini that you are referring to? Kevin


Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 01:19PM
Yes,I think most of them had that setup if I remember correctly.

S'no Farmer
Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 17, 2020 02:49PM
Was a guy near here that ran a “B” IH rearend flipped over with tall tires like that. Can’t remember his name, but remeber him him flipping it and breaking his leg at the Illinois State Fair pull in the mid 70’s.
Reply Quote

Re: ? for pulling historians (minis) January 18, 2020 04:10AM
Thanks Kevin for writing that history and sharing those '73 BG Mini results, which was an interesting study with their distance. Most of those top placers went on to campaign the national circuit. Which debutted at the first NTPA pull I ever attended: Jan. 1974 PA Farm Show at Harrisburg. That was interesting to see the Mini tractors in the pits and then a large class of them on the track.

Also interesting at Harrisburg was something like 68 - 5 Mod tractors. Something like a 3.5 hour class - thought it was never going to get done. Think they even had a pulloff.
Reply Quote

Newer Topic Older Topic

Author:

Your Email:


Subject:
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically. If the code is hard to read, then just try to guess it right. If you enter the wrong code, a new image is created and you get another chance to enter it right.
Message:
Website Statistics
Global: Topics: 38,670, Posts: 229,764, Members: 3,327.
This forum: Topics: 37,076, Posts: 225,940.

Our newest member JD_8520