Today it has a 619 JD engine putting out over 1000 horsepower. When they were first introduced they had about 95 horsepower. This tractor is still original in appearance. The tractor is a 1967 JD 5020 dubbed the Mapleizer. They took the tractor to a few pulls and came away with a few plaques. "We couldn't see because of all the smoke," he said with a grin.įor Hilworth, and fellow enthusiast Brad Bloodoff, who quickly joined him in his passion, the bug was set.īloodoff said his interest in gears and power started when he was about 10, and an uncle "took me to drags one weekend and tractor pulls the next." Hilworth said once it arrived in Yorkton they fired it up in his shop. The tractor is what is called a smoker, when it's under heavy load it spews clouds of black, crowd-pleasing, diesel smoke. "We bought it," said Hilworth, adding they didn't even go south to look at it first. Hilworth said it was a natural for the company he is involved with, Maple Farm Equipment, to get involved with the local pulls in the capacity of sponsor.īut Hilworth said having the tractors pulling here reignited his interest, and memories of a couple of past pullers Bad Company and Moon Rocket got him interested in possibly finding an old John Deere style smoker tractor.Īnd that interest took him to the Internet where he came across a JD pulling tractor for sale in Ohio. "Then it reared its head again three years ago," he said, adding that was when the Yorkton Exhibition Association hosted the first of what has since become an annual pull. "Then tractor pulling disappeared," said Hilworth, at least locally, and across most of Saskatchewan. Hilworth said a guy he knew had three Versatiles in the event, "and I jumped on one." "I remember being at a tractor pull in the early '80s in Yorkton," said Hilworth. Tractor pulling kind of snuck up on Larry Hilworth in terms of an interest, and has now become a major hobby for the Yorkton implement dealer.
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