Pictures From Bronson,KS Pull

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day in eastern Kansas...The temperature was in the low 80's and it was a good afternoon for a tractor pull which was held at Bronson,KS..The numbers were down some as lots of people were in the field..The sled was "The Black Widow" from Columbus,KS..Their next pull will be West Mineral,KS on May 14th..

1-Me pulling my U MM in the 5500 Open class....I ran 3rd gear and was able to spin it out....It had all that it wanted..

2-Me again pulling the 6000 lb 5 MPH class..I was the lone MM puller there...

3-Kenny Storrer from Iola,KS with a tough little 66 Oliver that pulls at 2600 and 3000..Years ago Kenny was the Oliver dealer at Iola....Back in the early 1970's I pulled a Wards in the 4500 class against Kennys strong 77 Oliver....Kenny is a former NATPA points champ with his 88 Oliver..

4-Lee Wegner from Parsons,KS on Mad Max trying to run Kenny Storrer down in the 3000 lb 5 MPH class....This a stout little 20 Massey..

5-My neighbor ( 5 miles east as the crow flies} Mike Houston had several good hooks with his WC Allis...He stays busy as he also has (7) garden tractor pullers and a mini rod.

6-A good running AC from Lockwood,MO...

7-An H Farmall from Columbus,KS..Dont let its looks fool you..

8-Pulling veteran Eugene Rogers from Fontana,KS with a big cube 28-44 Oliver...This man is 81 years young and has pulled for over 50 years...This tractor was a 1999 NATPA points champ....I first met Eugene around 1970 when he pulled a 435 JD with the KTPA...He had one of the first 5000 lb Hot Rod tractors in Kansas which was a 101 Massey with a 427 Chevy...He then built a 55 Massey with a V-12 Allison and once pulled at the NTPA Super Pull in Indy..He was a Region 5 NTPA points champ..

9-Frank Grosshart from Pleasanton,KS with his Super C....Back from about 1968-1980 Frank pulled a M Farmall and 560 Farmall in the stock classes..He took off over 30 years and is back at it..

10-A nice 560 diesel from Columbus,KS..

11-Macie ? Snyder from Independence,KS on her C Farmall..

12-A 300 IH owned by the Snyders from the Mapleton,KS area....Mapleton will have a pull on June 11th..

13-Another 300 IH owned by the Snyders from the Mapleton,KS area...

14-Eugene Rogers in the pits..

A lot of familiar faces and old memories there.
I envy you a little. ;-) gm

I figured that you knew several of these guys pretty well,especially Kenny..

Just wondering if you are related to Arlie (sp)? Mitchell? He used to come to the Lockwood pulls back in the early 70s. He drove a good running 88. I worked my uncles 77 that Buddy Morris drove.

That was my dad, Arlen Mitchell. I did the mechanical work on ours and drove it too, 69 through the mid 70s. I remember Buddy's 77 well. It was a good one. Seems like he was building trailers last time I got down that way? gm

I remember the 77 Oliver that Buddy drove...I think I have a picture of it taken at Golden City around 1971-72? Didnt it start out as a diesel?

I drove over and visited with Kenny a day before his sale last year and have seen Rogers around off and on for years although we aren't acquainted. His old 427 "hotrod" was a favorite of mine back in the day. It ran and pulled great. I had not seen Frank for probably 30 years and then ran into him and his wife at the parade in Appleton City 2 years ago. They both were on Allis C's or B's and were just ahead of me on my wide front C Farmall. We got good and caught up. It was great. As it happens he keeps in contact with Raymond Jackson, (MF 65 diesel and hot 460 diesel in days gone by) who I visit with as well. Ray only lives about 10 miles from me. I'm not sure I've seen you since delivering that batting cage,(pitching machine?) to you back in the late 90s? gm

Buddy died in June 07. The guy who had the 77 before my uncle pulled it as a diesel-he never paid for the parts he got from my grandpa who was the dealer in Lockwood. He got the 77 at the man's sale. Sometimes we would change sleeves & pistons three times in a weekend-3-9/16 in Missouri 3-3/4 in Kansas & Oklahoma. We broke a lot of camshafts.

Sorry to hear that. A lot of the pioneers have gone. Pop's about blind or he'd still be pulling at 86. He's healthy but after almost running me over at the state fair 3 or 4 years ago he gave it up. With our old 88 it was head gaskets for a long time and then rods and rod bearings. It was a wonderful time in my life and many others as you can tell when you visit with them about back then.

I did some digging and found this...I think this picture was taken in 1971-1972 at Golden City,MO....Is this Lindsey E driving the 77 diesel?

I see Raymond Jackson almost every year in late August at the MSTPA pull at ElDorado Springs...Raymond and his late brother Marvin were sure good people...Raymond is fun to visit with about the old days of pulling..He used to make those Massey Fergusons run and of course he and his brothers 460..



I think that I have a picture of Raymond driving Jimmy Kirchers 65 MF at the Bronaugh,MO pull in 1970..You probably haven't seen me since the late 90's when you delivered that pitching machine for my son..Over the years I have seen Kenny and Eugene quite often at the antique pulls and shows..I went over 30 years without seeing Frank..

I was just over to Roy Scotts yesterday looking for parts...How close to him are you?

Look at the picture I found on the "Good Ole Days Of Pulling" That was a good running Super 90..

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Yes it is. He gave up on the 77 & turboed his 3020 next and pulled it before he lost everything.

That's PD on his 90 in the pic. Bill Corbin did much of the work on both it and Jim's 65. If you know where Wheelers sale barn is on 13 north of Collins, we live about a mile west and a tad South. Scott's is probably sixteen or seventeen miles south. I buy steel there sometimes. Yup, Raymond and Fran are fine people and a pleasure to hang with. We named the oldest boy after Tracy, his youngest boy.

Yes,thats sure PD...Its a shame what happened to his son..I knew all the Kirchers back in the pulling days,PD with his Super 90,Jimmy with his 65,Harry with his 77,Russell Lee with his 4020,etc..

Are any of the Carliles left?I used to love their 1950 Oliver in the 15,000 class and wish that I had a picture of it....I have practically no pictures of the old pullers from the Pleasant Hill,Harrisonville,Garden City,Archie area such as Bill Cook,Bill Divine,Hopkins,Carliles,Kirchers,Benson,Gilmore,Wolfe,Carnes,Kurzweil,Barnes,Paulie Grinter,Atkinsons,Ken Carter,Schmull,Hunholz,etc..

I was just by Wheelers on Monday..

I remember Lindseys 3020..

Virgil Carlisle died a few yew years back. Shorty, (Marion), and Don are retired. Shorty has to be pushing 80 and Don mid to late 80s. I'm not aware of any Carlisle farming around home. In the 60s when I was a kid still at home, Carlisle's traded an 88 diesel for the 1950. Virgil's place was about 4 miles south of us. I can remember a few still nights laying in bed and hearing the roar of that Detroit across the bottom. Les Sims at Garden City had one as well I'm sure you recall. In the earliest 70s I worked,(with Roger Sims), for Devine, (1950T), at Archie Implement Co. before starvation and a young family drove me to KC and B&H Freight in 73. He and Grinter are both gone and if Howard Atkinson isn't he'd have to be 100. Paul Grinter and Jess Stuart were really good to me when I lived and worked down that way. They both found tractor work or something on their farms to keep my family eating during the slow times at the shop. Many of those guys are dead, the rest are pretty old. I was about the youngest and I'll be 65 this fall. Small as this world is we still run across tractor pull people in the darnedest places. I was on the same canoe hauler bus as JB Durham, ( D-21, 220) from Marshall a few years ago and got to visit with him. I got to talking to an old man at an auction at Wheatland a few years ago that used to haul Van Botkin's Cajun Queen around the country for Sydenstricker, before Van died. Old tractors and the old time tractor pullers represent a wonderful era of my life and it makes me a little sad to see that fade. It's good to see that you're keeping the faith with the MM. gm ;-)

Interesting reading....Are any of the Kirchers still around?....The last time I saw Jim was around 1988 at a farm sale...Over in Kansas Henry Moody from Kincaid passed away several years ago...I went to his antique tractor sale in Aug 2014.....Claude Barnes bought Henrys first modified which was a WC Allis with a 409 Chevy....Harold Sprague from Colony (triple Chev mod} is in his 80's and still farming..Vern Diebolt from Iola (G MM) is in his late 70's and still around....I saw him 3-4 years ago..Lawrence Crawford from Iola,KS (880 Oliver} has been gone for a few years..

I knew Lawrence and Henry were gone. Jimmy still lives at his farm SW of East Lynn. P.D. either lives near him or moved to town. I loose track. Harry Lee still lives on his place west of P-Hill retired from trucking. Bill Cook made himself wealthy selling seed beans, etc. Harold Sprague, I was never sure if his old "hot-rod) wasn't going to fold up on the track but he usually made an outstanding pull. That old bus was quite a sight in it's own right. Larry Knecht? Is he still kicking? Then there was an old boy that pulled, (I think), a 1750D over around Iola/Ft Scott that was so de-compressed they had to either it to keep it running until they built pressure, remember him? gm

I don't know about Larry Knecht with the D-17 AC....Lester Beebe from Colony,KS had the 1750 Oliver diesel but later changed it to spark plugs..Hes been gone for quite a few years..Larry Wilson from Hartford,KS (had several mods} was killed in an accident some years ago....Dale Ott from Madison,KS whom had the 1st mod?? in Kansas was killed in a farming accident...

Howard Herman and Steve Brown with the Blue Angel mods from Blue Mound,KS are still around as far as I know....I'm guessing that D-21 AC puller Doug Gluee from LeRoy,KS is still around but his Dad Elmer is long gone...Gene Sutherland from LeRoy,KS with the hard running 180 AC is still around as far as I know..He got lots of power out of that 301..Merle Snyder from Mapleton,KS with the 806 IH is still around...His Dad John with the 1456 IH passed in 2000...Jim Keith from Richards,MO with the D-21 AC was killed in a wreck several years ago..