Gary Mitchell
Well-known Member
Our family pulled an 88 Oliver around Mo, Ks, and OK, back in the late 60s and early to mid 70s. The post below reminded me of the prize money vs. entry fees offered back "in the day." Best I remember your common "brush pull" cost $5 to enter and paid $25, $15, & $10, 3 places, and usually a decent trophy. Some small pulls divvied back 100% of the entry at 50%, 30%, and 20%. A couple I went to only wanted to pay back half the entry pot. I remember one time going to one of those, (accidently, I wouldn't have gone on purpose), and there were only 2 in my class. The entry fee was $10. I won and got back $5, the guy that got 2nd got $3. Occasionally someplace like Platt Co. Fair would have a 1st place starting at $100 and paying down to 5th place with a $10 entry fee. The Missouri State Fair back then paid $250 for first place. I forget the entry fee.
Local pulls back then would put a lot of people in the stands because a good number of folks were farm people. They might not have been farmers as adults but an awful lot of us grew up on farms that our families outgrew and knew what it was to spend endless hours "plowing" beans or other row crops on M Farmalls, or 77 Olivers, or 8N Fords.
When I look through the posted PICs of antique pulls and see the seats in the background, it's pretty easy to understand where the prize money is. It stayed home. We are coming to the close of a way of life that I get pretty nostalgic about. I was kid in the 60s and a beat up older guy now. We're about gone fellas. gm
Local pulls back then would put a lot of people in the stands because a good number of folks were farm people. They might not have been farmers as adults but an awful lot of us grew up on farms that our families outgrew and knew what it was to spend endless hours "plowing" beans or other row crops on M Farmalls, or 77 Olivers, or 8N Fords.
When I look through the posted PICs of antique pulls and see the seats in the background, it's pretty easy to understand where the prize money is. It stayed home. We are coming to the close of a way of life that I get pretty nostalgic about. I was kid in the 60s and a beat up older guy now. We're about gone fellas. gm