Tractor Trivia

Thanks to my mom and dad I lived a pretty privileged childhood. I acquired a pretty nice collection of toy tractors that I still have and cherish today. Summer on the farm is a fond memory for me. Since we were all home we did a lot of fun things together. In the summer we would sometimes run into town to the Arcady Inn and have a burger or go through the smorgashboard line, after all grandma was cooking there and we could maybe run in the kitchen and say, Hi!. Or maybe we would go to the Farmers Club and Hazel Rystad would ask if wanted a “sheeshburger”. I can remember running into town in the evening and getting an ice cream cone at the Bowling Alley. Guess what I still LOVE summer! Another fun summer activity was running to some of the neighboring county fairs and checking out the exhibits and animals. But, around that time was the sort of beginning of the popularity of tractor pulls at the county fairs. We often got to sneak off to the Clearwater County Fair in Bagley and see Don Trevs pulling some of his Internationals. The East Polk County Fair in Fosston held several pulls. In August we probably would attend the Lake Itasca Pioneers tractor pull(at that time it was held at the Fairgrounds in Bagley). A few times we went to Grand Forks to the Potato Bowl Tractor Pull. Guess what, I loved tractors and I loved tractor pulls. That is where I was introduced to the famous John Deere man, Don Dufner. He pulled many tractors but one of my favorites to watch was the Big 830 John Deere Diesel. We had an R that was similar, but the 830 was quite a machine. I watched many times as the the old two cylinder 830 would out pull what appeared to most as newer and bigger tractors. I believe he often battled Don Trevs and his 1206 International. What fun!! If you are a tractor fan or have ever traveled to Rollag you have probably seen or at least heard of Dufner’s Triple 830. Yes, three 830’s hooked in tandem. Since then I have gotten the opportunity to talk to Don Dufner and walk out behind the scenes and see some of his great pulling two-cylinder tractors. Someday I’m going to get in the car and go to Buxton, ND, and check out his collection and ask him about that awesome pulling 830 John Deere Diesel!