The Origin of Tractor Pulling
The idea behind tractor pulling began with horses. Around the 1860’s, farmers boasting about the power and speed of their horses proved it by hitching the horse to a detached barn door filled with people and letting the horse pull it as far as it could. People kept jumping on the door to add weight to the cargo, and the horse that pulled farthest with the heaviest load won. When tractors entered the picture around the 1920’s and 30’s, farmers switched from horses to machines.
What is a Calcutta Auction?
A Calcutta auction (also known simply as a “Calcutta”) is an open auction held in conjunction with a golf tournament, horse race, tractor pull, or similar contest with multiple entrants. Calcuttas actually came from Calcutta, India from where this technique was first recorded by the Colonial British.
Spectators bid among themselves to “buy” each of the contestants, with each contestant being assigned to the highest bidder. The contestant then pays out to their “owner” a predetermined proportion of their winnings depending on how they perform in the tournament. The precise rules of a Calcutta can vary from place to place.
In today’s FFA Alumni Tractor Pull we will have two Calcuttas. Listen carefully to the announcements to see which of the classes will be a Calcutta class.