“Fully Loaded” has been heavily modified. To be competitive, it costs more like $200,000. It costs $125,000 just to get a tractor like “Fully Loaded” on the track, Hothem said. “All the expenses were coming out of our pocket.”Īfter the 2009 season, he sold “Loaded Gun” to a puller in Norway and built the alcohol-fueled tractor he calls “Fully Loaded.” “At that point, we had no sponsors,” Hothem says. He started competing the next year on the Ohio State Tractor Pullers circuit, and was named puller of the year twice and Ohio super stock champion in 2005. His tractor placed fifth, and Hothem was hooked. “The power, the speed, everything going on.” “That was just a phenomenal experience and the feeling going down the track was just absolutely,” he says, grasping for the right words. Hothem’s first competition tractor was a super stock diesel John Deere dubbed “Loaded Gun.” He remembers competing in his first pull at the Darke County Fair, trying so hard to do everything right, from the throttle to the brakes to getting off the line. His tractor stays in the spotless workshop on the property with a collection of the team’s trophies. Hothem lives on a farm in the rolling hills of Carroll County near Dellroy. Part of it is adrenaline, but Hothem, 41, says he also enjoys the camaraderie with his second family of competitors and fans. What drives someone to spend $100,000 or more and travel hundreds of miles a weekend for a 12-second run in a souped-up tractor that struggles to break 20 mph as it pulls a 40,000-pound sled? Hothem asked his parents Barbara and John Hothem that question in 2001, just before the family bought their first competition tractor, but the question resonates deeper. “What do you think about tractor pulling?”
It won’t count for points and if the engine blows, it could put the “Fully Loaded” team out of the next day’s pull.īut it’s already Hothem’s second competition of the season on the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League Champions Tour, and he needs to sort out his engine woes soon if he’s going to win his third title in a row.
Back in the pits, Hothem talks fuel-air mixtures with his crew chief and plots one more run for the night.