27/08/2026
Throwback Thursday 📰
How’s this for a crowd… more than 5,000 people packed into Quambatook for the 1982 Australian Tractor Pulling Championships!
The sixth annual event brought plenty of noise and excitement to town, with everything from jet-powered Black Velvet and the Mann brothers’ Supaman to vintage tractors, model aeroplanes and local rider Jon Burke jumping his motorcycle through a blazing wall!
There was even a little trackside drama when the sled caught up with a Mini Modified and tore off its wheel guard. Thankfully, the driver wasn’t injured and it remained the only minor accident of the day.
A record $13,500 was taken at the gate, which would be roughly $60,000 in today’s money and was $3,500 more than the previous year. Not bad for a day out in little old Quambatook!
Unfortunately, we don’t have any footage of the 1982 tractor pull. If you have footage of the first Mini Modified tractor pull at Quambatook, or the moment this tractor “topped the sled”, as the article’s heading describes it, please get in touch with us. We’d love to see it!
Were you among the 5,000 people cheering them on in 1982? Let us know what you remember.
Article and photograph courtesy of the Northern Times, Kerang, now known as Gannawarra Times.