TRACTORS PULL IN LOADS OF FUN FOR POCAHONTAS MAN

Nollie Moore stands beside his favorite tractor, a 1918 English Fordron.

Sarah Moore has won several awards herself on her tractor, a 1938 RC Case.

"Messing with tractors" is more than a job for Nollie Moore of Pocahontas, it's a hobby.

"I really enjoy doing it," said Moore, who owns his an auto repair business in Pocahontas, which a large part is dedicated to tractor repair.

His front lawn confirms his more than casual interest in tractors -- there are three sitting there. And they don't look like your typical dirty, beat up old tractor.

These are in near-perfect condition, each one looking like it belongs in a showroom rather than someone's front yard.

But they're not new. All of Moore's tractors are antiques, which mean they were made before 1943. Some of the ones he owns were made as early as 1919.

Moore's interest in antique tractors began when he bought a B. John Deere several years ago and restored it.

"It seemed everybody wanted it," he said, a bit proudly. His tractors -- and he has eight of them -- have won him 218 trophies in just the last couple of years.

For the tractor lay person, the way a tractor can win trophies is by way of a tractor pull.

This is when you race tractors that are pulling weight. The tractor that has the most endurance, speed and power wins.

As Moore's trophies attest, he's no slouch in the tractor pull department.

Moore said he "hits every tractor pull he knows about" and he doesn't care how far he has to travel.

Moore has traveled to Illinois, Kentucky, even as far as Mississippi to pull. If Moore wins first place -- which he has several times -- he gets $50 and a trophy, so Moore obviously doesn't do it for money.

"It's just a lot of fun," Moore said. "You've got to enjoy it because a man's not going to get rich doing it, especially when gas is $7 a gallon."

Nollie's not the only Moore that has won at the tractor pulls, though. His 13-year-old daughter, Sarah, has won, too. She has her own 1938 RC Case tractor, and has brought home some trophies of her own.

While tractor pulling is fun, Moore gets just as much enjoyment from fixing them up as he does racing them.

That really started when Moore was contacted by Albert Ross, of Hamilton, England, who is also in the business of looking for antique tractors.

Ross does it for a much different reason, however.

"Tractors 52 years or older are tax exempt in England," Moore said. "He gets them cheaper over here and then auctions them off over there."

He said that Ross has a "spotter in every state" and when that spotter noticed one of Moore's antique tractors, he told Ross, who then showed up Nollie Moore's door, all the way from England.

"I had about 30 at the time, and he wanted to buy them all," Moore said. "I wasn't going to let him buy me out, but I sold him some, and he still buys them from me."

Moore said Ross has bought nearly 60 since he began doing business with him.

But Moore still enjoys fixing them up for himself, too. He buys them, usually in pitiful conditions, and fixes them up. And Moore said it isn't always easy.

"One time we had to pull a tractor from a creek bank. The tractor was put there to hold back the water," Moore said.

After acquiring a tractor, he checks over the whole engine, usually replacing bearings, seals and rings.

Then, after the tractor is running, he sandblasts them and repaints them, and then they look like new.

Moore's favorite tractor is his 1921 English Fordron because he says "it has a lot of history behind it."

This tractor was ordered by Little River Drainage in 1921 and helped with the construction of the Diversion Channel in Cape Girardeau.

He bought it from them, took it straight to the track and won first place with it.

"I liked her a lot after that," Moore said. Moore said this tractor is worth about $8,000, more than any of the other tractors he owns.

But Nollie Moore's antique tractor repair goes on hold during the winter months when Moore has to repair them for the local farmers.

"The farmers pretty much depend on me to keep them going," Moore said. "I usually have to work on them four or five at a time during harvest."

Whether Nollie Moore is repairing tractors for farmers, just for his personal enjoyment or pulling them, he says he's having a good time.