MacDaddy: It’s a power trip

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Julia Conny is only 19 and she already likes the feeling of power.

That is, she likes the power of her 9300 Super Farm pulling tractor, MacDaddy.

Conny is one of the few women in the tractor pulling sport. This year, she was also one of the few who received an invitation to pull at the National Farm Machinery Show Championship Tractor Pull.

(See link for complete results, more photos and videos from this year’s pulls.)

The event issues invitations only to those is considered to be the nation’s best drivers of the season.

The pull was held Feb. 16-19 in conjunction with the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky. Conny finished 15th in the 9,300-pound super farm tractor class in the first round of pulling action.

Hooked

Conny got her first taste of pulling at the Mile Branch Grange. She and her dad went and from the very first time she pulled, she knew she was hooked.

“I like being the only girl. It’s a rush you get when you pull. I like the power,” Conny said.

She said she doesn’t get nervous when she pulls her John Deere 8410 now, but her thoughts do center on one thing and that is on making sure her tractor goes straight.

“I make sure the tractor’s wheels are straight. I point it to where I want to go and then I hope the crew chief did everything right,” Conny said.

Conny is pursing a teaching degree at Kent State University. But tractor pulling isn’t her only passion. She also shows Quarter Horses and Paint horses.

Conny has been pulling for three years now and she credits her parents for their help, especially her father, Mike Conny.

Although this was her first year to make it to the championship round, Mike Conny pulled in the championship two years ago.

The family recently purchased a second tractor and now the two Mac Daddys are puling together as a team.

Conny pulled through the summer at numerous county fairs and has pulled at four different events since the fall.

While she admits her skill isn’t in wrenching on the tractor, she does enjoy cleaning it up and waxing it. She said she has learned a lot about mechanics and pulling the last couple of years.

“It’s a nice family event and it gets all of us together,” said Mike Conny, including his other daughter Rachel and his wife, Jenny.

Mike said he put Julia on a farm stock tractor at Mile Branch and after she pulled, it was magic.

“She smiled ear from ear, and I thought from there we would enjoy pulling a tractor,” said Mike.