Archive of 148 original vernacular photographs of custom truck and tractor pulls
[Americana] [Tractor Pulls] Charles Watson (photographer)
N.p. N.p., Circa 1978-1979. Archive of 148 photographs of custom truck and tractor pulls, taken by amateur photographer Charles Lloyd Watson, circa 1978-1979. Many photographs with developer dates of 1978 and 1979 on the versos.
A former racetrack photographer, Watson was a prolific amateur motorsports photographer from Jeffersonville, Indiana. Included in the archive are 142 standard color snapshot prints, five standard black-and-white snapshot prints, and one 8 x 10 color print. The photographs capture several indoor and outdoor events, and were likely taken in the Indiana area.
Truck and tractor pulls became popular in the midwest and southern regions of the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Pulls generally consisted of tractors in varying weight classes competing in towing a drag, which was either composed of dead weight or a group of people stepping onto a sled at fixed positions in order to increase resistance as the pull continued. The late 1970s would prove to be a seminal and transitional period for the sport, with the appearance of modified tractors with multiple engines and "monster trucks" beginning to make their appearance at pulls, culminating in 1988 when a tractor with seven engines was built.
An impressive and extensive photographic archive of modified trucks and multiple engine pulling tractors at a particularly formative time.
147 photographs measure 5 x 3.5 inches. One photograph measures 10 x 8 inches. About Near Fine.
Album measures 13.25 x 8.75 inches. Near Fine.
See all items in: Americana, Photography, Sports, Transportation, Vernacular Photography