Working hard to get back in the pull

My name is DJ Stevens, my uncle Ed Stevens got me into tractor pulling at the young age of 9 when they could walk beside me. I got my own tractor for pulling when I was 15. I’m 48 now so there have been a few pulls we have been to.

My uncle and four of his buddies got their steel together and built a sled and organized Catpa pulling (Carolina Antique Tractor Pulling Association) located in eastern North Carolina. The sled they built in the early 90’s is still being pulled today. The Massey Ferguson 98 and the 1900 Oliver were some of the first pulling tractors we built. The 1900 was a full build and the 98 was a partial build. In 2019 I got him back on the 98 Massey and he pulled against some other Olivers he used to own and as seen in the picture from that night, he was blowing fire and having a great time.

He left that pull around 11:00 pm on the pickup with my other uncle and a neighbor. So those three left, and I stayed and pulled until past midnight then loaded up to head home. I called my uncle to let him know I was getting on the road and going straight home on semi and that I would see him tomorrow. He didn’t answer.. so I texted him “on road going home” – with no reply. I wasn’t too worried because he left with family and friends. Unknown to me he did get home and was in the shower and heard the phone, jumped out of the shower and fell on the floor and broke his neck.

It took several years of recovery, learning to talk, walk, feed himself, even down to scratching his nose. After a long debate between us I did carry the 98 Massey and go pull some while he was in recovery and he would listen to that Detroit holler and smile so I would play it over and over and over for him.

But we are a hardheaded family and got everything we have by working hard. So telling us that he may never walk again much less pull again wasn’t what we wanted to hear. So we decided NTPA and their people were a good option for us and created the Holy ghost Motorsport LLC. The NTPA tractor is obviously named ‘Screwed Up Buck’ and the 3lm class tractor is ‘Never Give Up’. The spinal cord injury symbol and kidney transplant symbol are for him. Yea he had a kidney transplant just before the fall so the two symbols were a must to go beside the new names on the tractors. We have done just a couple of modifications to make the tractor more user friendly and he has run every tractor since the accident.

So never give up because it don’t matter what life throws at you just hold your head up and never give up!! Spend time with your family and friends because your not guaranteed tomorrow, and just put your mind to it and you can accomplish anything you want or need especially with your family behind you (being hardheaded is an extra tool to use also). So yes you can finish that project or make that thing pull just don’t give up! He didn’t, and he’s not only my uncle and mentor but my hero!

Thanks to Holy Ghost Motorsport llc for everything.
Pictures: The Massey 98 was the night he fell after the pull. The 1900 Oliver pictures are when it was just finished (1995) unpainted and a picture after painting. The John Deere 4255 ‘Never Give Up’ and John Deere 4630 are 3lm turbo class tractors. The John Deere 4455 ‘Screwed Up Buck’ is NTPA pro farm.

DJ Stevens
North Carolina