Never in your wildest dreams would you think a rice tractor would make it into the drag strip. Like Redneck Country, anything with a combustion engine in South East Asia will be tuned, boosted, and raced on a straight line. Chad Bee of CB Media YouTube channel recently witnessed some of this crazy farmland redneck-like racing in Thailand.
Most people think farmers are boring. But when these hardworking, crop-growing humans aren’t tending their fields, chasing after their animals, or harvesting, they are out in an open field with cases of beer, doing donuts and shredding tires in their roll coal trucks or tractors.
Chad’s exploits in South East Asia, chasing the region's car culture is quite captivating. If you’ve been following our stories, you might have read about this hammered Harley Davidson VW Bug he reviewed.
Today’s feature is nothing conventional, but completely obscure. It was an event uprooted from the rice fields and onto the drag strip.
Tractor racing in Thailand is different from what you’d find in America. Like their Japanese relatives, tuners in South East Asia aren’t big on huge displacement engines.
Rice tractors, unlike cornfield tractors, are considerably small in size. Think of a standard lawn mower with a handlebar and the provision to sit or stand like you’d do Wakesurfing on a lake.
Ideally, these tractors are used in rice fields in Thailand. They are locally known as ‘E-tak’ or ‘E-tan’ and are the ingenious invention of Thai mechanics. It’s a simple concept, an engine attached to a plow replacing the traditional Buffalo-driven plow.
The technology has advanced over the years, with some including steering wheels, brakes, a transmission system, a cabin, and, more interestingly – additional power!
As Chad discovered, there are several classes of rice tractor racing. Many were standup-style tractors. Others had seats installed with steering.
There’s no limit to modding these crazy farm hands. Some came with carbon fiber fuel tanks, gear shift knobs, stainless steel exhaust tips, audio systems, and powder-coated frames.
“These guys came properly prepared with even spare engines. Just like racing anything, bring spare engines because, uh, you might blow sh*t up,” Chad said, checking out some of the makeshift farm racers.
Not a lot of effort goes into safety. The tractors run on raw fields, none of that asphalt drag strip tracks. The drag races get bumpy, and these rice tractors don’t have shocks or any advanced suspension systems. And as you’d expect, occasionally, drivers/riders get thrown off their contraptions.
Not to worry, they wear racing helmets and homemade shin guards to protect them from the brutal fall.
“This one over here is totally slammed. Look at how low this one sits. The thing is like an inch off the ground,” Chad exclaimed in awe assessing a fancy hammered rice tractor.
Call it whatever you want. These are the OG ricers. Honda Civic owners have nothing on them!
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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