One thing I’ve never really written about is how much I love the NBA. It is by far my favorite sport to follow, in large part because I have tremendous respect for Lebron James as a basketball player and as a person. But nobody — including JAY-Z — can talk about Lebron without mentioning Dyane Wade, his partner in an unstoppable Miami Heat Duo that crushed the rest of the league in 2012 and 2013, winning two consecutive championships.
So you can imagine how excited I was to see Wade at Rennsport Reunion the other weekend. And not only did I see him, I even gave him some pointers on how to drive a Porsche Tractor. Here’s a quick video of that:
Rennsport Reunion — a giant Porsche fest held at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California and a reminder of just how strong the brand has become in the U.S — featured quite a few celebrities, but the first one I saw as soon as I entered the special VIP tent at the top of the hill appeared to be Dwyane Wade. Incredulous, I even snapped a picture after Beau and I dusted a quick breakfast:
Later, while gawking over the vintage Porsche tractors for which I have a soft spot (the very first Porsche I ever drove was a Porsche Junior single-cylinder diesel tractor), I noticed Dywane Wade hovering in the general vicinity, talking with the great Jeff Zwart about the agricultural equipment.
To my surprise, he hopped onto the Junior tractor right next to where I was standing!
As you might imagine, this attracted a crowd of journalists:
After getting some tips from Zwart on how to drive, the legendary basketball player answered questions and had fun on the tractor as he got used to the controls.
I reassured him that he was unlikely to stall the tractor due to its gearing and its torquey engine. Plus, the tractor is robust so it can handle whatever Wade throws at it. “They’re really hard to stall,” I said. “How do you stall it?” he replied.
I told him that all he has to do is let off the clutch slowly and he’ll have no issues. “Let off the clutch slowly when?…You’re talking about when you let off there?” he inquired as he took his left foot off the clutch pedal. I replied with an affirmative.
“Then I let off it and then it’ll go and then go gas?” he asked. Again, I said yes.
Wade then asked about the pedals on the right; admittedly, I kind of forgot what those did. In any case, the basketball Champion had it all figured out by race time. Look at how confident he looked:
After a LeMans-style start, he hit the track on the tractor. This is him with the white helmet:
Here he is after the lap, driving back to the pits:
I caught up with Wade after he hopped out of the cute little red tractor, and told him he did a good job. “I had a little assistance,” he told me as he gave me a fistbump.
I’m not a big celebrator of celebrities, admittedly, but Wade is one of my favorite basketball players of all time, and for him — a serious athlete with a history of Dunking On Fools — to partake in something this silly and fun, and all in the context of an event that’s doing a lot ot further car culture, well, I just loved every moment of it.
This opening paragraph is absurd and really makes me re-think what I know about Dave Tracy.
Who knows what other secrets are hiding in that head of his!
If I remember well, on the old tractors I drove, on the right there’s two pedals for the brakes (right and left) that can be locked together or unlocked if you want to stop only one wheel so you can make a 180° turn around this wheel. The third tiny pedal is the differential lock.
Dwayne Wade was my neighbor when he lived in Chicago between 2009 and 2013. Nice guy. Very quiet and great dad. Really not “Hollywood”, at least at the time. He loves cars too. He had a lot of classic 70s American stuff at the time. He also had a white Ferrari F430 but oddly never drove it. Always drove his classic American stuff.
I wonder if these had synchro gears?Most older tractors didnt.
Maybe that’s why they played music over the race start.All those grinding gears would have sounded terrible lol
The orchard model tractor really looks the part.Like someone took it waaaaaay too seriously and came up with a homebrew bodywork.
DT Gone Hollywood II: Basketball Edition
Nice!
I’ll guess I’ll chalk up the multiple creative spellings of Dwayne Wade’s name to being starstruck?
I thought maybe he was doing a ‘bit’ until he got it right.
I get it Dave. A few decades ago I met Joe Klecko. He was a hurt player for the Jets. Frigging forearms bigger than my thighs. Doing a arm wrestling contest in tallahassee. Go Noles. Now I am/was a steeler fan. Well no steelers player enjoyed aklecko.
Nice Autopian content! Video viewer comment. It will not run video when Play is clicked on. To get the current video to play, I have to click on next video, which starts, then click previous video to get back to the original video to play.
Ok, once started one of my biggest complaints about videos begins. There is no volume control, just mute or unmute. I need to control volume levels to reduce interferring with others in the house.
It’s not quite right huh.I do like how simple it looks on their webpage though.They’re almost there
Everywhere I look I can see the signs, DT has gone Hollywood and he’s glowing
he’s glowing
That’s the avocado colonic.
And lack of engine grease facials
I happened to drive past your former residence in Troy today and thought of you. Then I came home and read this article.
My, my, my……from rust-buckets in Michigan to EVs in LA, onward and upward to Pebble Beach, a Rennsport Reunion, and other high-profile events. And now hanging out with DWade.
Congratulations David, your transformation is almost complete. We anxiously await the announcement that you and Taylor Swift are an item!
What’s the current status of the old Tracy house? Did they decontaminate it and get other renters in it? Any jeeps in the yard?
It’s standing and looks habitable (from the outside). The driveway, and front and backyards, appear to be free of any vehicles. There was a rusty silver Dodge Caravan in the driveway a couple weeks ago, but have not seen it there since.
Driving a tractor is an interesting experience, especially if you already know how to drive stick. There’s no gas pedal, just a clutch and a brake. You set the throttle with a hand lever (at least in the ones I drove) and then just let the clutch out to go. You feel like it should kill, but it doesn’t because the engine has enough torque to pull your house off its foundation.
yep, that’s the set up i remember: fordson, ford new holland, and massey fergusen, so likewise nothing new.
Well Ford tractor on the stick you can set speed but can also use a throttle pedal like a car. If you are new that column throttle can put you in a canal if you are a newbie.
I have a 1952 John Deere 2 cylinder tractor (5.3L, they are BIG pistons). The clutch is a lever and the brake pedals are one per foot. It is pretty odd and the starting procedure is a bit much for people not used to it. Lots of fun to drive around though.
Very disappointed in the lack of the
Hall &Oates pink, pig, Porsche tractor in the background.But the rest of us enjoy the absence of Hall & Oates.
I’ll suffer no such H&O hate. Plus, Oates is a car guy…
The Legendary Cars of Rock Icon John Oates (roadandtrack.com)
Late reply, but I just happened to see this post. Thanks for sharing the Oates link. H&O are inescapable in the Philly area, so you become familiar w them through osmosis. The early Oates-heavy stuff is more interesting. Really great to see the Car Guy side of him, and that ‘84 Carrera is superb!
But you must appreciate the pink-pig-Porsche tractor. YOU MUST!!!
Failure to do so will lead to a life of mediocrity, including a never-ending stream of gray crossovers with NA 4 cyl engines with mild hybrids and CVTs!
Well if this doesn’t confirm DT has gone Hollywood, nothing will. Look at him, hobnobbing with other A-listers at an aggregation of astronomically appreciated agricultural appliances — and none of them even look that rusty!
Did DWade need a tetanus shot after his DT encounter? No – definite disappointment from this reader.
I bet Porsche’s catering didn’t even have pasta as an option let alone pasta cooked in a shower!
The Nerve!
Did you get any tips on how to dunk?
WHOA! The Autopian hits the big time with DWade!
I can’t wait to see DT as a future contestant of whatever game show DWade hosts.
Porsche designed the tractors, but they were built by another company. I live near one of the world’s top Porsche tractor restorers in South Dakota, talked to him a few years back and he put about a months work into restoring one and it’d be worth about $10K. Now that the Porsche cult is on to Porsche tractors, plain old tractor collectors will probably be priced outa that market.
Well, there’s a description I was not expecting. 🙂
Nobody else is gonna say it?
Fine. I’ll do it.
What is that- um – fleshy(?) toned, “interestingly” shaped vehicle entering the turn three tractors(?) back from Wade’s ride?
That’s an orchard tractor. They’re typically streamlined to some degree to protect the branches in the event of close encounters.
David “the Erik Spoelstra of Porsche tractor racing” Tracy
I have zero understanding or interest in sports where nobody is intentionally knocked out, but the first Autopian Commandment is: thou shalt not yuck thy yum
D Wade is the man! You got to meet an all time baller and enjoy vintage tractors, sounds like an awesome day!