In The Cab with Elliott Sadler: The Massey Ferguson 4707

Elliott Sadler may be retired NASCAR, but the word “horsepower” still makes his eyes light up like the kid who’s been racing something since age 7. (To check out what he’s doing now on his farm, see the full story here.)

“I had to have something that doesn’t bog down. We had to have horsepower,” he says, it’s just that these days, the equipment muscle has different applications.

A long list of them.

“We’ve got to be able to put the finishing mower on it and go cut beside my house,” Sadler says. “And then we have to take that off and we have to put a drill on it and go drill these food plots. And then we got to put up a side cutter on it. So, we use it for a lot of different things. So we needed a tractor that was versatile.”

The Massey Ferguson 4707 fit the bill, and then some. “He didn’t need something that was too big in physical size,” says Trey Taylor of Crewe Tractor and Equipment in Crewe, Virginia, “but the right horsepower and frame to handle what he wanted to do with it,” he adds. “It turns in tight areas, whether it’s on the riverbank or down by the creek or moving rock or going across small bridges. The turning and handling on it is great,” says Sadler.

The Power Shuttle transmission keeps Sadler moving and focused on the work, says Taylor. “It’s pretty much a touchless transmission… to me, it has the best transmission on the market,” he adds.

“It’s almost idiot-proof, which is great for me, because I’m simple-minded,” Sadler laughs. But he’s still a gearhead. “It’s got a lot of torque and pull, a lot of hydraulic power,” he says. “That’s the reason I bought it.”

He credits Crewe Tractor with fast and efficient service. Pit crew-like, even. “I’m using it as a hobby, but man, the timing is always there, and I know when guys get into a pinch, that do this for a living, (Crewe Tractor) is right there to do the same thing,” Sadler says.

“So it just checked all the boxes that I would use it for, for all the many different things that we get involved in on a daily basis.” With no shortage of the all-important horsepower. “Hey, I’m a race-car driver,” he laughs. “You’re not cutting any corners.”