William Wise, 10, has been driving a tractor since he could reach the pedals at 4 years old. Wise will compete in this year's Renegade Pullers Douglas County Fair tractor pull at 7 p.m. Saturday.

At 10, William Wise is still six years away from reaching legal driving age. Youth hasn’t stopped William from logging plenty of miles in the meantime, however, behind the wheel of a riding machine just his size.

The fun-loving fifth-grader is among 15 kids competing in Saturday’s Renegade Pullers tractor pull at the Douglas County Fairgrounds outdoor arena, 2120 Harper St. Like other longtime “pullers,” William comes from a family of enthusiasts — his father pulls, his older brother pulled for several years, and his mother, Ann Wise, serves as treasurer of the Renegade Pullers club, whose members range in age from toddlers to 80-year-olds.

About 30 families are involved in the group, which began about 10 years ago, Wise remembers, after she and her husband, Glenn Wise, attended their first tractor pull in nearby Osage County.

“We just thought it would be neat, and my husband found a tractor and he built one. Then William came along,” recalls Wise, who also competed before being sidelined by fibromyalgia a few years back. “I’ve been carrying him to tractor pulls since he was 6 weeks old.”

And it didn’t take him long to start pulling. The memory of his first competition, at 4 years old, might be hazy, but William still has the photo of that blessed event. It wasn’t the pedal tractor pull usually reserved for young kids but a version of the full-scale, motorized event he’ll be competing in this weekend at the Douglas County Fair.

“He went from nothing to one with a motor in it,” Wise says of William, who started driving tractors as soon as his feet could reach the gas pedal. To date, William estimates he’s probably competed in about 30 pulls, collecting several trophies — amassing the shiny objects is one of his favorite aspects of pulling — in the process.

“I’m trying to catch up with my dad,” says William. “He has a bunch.”

To do that, he’ll need to work on familiarizing himself with the tractor’s gearshift. William says he’s been practicing a bit — trying to remember which gear does what — over the last year, in addition to working with the clutch. His mother says he’s broken two axles since January alone, simply by braking too abruptly.

William’s likes to go fast, evidently — he’s racked up the second-highest point total in the Renegade Pullers organization this year. For the past three years, he’s ridden atop “Daddy’s Wages,” his very own pint-sized tractor with flames painted down the hood.

Also among the Wise family’s fleet of tractors are the similarly dubbed “Daddy’s Money” and “Wasted Wages.”

Souped-up machines — and equally colorful nicknames — are what distinguish Renegade Pullers from their more staid counterparts. The club deals in what’s known as “hot rod” tractor pulling, which, aside from its flashy vehicles, follows the same basic premise: whoever pulls their weighted sled the farthest wins.

“It’s really an issue of just having the tractors built to where they can pull the farthest versus your other competitors,” says the elder Wise, who very much considers pulling a full-fledged sport. “That’s your main strategy — just making sure your tractor doesn’t break, and get you going.”

William started six years ago by practicing riding with a dog leash attached to the kill switch and his older brother walking beside him. It didn’t take long before he ditched the leash and began driving on his own, William’s mother remembers. Since then, he’s developed a fondness for tinkering with the machines in the family’s garage, with his dad helping.

“Every day when we work on them, I learn something new,” says William, who lives on an 80-acre farm outside Lawrence.

“We don’t have that much money wrapped up in William,” Ann Wise maintains, though those who invest more in their tractors, she says, theoretically perform better.

It doesn’t take a whole lot of money to partake in the sport, she says — just a willingness to compete, and the right attitude. Wise particularly enjoys getting young kids into the competition. She’d have her boys “pulling tractors rather than running the streets and getting into trouble” any day.

As for 10-year-old William?

“My favorite thing about it is having fun and getting dirty,” he says. “And making friends.”