Kay Thompson fixes her car, roofs her house and installs drain tile in her farm fields.

She has driven double tractor-trailers, delivery trucks and dump trucks. Limousines, farm equipment and horse-drawn carriages. At 9, she was riding motorcycles.

At 40, she became the first female tractor driver for the guest-passenger trolley at the Indiana State Fair, and she’s still the only female driver.

Thompson, 67, Noblesville, just finished her 27th year and holds the longest record of any driver.

At 98 pounds and standing 4 feet, 9 inches tall, she said the Fair Board, in 1983, didn’t want to hire her to drive a tractor.

“It kind of threw them for a loop,” she said.

They offered her a job taking tickets or being a greeter.

“I didn’t want to do that,” she said.

Thompson told them if they weren’t interested, they could just toss her application in the “round file.”

So happens, the day before the State Fair opened that year, Thompson was asked to come in and test drive.

It was 9 a.m., and she had to be at the fairgrounds by 2 p.m.

“I was changing the kingpins in my car,” she said. With her vehicle in her driveway and the wheels off, Thompson had to figure out how to fix her car and get to the fairgrounds.

The Mill Creek Road resident jumped on her bicycle, rode three miles into town to the auto-parts store, bought the parts, rode back home and fixed her car.

She got the job, though, she said, “They had taken an old Ford 8-N tractor out of some barn, and it was a mess. That was my assigned tractor.”

Other drivers got nicer tractors that were on loan. But she didn’t care.

“I could still smile through it all, because I was delighted, said Thompson.

Since then, she’s driven numerous tractors during the State Fair, though not one has been an air-conditioned cab, like some of the men have gotten, she said. However, no tractors have cabs anymore for better visuals, she said. She never had a radio until a couple of years ago.

“But I do like my job,” she said. “I think I’ve established something.”

Thompson has never missed work because of illness. Even in 2008, when she had open-heart surgery just months before the State Fair. “That really gave me something to work for,” she said.

She said the five extra days of this year’s State Fair were tough, but she still worked an eight-hour shift daily. Before her surgery, she worked 12-hour shifts.

“She’s hung in there, I’ll give her credit,” said Dave Kinder, supervisor of the State Fair’s 11 guest-passenger trolleys. “She’s a good worker. We’re proud to have her. She’s very dependable.”

“We’ve never had another woman drive since I’ve been there,” said the supervisor of 20 years.

“It’s a hard job because you’re driving in such a crowd. It’s a responsibility,” Kinder said.

“It’s so nerve-racking. You’ve got to have your feet on the accelerator and the clutch,” she said.

“People will jump on and off when you’re moving,” said Thompson, who drives about 5 mph and stops 13 times during a milelong circle.

“We’ve had near calls,” she said. “. . . When somebody yells, it puts the fear of God in you.”