FFA Tractor Driving Contest
Proves Difficult For Many

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Comments like, "It's harder than it looks!" were being made on Tuesday night, as area youth participated in the FFA Tractor Driving Contest, slated in the arena of the Hopkins County Regional Civic Center. The contest required "hooking-up" to a two-wheeled trailer and backing the trailer through a series of poles, that proved to be very difficult for many of the participants. "There isn't much room between those stakes," commented one driver. "Especially, when you're backing a trailer, there isn't room for much error!"

 

Colby Temples begins his attempt at maneuvering the Tractor Driving Course.

 

Students were required to use all safety devices such as seatbelts, parking brakes, and other equipment on the tractor and to monitor their speed, while maneuvering the course. The contest was a timed event and all penalties were added to the time, thus making the object to travel through the course at a safe speed and commit the least number of errors or penalties.

 

Koyt Koon gets prepared to complete his performance in this year's tractor driving contest.

"When the dust settled," on Tuesday night, it was Colby Ivey, that was named the Champion Tractor Driver of the 2007 Hopkins County Fall Festival. D.J. Tomberlin won the second prize and Brittani Bailey was deemed the third place winner in this year's competition.

 

 

Brittani Bailey was the only female participant in this year's Tractor Drving Contest, and who said that
women couldn't drive a tractor? She won third prize in the contest!

 

"It was a good contest and we had some that were truly skilled in driving a tractor," expressed Sulphur Springs FFA Advisor, Dannie Johnson. "But, then we had some that found it very, very difficult to back a trailer. Backing a trailer is a skill that one must learn, if they are going to operate farm machinery, or even if they are going to deliver cattle to the sale barn. It's a contest that teaches youth a necessary skill, used frequently on a local farm."

 

Tractor Driving Winners were left to right, Brittani Bailey, third place, D.J. Tomberlin, second
place, and Colby Ivey, Champion Tractor Driver.

 

The Tractor Driving Contest has been a feature of the Hopkins County Fall Festival since its inception and continues to be a popular event, each year, as new group of youth are reared on local farms.

 

Congratulations to this year's
Tractor Driving Winners!!!!

 

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