Distirct Tractor Driving

District Tractor Driving
By: Reporter Cheyanne Strong

On September 24th, 2008 six of our North Lake FFA Chapter members met with the other Central Oregon District chapters in Madras for the Tractor Driving Contest.

Of course we all got tired during the summer sitting in our tractors and driving around in circles. These boys: Jon Sprague, Joe Carlon, Avery Overton, Tyler Meyer, Elijah Puckett, and Calvin Bowers, didn’t. They took this contest very seriously and always try to beat out their competition.

The Tractor Driving Contest involved three parts: the safety test, where they took a written exam on common safety precautions while driving a tractor, the Parts I.D., where the competitors had to identify certain parts on the tractor, and the main event consisted of the members taking the tractor, with an implement on the back, and driving through the course without touching the flags. Then they had to back the tractor up to a pole, and get as close as they could without touching it.

The advanced team: Avery Overton, Joe Carlon, and Jon Sprague, placed third. Avery Overton placed 2nd in the individual placing.

The beginning team, Elijah Puckett, Tyler Meyer, and Calvin Bowers, placed 1st. They did extremely well against their competition.

This summer on August 24th, Tyler Meyer and Avery Overton had the honor to attend the State Fair in Salem, Oregon. They competed in the Tractor Driving Contest. Avery Overton did an outstanding job placing first, and won himself a belt buckle. Tyler Meyer did not place, but represented the Chapter and District very well.