Growing up in small town Wallis, TX, where the farmlands flourish and tractors play a key role in everyday life, it seems only right that restoring old tractors would become a passion for local Future Farmers of America (FFA) teens.
Inspired by that passion, two Wallis teens entered the 2005 Chevron Delo Tractor Restoration Competition, making it all the way to the event’s finals at the National FFA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The Tractor Restoration Competition rewards the determination, mechanical skill and business savvy of high school-aged FFA members from around the country. Students are required to submit a workbook that details the entire restoration process. The skills learned through the competition help develop the participants into future leaders in the agricultural community.
The teens, members of the Brazos, TX, FFA, share an aptitude for mechanical repair and an interest in vintage tractors, as well as one other thing: Tyler and Jordan Raska are brother and sister.
While the scenario might have turned into a sibling rivalry, the Raskas instead took an alternate approach to their restoration projects. Rather than battling to...