There has been a lot of talk about national champions lately. Of course our basketball Cats cut down the banners in New Orleans and getting #8 has been a tremendous high for all of us. Some UL fans (the irrational ones) have countered that they have 2 national championships, one in the Steeplechase and one in the Breaststroke. While we all know this is ridiculous, it does present a slight quandary...is 2 really greater than 1? Well if so, we have an answer.
Kentucky has won the International Championship in the Quarter Scale Tractor Competition. I admit that I know little about the competition, but here is an explanation:
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) sponsors the competition whereby students design and build a quarter-scale tractor with the oversight of their advisers. ASABE describes it as unique among student engineering design contests in that it provides a realistic "360-degree" workplace experience. Given only an engine and a set of tires, the teams spend the academic year designing and building utility or recreational pulling tractors that they present and demonstrate. Judges evaluate teams on a written design report, a design inspection and a formal presentation to industry experts playing the role of a corporate management team. Running on a 10-percent ethanol fuel blend, the students then put the machines to the test in a series of tractor pulls.
So there you go...we are the Kentucky Wildcats of basketball of the Quarter scale Tractor Competition. Eat it Dirty Birds...our simulated tractors make a mockery of yours!
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