The summer of 2011 was a busy time for Will Chappell, Cody Gangl and Tyrell Bohrer. These three young men from El Campo, Texas, had their tractors on display at the Half Century of Progress Show in Rantoul, Ill., just days before showing them at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur.

The Texas winners scored big time – they were the 2010 Delco Tractor Restoration Competition winners and this was their last hurrah before new winners would be selected.

One of the winning tractors, a sleek, beautiful 1964 830 Case Hi Crop, was found in an unexpected place: “We bought some John Deere R parts and we didn’t know that (the seller) had a collection,” explained Will Chappell. “Cody and I were walking around and he called me over.”

The tractor they found was a Case Hi Crop. “I paid $800 for it. The guy’s friend gave it to him,” Will said.

The softening began when the seller learned the young men planned to restore the rare tractor. “Once we bought the tractor, we went to the salvage. In Garden City, Kansas, by Dodge City, we found 830 cab parts literally before they got crushed,” Will explained.

“We needed an engine and next we went to north Texas, to Wellington. Ty bought the Case 830 parts tractor for the engine for the Hi Crop.”

The Hi Crop tractor was restored during 2008 and 2009. In 2009 they were looking for another project and found a 1966 Case 1200 Traction King. They received a phone call from a guy who wanted to sell his tractor: “The tractor cost us $800 and took us six hours on a backhoe to get to it. It was parked and had grown in trees. There was equipment from the early ’80s and around it was poison ivy and rose hedge.”

When winter set in, that halted the restoration until the boys were able to move the project to a barn owned by a friend. “Everything has been gone through. All the nuts and bolts were turned,” Will said.

The tractors were entered into various Texas shows, then the Hi Crop 830 won the Grand Campion and Ag Mechanics show in San Antonio. The beautiful tractor also took the trophy in Houston and San Angelo and was a hit at the Dallas State Fair where they took Reserve Second Place.

“We had the first tractor to sweep the fairs in 2009. We placed Reserve Champ at Nationals,” Will explained.

The trio decided to try their luck at the 2010 Delo Tractor Restoration Competition, established in 1995 “to recognize and reward the creativity, technical aptitude and business knowledge of high school FFA members from around the country who restore tractors for fun.” Completing a restoration project, participants develop teamwork, project management, budget management, planning and marketing skills.

Once entries are received in early September, they are judged by a panel of agricultural experts. Finalists are named, then invited to present their projects at the National FFA Convention. Participants are invited to attend a dinner and award ceremony, where annual winners are announced.

This required an oral presentation and either a slide show, a skit or a talk along with 20 minutes of question-and-answer. These three guys decided everyone would do a talk, so they chose a skit with Will as a salesman and Ty as a farmer. “We won nationals,” Will said.

This was not the first time they entered; that was with a John Deere R and they won third place in Houston and second at the San Antonio fair.

The three young winners toured with their tractors throughout 2011. One of the big shows they attended was the World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., last February. The Half Century of Progress was their next stop, with the Farm Progress Show before the wrap-up of their year in October when at the National FFA competition, a new winner was selected.

“You had to be a high school student when you completed the tractor,” Ty said. “We graduated in June of 2010.”

What is next? Tyrell said he had planned to start college but he has been working running a scrapper and was not sure. As for Will, he was to begin college for ag engineering but said he has decided he wants to open a restoration business, though he still wants to receive a degree in business that would assist a small business owner.

Cody said, “I haven’t figured it out yet; I am counting my options.”

While the future is still an open book, the past has been a great chapter for Will, Ty and Cody. “I enjoyed meeting people,” Will said.

“I loved seeing the countryside,” Ty added.

For Cody, the greatest thing about the big win was meeting people and seeing what was out there “that I wouldn’t see otherwise.”

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.