Quarter-scale tractor team places 8th

Aided by a strong performance in the tractor pull, South Dakota State University’s entry in the International Quarter-Scale Tractor competition placed eighth out of 24 teams at the May 28-31 event in Bloomington, Illinois.

SDSU’s entry is nicknamed Shelby because of its paint scheme, which is similar to the white-with-blue-stripe scheme used on some Ford Shelby Mustangs. Shelby finished fourth in the pull, scoring 94.8% of the possible points in that event, which involves three pulls.

The team also scored well in the Written Design Report (93.6%) and Defense of Design (84.7%) in addition to winning the Craftsmanship Award.

Defense of Design is an online interview in which engineers ask questions about the tractor’s design. It is intended to simulate a meeting with a project supervisor who is not fully familiar with the project. Contestants are required to explain design decisions, explaining why they decisions were correct and how they fulfill contest requirements. 

The Craftsmanship Award is given to the team that builds a tractor showing a high level of build quality, material choice and attention to detail. Shelby features automotive paint with stripes, chrome hardware, faux leather upholstery and polished aluminum components (hydraulic reservoir, exhaust tip and suspension components).  

Douglas Prairie, adviser for Quarter Scale Tractor Club, said, “We had a well-designed tractor; it just needed extra testing prior to the competition to work out some electrical wiring gremlins.”  Prairie was also impressed with the quality of the other schools’ entries. “The competitive nature of our team drives us to push harder next year to get back on top.”

SDSU has consistently been a leader in recent competitions. In addition to international titles in 2018, 2022 and 2023, SDSU has been runner-up in 2017, 2019 and 2025. In 2024, SDSU finished third with two points separating first and third place.

Prairie said immediately after the contest, students were talking about how the 2027 entry could be stronger.

Joseph Mohr, vice president of the 2025-26 quarter scale team and its incoming president, said No. 1 on that list is to “Perform more testing! We learned quite a bit about our tractor at the competition because we hadn’t tested it as thoroughly as we should have. Next year we plan to test extensively.”

In addition to the main competition, the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, which organizes the event, also has an event for freshmen and sophomores who try to improve on their school’s prior year’s entry.

Competing in this class, SDSU finished second. Mohr said the team remade suspension components out of high-strength billet aluminum (previously made of cast aluminum, which failed), improved and reprogrammed the electric-over-hydraulic steering (which barely worked), redesigned the steering column for improved rigidity and fixed some electrical issues.