The Texas Department of Transportation’s Brownwood District team earned top honors at the inaugural TxDOT Equipment Operator Roadeo, held Thursday, August 14, at the South Tarrant County Area Office in Fort Worth. The district earned the Team Championship Award for achieving the highest overall team score among 25 competing districts and TxDOT’s Fleet Operations Division.
The Roadeo was a full-day event designed to test the technical skills and precision of equipment operators who routinely work in challenging environments alongside and often on active roadways. Participants competed in individual events including maintainer operation, tractor and mower handling, skid steer maneuvering, six-yard dump truck driving, ten-yard dump truck driving, haul truck operation, and backhoe control. For each event, the top scoring operator qualified to compete, as a member of Team Texas, at the national equipment operator roadeo, which will be held in Kentucky later this year.
While each operator competed individually, the Brownwood District’s combined scores outperformed all other teams, securing the top team award. Among the individual standouts were Kody Wolfe earning fourth in the maintainer event, Robert Phillips with 6th in the skid steer event and Charles Bailey placing 6th in the tractor with mower event.
“We had lots of high scores and were knocking on the door to being able to advance to nationals,” said Calvin Milburn, Brownwood District Safety Officer.
The Brownwood District team included:
Robert (Bobby) Phillips – Eastland County Maintenance Section – skid steer
Charles Bailey – Eastland County Maintenance Section – tractor with mower
Kody Wolfe – McCulloch County Maintenance Section – motor grader
Mark Schwartz – Brown County Maintenance Section – tractor (haul) truck with lowboy trailer
Danny Garza – Lampasas County Maintenance Section - backhoe
Charlee Griffin – Mills County Maintenance Section Assistant – single axle (six-yard) dump truck
Darrell Greenwood – Special Jobs Coordinator – tandem axle (10-yard) dump truck
“Brownwood District crews highlighted their skills as operators, I am proud of how they represented our district and its safety culture against so many great competitors,” said District Engineer Greg Cedillo.
The TxDOT Equipment Operator Roadeo will continue as an annual event, beginning with local competitions at each district. The top individuals from each event at the district level will advance to the state competition, with the opportunity to qualify for future national-level contests.