As was the case last year, I served today as a judge in the annual truck rodeo. It is not a speed event, but rather one that stresses safety and precision.

The portion of the course I judged consisted of five small (approximately 10 inches) cones, each next to a scoring pad affixed to the ground.

Here’s how it looked.

Here is a close-up of an individual cone and scoring pad.

The driver has to roll the over the scoring pads with the tread** (as opposed to the bulge) of the right rearmost tire on the trailer (or straight truck, as the case may be) without touching the cones. As you can see, there are five scoring pads and, as such, five scoring opportunities (five or ten points per cone). Several drivers scored the max, which was 50 points. Pretty amazing, if you ask me. I don’t think I could do that driving my car.

** Yo Jimbo, what’s the difference between the tread and the bulge? As it was explained to me, “If I roll over your foot with the bulge you won’t feel it, which is not the case if I roll over your foot with the tread.”