With seating for 66, slow revving six-cylinder diesel engines and side-mounted stop signs, lumbering yellow school buses aren’t usually associated with motor sports, but the school bus “roadeo” shows there’s a competitive way to recognize excellent bus drivers who must emphasize safety over speed.

David Beal measures a driver’s accuracy during the Watauga County School Bus Roadeo. Photo submitted

Watauga County bus drivers, from the left, Charles Ballard, Ken Buel, Wendell Ellis and Mitch Banner, took part in a bus obstacle course. Photo submitted

At the bus roadeo held April 24 in Boone, life in the slow lane proved sweet for winners Mitch Banner of Avery County and Ken Buel of Watauga County.

Banner and Buel took home prizes provided by Carolina Thomas Bus and Performance Specialties. Both drivers will now go on to compete in the district level competition in Asheville on May 12.

The roadeo is about precision and safety, rather than speed and power. Drivers steer their buses through narrow lanes, attempt to navigate the right-side wheels (including the dual wheels on the rear axle) between two rows of tennis balls positioned the width of the dual tires/wheels apart plus three inches, stop as close as possible to painted pavement markings without going past them, and even parallel park their 40-foot-long vehicles.

Drivers must also remember to sound their vehicle’s horn at the appropriate times during their backing maneuvers.

Along the way, judges observe and rate driver performance based on how many lane barriers they nudge, how many tennis balls they hit, how close they park to marked pavement lines and barriers, and their adherence to safe driving practices.

“In addition to being a lot of fun, the roadeo is a great display of how skilled and safe our drivers are,” said Watauga County Schools transportation director Toni Weaver Floyd.

Statistics bear out the impressive safety of school buses: Children are about 60 times more likely to suffer an injury in a personal vehicle than on a school bus, according to Floyd

The roadeo judges included David Kincaid, Phillip Griffin and Philip Norman of the Watauga County Schools; David Beal and Mike Winkler from the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles Bus Traffic Safety office; transportation director Jeff Lyons from Avery County schools; and Randy Henson of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction Transportation Services.

The event was coordinated by Patrick Zumbo, a school bus specialist with the Division of Motor Vehicles.