Like any great athlete, Matt Mahler didn’t settle for second best. He learned from his mistakes and got better incrementally each year until he finally came out on top.
Mahler doesn’t play football or baseball, though.
Instead, his “sport” is tractor restoration.
He was recently crowned the Grand Champion of the 2015 Delo Tractor Restoration Competition. Mahler placed third overall three times before receiving top honors.
The Texas teenager’s winning submission was a 1972 John Deere 4320, a tractor he rescued after reading a newspaper ad from the owner, who was going to salvage it.