One San Luis Obispo woman took home the grand champion prize for her impressive tractor restoration.
Annika Ernstrom is a recent San Luis Obispo High School graduate who competed last week in the Delo's national tractor restoration competition.
She took on her most recent project all on her own restoring an old 1948 tractor of Alex Madonna's.
Ernstrom learned the trade with the help of JB Dewar’s tractor restoration education program that serves high school students in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
As one of the only two women to be selected to compete in the Indiana competition, Ernstrom said she is very proud to represent the Central Coast nationally.
She competed last year with a partner and restored a 1954 Ford 600, but this time around, Ernstrom competed by herself and took home the first-place prize.
“It feels pretty nice, I went through it the first year and they hammered me with questions, and I was sitting there going man I want to know this, but I just don’t know it yet,” recalled Ernstrom. “When I came back, I was like I'm going to go and I'm going to try and win this this time and somehow, I managed to do that, and I'm pretty proud of it.”
Five of the top 12 competitors at the Delo's national competition were from the Central Coast.
As for Ernstrom, she is currently takes classes at Cuesta College and has plans to become a master technician.
