There are many Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) in Arkansas. Students have many interests, backgrounds and experiences throughout the state. One student from Southside Charter High FFA, has an interesting one. His name is Cody Maple.
Maple’s SAE involves countless Saturday nights racing at one of the town’s most popular attractions, the Motor Speedway. He is currently a junior at Southside School District. Since he was 5 years old, he’s always been astonished by racing. He enjoys stock car racing on dirt ovals. He’s currently filling the shoes of his father and grandparents, who were also race car drivers.
His favorite part about racing is the amount of adrenaline it brings him while he’s on the track. Maple has fun when he’s competing for first place or even when he’s falling behind the other racers. He describes this feeling as “dramatic and exhilarating.”
To Maple, the most challenging part of his SAE varies. He finds it difficult to keep from hitting other race cars on the track, keeping control of his vehicle (and not “spinning out,” as he says), and making sure his setups are correct. Although these are all challenging, his greatest one is focusing on what he needs to do in the cockpit to drive the car. Maple drives a Midwest modified, which is a three-link modified chastity.
Maple is taking an animal science class this year and is an active member of FFA. He enjoys doing the agricultural mechanics career development event. He likes to work on cars and to learn as much as he can about agriculture.
Although he’s been doing this for 11 years, this is only the beginning for him. When Maple grows up, he still plans to pursue race car driving at the Motor Speedway.
