Bright yellow school buses, lined up four and five abreast in the parking lot of Cameron University Stadium early Wednesday, looked as if they were waiting for the green flag to drop signaling the start of a race.

No, it wasn’t the Indy 500, or even a heat at Lawton Speedway.

It was the annual Lawton Public Schools bus “rodeo,” where drivers brush up on their skills before they take to the streets on the first day of school. Drivers maneuvered their 37-foot long buses around and through eight stations simulating situations they might encounter during a typical driving day, said Jack Hanna, executive director of operations.

“They do maneuvers they will possibly do all day long, like backing up, the proper procedure for picking up and letting off students,” Hanna said, adding that the rodeo is about safety and fine-tuning driver skills.

While drivers are not graded on their proficiency on the course, observers might point out skills they need to improve on.

“If they need a little bit more practice, they can practice that maneuver,” Hanna said.

Even though drivers go through the course every year, some still find it nerve-wracking.

“I’m nervous every year,” said Star Douglas, who has driven a 15-passenger bus for four years. “I’m a perfectionist; I don’t want to make a mistake.”

She said that for her, the worst part of the course is backing up between the cones.

“That’s when my heart races,” she said. “I was told to never back up unless I have to.”

And the easiest part of the course?

“The railroad crossing,” she said. “You just turn on your hazards, stop, look both ways. It’s something that’s common sense.”

Douglas said bus monitors used to accompany drivers during the bus rodeo.

“I think it was more beneficial with the monitors because they learned to assist the drivers,” she said. “But you are not always going to have a monitor, so this teaches you to be more dependent on yourself, which is a good thing.”

Hanna said the bus drivers were excited, with some of them showing up more than an hour early for training. After each driver completed the course, they were encouraged to drive their routes and see what obstacles, such as construction, might greet them on their first day of school so they could make adjustments, Hanna said.