Q:

Encapsulating JComboBox to ensure fields are empty

I have multiple JComboBox elements located across 4 tabbed panes. I would like to be able to encapsulate them into an Object[] and call removeAllItems(). However, being that it's of type Object I can't do this. Is there a way to put JComboBox elements inside of an array and still access JComboBox methods? 
(I've illustrated what I would like to do below)
Example:
Object[] combo_container = { winners_combo_box, bikes_combo_box,
            teams_combo_box, riders_combo_box };

for(Object item : combo_container) {
    item.removeAllItems();
}

A:

for(Object item : combo_container) {
    JComboBox box = (JComboBox) item;
    box.removeAllItems();
}

But is not really a great idea. Why not array of JComboBox? Like this:
JComboBox<String>[] combo_container = { winners_combo_box, bikes_combo_box,
            teams_combo_box, riders_combo_box };
for(JComboBox box : combo_container) 
   box.removeAllItems();

Of course assuming winners_combo_box, bikes_combo_box etc. are objects of JComboBox class

