Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #186 - CPCA Drivers: Danny Ringuette & Kris Flanagan

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

Both drivers in the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association we get into their background, how they got their starts & the new event the North American Chuckwagon Championship here in Lloydminster.  Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500

This is Glenn Healing. Hi, this is Braden Holby. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hi, this is Brian Burke. This is Jordan Tutu. This is Keith Morrison. This is Kelly Rudy. Hi, this is Scott Hartnell.

Hey, everybody. My name is Steele-Ferre. This is Tim McAuliffe of Sportsnet, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Monday. Hope everybody's had a great weekend. It was a beauty. And with the NCC firing up last night,

the North American Truck Wagon Championships, here in Lloydminster. I figured it was apt to have a couple of the drivers on, have a little bit of fun with it. So before we get to today's episode, let's get on to today's episode sponsors. Carly Clause and I'm Windsor Plywood. Has anybody else seen their little cartoon commercial,

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Now, let's get on to that T-Barr-1, Tale of the T-Tay. A Bonneville boy and a metal-like kid both had their rookie seasons in 2014 and now enter their seventh season with the CPCA. Former roommates and now competitors. I'm talking about Danny Ringett and Chris Flanagan. So buckle up, here we go. Hey, it's Danny Ringgett here from the CPCA.

Hey, it's Chris Flanagan and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by Danny Ringett and Chris Flanagan. So first off, boys, thanks for hopping in the studio. Yeah, thanks for having us. Yeah, our pleasure. Now, it's been probably a long year for you, fellas. You know, coming through COVID, I mean, COVID's a long year for all of us.

But to have your sport completely removed and not do anything must have been a tough year. You guys got to be excited to be back on the track. Yeah, exactly. Like you said, it's a long year for every. everybody, but when you're turning out your 40 head of horses between the two of us and not getting to go down the road and it's just, it's a little bit more stabbing in the back there where you just a little more hurt when you know all those horses want to run and stuff. So getting back here the first show, it was a couple weeks ago in Poundmaker was a pretty pretty big rush. It's almost like it was the first time again. Yeah, and you know last year when we had to turn the horses out, it wasn't a good day. And so when the, First day of the spring, we were pretty excited. And I think the horses were even more excited than us.

So it was pretty fun. Well, you can notice it in the horses? Oh, for sure. They got their minds of their own, and they were pretty excited to go back on the training truck. So it was good. Yeah, and you got to remember they've been racing since they're two, three years old at the racetrack, so they don't know time off like that. So you put them out in the pasture and all they do is eat grass all summer and get chased by the bugs.

They're not used to that. So whereas here, where they're in. in the barn and pampered and fed special matches and mixtures of vitamins and stuff and in the barn out of the bugs and we treat them like babies so they you can tell that they thrive on that for sure it's interesting that you get well that animals understand like they don't like the time away either like they like being treated well but they also like the competition of getting around the track and racing well just like an athlete right like when athletes like they they want to run they want to play hockey they want to do this right it's just like

like a horse. They're bred to run, like a throw bread. So if they're not doing it, they're not happy. So you could just tell like this spring when we started training, their attitudes changed. They were playing more and feeling good and it was fun to watch. Now fellas, normally, and I'm forgetting myself here, normally where I started, people are probably wondering, you know, I was laughing me and Danny were laughing when Chris goes to the bathroom. I'm going, okay, now you're which one now? And it's funny. You got to a Flanagan shirt on Chris, which makes it perfect. But for the listener, they probably don't know who either of you are.

So before we go any further, what I want to do is I just want to kind of get a little bit about each of you so people can get used to your voices. And that way, they can, as we move along in this, they understand the, you know, I talk on there all the time. Nobody's worried about my voice. But, you know, when you have multiple people in the studio, I kind of forget at times that listeners got to figure out who's talking. So we'll start with Danny.

How did you get your start? I'm always curious at how drivers get their start. Like this isn't going down to the local rink and all of a sudden you pick up a set of hockey gear and away you go. And us two aren't, we're first generation, so we don't have grandpas and dads that have done it either. Okay.

Yeah, we started kind of the same way. He's got some cousins and stuff in it, but my story is kind of, my uncle has been our Eccles and he started sponsoring wagons back. Jesus. Say that again. B. N. R. Echols?

Your uncle is B.N.R. Well, he owns the company. He's the R. Yeah. He's the R. Yeah. No kidding. Yeah. So he's been sponsoring wagons for 40 years probably.

He started with Ray Crotto Senior. And then sponsored Doug Irvine and Shane Nolan and Grand Prix, like all these older guys. So he's been in the sports. You better hope Doug doesn't hear you call him old. Yeah, I call him old to his face too. But my dad started doing these barbecues and stuff, and I went to barbecue with my dad for Doug. And Doug, we started talking.

I didn't really know Doug, even though we live in the same town, well, he lives just north of Bonneville, and I'm from Bonneville. And he said, well, why don't you come work for me next year? okay, this seems pretty fun. So there I was working, being a barn hand. And I actually really, really loved it. And then he's like, well, for a couple of years. And then I tried to quit.

Couldn't quit. And then he hooked me up to drive. And it was, it's funny how you fall into these things too. It's just, and all of a sudden it just happened. The next year I was driving wagons. So it's, that's, I think seven, yeah, we start in 2014. So that's seven years. Now this will be our seventh year.

What is it about it that you enjoy so much? Well, it's everything. Like, I enjoy being around the horses. The way of life is, you know, you got to be a hard worker, but you, and you can have fun. Like, it's, you're on the road. You're laid back most of the time, but it's like managing a hockey team, too. You got 20 horses. What's my best lineup that's going to win tonight?

And it's keeping your mind going. and but the horses are the main thing. Like I like knowing each individual horse and what they do and how they can drive better and which position they go in. It's a puzzle that a guy tries to put together. You can definitely, can you definitely, how can I say this? I never grew up around horses. Like we had a horse and my uncles had horses,

but like really I never grew up around horses. The way you talk about like, managing your team is really interesting to me. So you're saying over the course of seven years, you kind of just plug and play and figure out if, I don't know your horse's names, but old, I don't know, what's your best horse name you got for me?

Well, I got a lot of good horses, I think. You can't single out. But I'll single one out because he's, he's my last original horse that I have still in my outfit, and he's my good left leader, his name's Cat. And he's progressed so much over the years. And he's just, he's a different horse. He don't like people too much.

But he's, he's getting older. He's 15 now, but he's really worked his way to the top. So that would probably be my favorite now, but I don't like to have favorites. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you can tell when Kat's having an off day. Yeah. No, for sure.

Do you talk to him like that? Cat, you're having an off day. Well, I say, get your shit together, Kat. And then, you know, he's a pretty smart horse. So it's, yeah, it's fun. And that's, you know, sometimes it's scary when you go in the barn before the race. And if a horse not is acting in a different way, you're like, well, what's going on with this horse today? You know what I mean?

Like just not doing, they have this, like, things they do before a race. I have my right leader, he grinds his teeth. And if he doesn't do that, I'm like, I get a little worried because usually when he grinds his teeth, he has a good race. It's kind of funny. If you can believe that. Yeah. Yeah, they all have quirks that way, yeah. It's crazy.

So that's what I mean. Like, it's getting to know these horses and their personalities. It's really neat. That's wild. I mean, once again, you look around this room, you understand that I'm a born-in-bred hockey player, and players have their quirks. Oh, it's the same thing, yeah.

Yeah, same thing. That has to be wild to watch. Well, it's a perfect example. I don't know, he'll probably slap me for saying this, but like DJ King, like before he'd go and fight when he's in the show, he'd always dry hever, gag or puke in the dressing room, he'd say he does the same thing when he gets fired up for the races. That's when he knows he's fired up and ready to go. You could hear him across the county. Yeah, just gagging and dry heaving, but that's just, that was his thing and it just transferred over, right?

Do you go, uh-oh, DJ's going to have a race? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. How about you, Chris? How did you, we now know that you both. first generation, rookie seasons both in 2014, but how do you get into this lifestyle and racing the horses? Yeah, so when I was younger, like Danny said, I had some cousins. So Shane and Vern's in the other association now when Shane's retired, but also BJ Carey's my first

cousin. So when I, we're young, my family used to go to their races and watch Shane and Vern race or whatever and I was really young 12 or 13 or whatever and I'd go and help my cousins and playing the barns and stuff like that and as I grew older I got to know a few people like around the barns and I met Jamie Labakene and I ended up working for Brian for the rest of my years when I was in high school so I barnhanded for them and for a few years and when I graduated I got a call from Norman Judy Cuthperson that they needed a barn hand in the other association so I jumped all over it went to the world and worked for Norman Judy Cutherson for I think three or four summers, and that's where I started outriding.

Norm was an old used outride back in the day, so he kind of got me going, and it was something that I always wanted to do, so he got me going outriding, and then I, I think I out rode from 2004 to 2010 in the WPCA, and throughout that time, I went and got my, I went to school to be a shoe or a ferrier as well, so then I kind of just, a what? A ferrier, put horseshoes on the horses. Yeah. Yeah, to put horseshoes on the horses. Okay, okay.

So I did that, and I outrode for, I guess it was Dwell-Tel 2010, and I kind of was done with the game. I was kind of thinking I'd quit and go be an adult and get a real job. And then so 2011 is the only year since I was 12 so that I never ever did anything because the following year, BJ called me in the CPCA, and he was up in, I think they started in Battlefurt. And he's like, I don't have an outrider.

What are you doing? I said, well, I'm off this weekend. He's like, can you come? Okay, fine. Like, I kind of missed it. So I went back 2012 and I rode the CPCA every second weekend because I was working seven and sevens. Then I did it another year. And then I was like, ah, frick, like, I'm done.

I quit. I'm either going to quit altogether or I want to start driving. He's like, I told him, I said, I'm going to come. I'll quit my job. I'll come back full time next year. But I need you to teach me how to start driving. And I drove a little bit like behind the scenes. after the races and stuff.

So I knew the gist of it and just never, ever really got to go out on the track and blow out, like full out driving. So he's like, wow, just start driving next year. I don't have the money for that. He's like, I'll help you out and get you going. So BJ helped me get going. And we traveled together for the first year and started buying horses. And then I was the year 2014 when we both started.

So then just kind of went from there. The following year, we kind of hooked up together because, like I said, we lived together there for a while. So I said, well, no use us both going separate ways. We'll just travel together and haul our feet together and saves time and money. And we kind of haul all their feet together and travel together and help each other set up and stuff. So kind of saves a little bit of effort there. Is there a little bit of brotherhood behind with all the drivers or is it kind of everybody sticks to their cluster? it's hard to say I think everybody respects everybody just like anywhere you go but like we stick to our

kind of friends you talk to everybody but we have a specific group that we kind of hang out with and yeah I wouldn't even call it clicks but there's definitely guy like we we go and have morning coffee with the same three people every morning for the last five years if somebody new comes there we kind of turn her noses on and get out of here like we we say things in this morning coffee that nobody else needs to hear. So we watched the races from the night the night before, and then we have coffee when the horses are eating their oats in the morning, and we'll watch the races.

Go over how everybody screwed up and what we did wrong and what we can do better and what horses were we can change and stuff like that. I got to ask, the listener cannot see this, but on the left, I got Danny, cowboy hat, like just cowboyed up. On the right, I got Chris. hat, t-shirt, not cowboy. Long hair. Sure.

Do you give him rough time? Oh, I give him a rough time all the time. I give him a rough time because I don't think he knew what a podcast was, thought maybe he was on TV or something. I'm pretty old school. I was like, you know, this is radio, eh? In fairness, normally, if it was one-on-one, I would have video. So he's not too far.

Oh, good. Look at who's right this time. Yeah. So you two live together? Yeah, when we were both, well, I'm married. now but we uh frick we both worked in the oil field and we were both gone all the time so and i needed a place to rent so i rented a room from him for six years probably probably yeah left in the middle and come back and how is it with you two and both driving both the same no this is before we were

driving yeah this before but now that but you both come in the same year you got the history of living together which i'm sure well you when you live with somebody you pick up some quirks i'm I'm assuming you've each picked up some quirks to the other guy. Oh, definitely. Yeah. But you would get mad because he would get up on the coach and I'd grab him by his legs and throw him off the coach when he was hung over and stuff in the mornings.

He didn't like that that much. Yeah, there was definitely some days for sure. That rookie season, your first season, you both come in. You got the history with one another. That must have been a fun year. Oh, definitely. Definitely. And like the first year wasn't, it was kind of we went our separate ways. He kind of went and trained with Doug and I went and trained with BJ. And when we went to the races, we didn't park together. And I mean, it was still the competitiveness of buddies or whatever and stuff like that. But at the same time, you want everybody to do good, right? But no, definitely it was fun because like, because of the history, right? We didn't know each other forever. The other rookies kind of didn't matter as much because you didn't send them a on Monday morning going, got you that one?

Yeah, no, because... He got me most of the time the rookie year. But you never... I'm one for sticking by, never saying shit like that, nor sending text because the next weekend will be shitty. I'm a huge karma guy. I'm not a superstitious guy, but the karma thing, you say something dumb, you're going to get bitten the ass.

It's interesting to me, though. Like, in the sport, there's so many, like, family relations. You've got the Baptists, like the brothers, right? Sure, yeah. There's got to be a little bit of teasing that goes on. Oh, teasing for sure, yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah.

We hang out with the tournieres, Luke and Lane. And if you want to go get teased, you just hang out with them for a while. It's back and forth pretty good. So it makes it a lot more fun. Well, let's talk about what's happening here over the next nine days, right? It starts tomorrow, which when this gets aired, it'll already be into day two, air episodes on Monday, Wednesdays. So it'll be day two. So the opening day will be over. How cool is it, you know, normally in a season, and by all means, correct me if I'm wrong,

but normally the CPCA doesn't cross over with the WPCA. Other than Calgary. Other than Calgary. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's correct. So how cool is it to have it here in Lloyd, to be a part of it, to have a part of it, to have so many, you know, this is going to be a big, big, big thing.

And tomorrow, once again, it'll be yesterday for the listener. But tomorrow, she's full, like, wide open. Oh, man. It'll be good to see. I hope the stands are packed. I think they will be. No, no, no. Well, let's be very clear.

They're going to be packed. Oh, they're going to, especially a Sunday night. If we're starting on a Monday or Tuesday, maybe, but it'll be packed tomorrow for sure. I think it'll be busy all week. People want to do stuff. I went by, I tell this story all the time. I'm driving with the kids back from Lashburn. I look over at the Legion ballpark.

And there's like, I don't know, I'd call it 500, but it was more like probably 250 people, right? Yeah, it looks busy. I'm like, what the heck's going on at the ball diamonds? All it was, it was like an 11-year-old ball game. But everybody was out because you could, no mask, sit around the ball diamond and have a, like when you go, hopefully the fans show up, the fans are showing.

Oh, they will. I think so. this town. This town loves that. The finals is always full to capacity. They're the last few years. So I'm pretty sure there's going to be people. Pretty sure. Does that, when you get a, you know, you're in the, you're getting ready and you can,

you can see the fans pouring in. You boys, uh, does that fire you up? Oh, definitely. It's, yeah, for sure. Like the fans make it, right? And, um, some of the smaller venues we go to and there, there's still, the stands will be packed. but it doesn't put out the sound that this full grandstand will make, right?

So the full grandstand cheering and screaming when you come down the home stretch, you'll notice it here. So it definitely gets you more amped and ready to go for sure. I try not to think about it. I just pay attention to what I'm doing and just go drive my race. I'll look in the stands. Oh, it looks like lots of people here tonight, but I try and put that out of my mind and get to business.

you'll be dry even like DJ I don't I don't get that nervous no no I said if I ever did that I'd quit I couldn't handle that doing that every day what was your favorite part of getting back into the into the circuit and was it being around all the drivers was it was it having the horses loaded up

and everything like what's your guys's favorite part of being you know back rolling I think driving again driving the horses we didn't we didn't do When as soon as they said, COVID was shutting everything down, we just turned the horses out. I was disgusted, so I just turned the horses out, and I didn't drive. We maybe drove a couple new ones last fall, I think, a little bit, but it was just, you know, I was mad.

And, you know, I think everybody was, right? So I just, I felt sorry for the horses, and I just kind of wanted to be done with it. But then this spring, when we started driving the new ones again and getting back, with the horses, it felt right, you know. And then when we started going to, we went to Doug's to spring train this year, and once we started driving fours on his track, then it became real again.

And you're, okay, I'm having, like, now we're having fun, you know. I forgot this, this feeling, it was two years or, well, a year and three quarters, right? So that's what I missed. And don't get me wrong, I love traveling down the road and racing, but just driving the horses that I really missed in, Yeah, and I like the racing part is obviously the drivers. Hopefully that's why you're here,

but the family part and everything else, that's a part of guy loves, but we still had that on our time off. So, but we didn't get to race and we still had to work. We still had to do feed horses, still had to do all that stuff. So we're doing all the work. I mean, the horses were turned out, so it was easier, but you still got to do everything to feed them all winter. So it's, all that stuff's like normal. But so the one thing we were missing was the actual racing. The racing part was what, like, that first race when you looked beside you and you're racing beside two other guys instead of by yourself on a lonely track practicing, that was probably the most exciting first part, like, to get back at it, like, having that year off.

It was almost like, just as shitty as it was. It was a vacation, right? That's the first summer. We've been at the lake since I was a kid, right? So you didn't. Did you enjoy that or were you like? No, I did. I really enjoyed it, but, I mean, I don't picture myself.

I can't. I couldn't do it forever. Is it possible that on both your profiles, you said your favorite place was anywhere with a beach? Is that possible that both you had the same thing? Probably. Probably. Well, I mean Mexico.

I mean going to sit on a beach in your shorts and having a nice beer in your hand and not worrying about anything. Do you wear the cowboy hat when you're sitting at the pull-up bar? Well, I haven't been there for years, but I don't think so. Well, I got to wear a hat or else my top of my head will burn, so. You ever wear a cowboy hat? Oh, yeah, all the time.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, for sure. I wear a lot. I just, it's too hot to get dressed up. So sitting in the camp around, I'm not changing. Let's just go. It doesn't help.

It's plus 34. No, I don't know the backstory. You obviously have a family you mentioned. Kids? Wife and one kid. He'll be a year, August 1st. Ooh. Yeah, he's still a little.

A newbie. A newbie, yeah. You're in the shit. Yeah, it's busy, that's for sure. Yeah. Well, any day you're having a rough day, you can think of me, three under five, or you can think of a buddy of mine who's Ken Rutherford. What is he?

He's in his 40s, he's got six. That'll keep you busy. That'll keep you busy. Well, we have a best one of our friends, he's actually the John Deere salesman, but they have four and the oldest just turned five. What? And the youngest is my kid's age. Four under five.

Four under five, yeah. Five. Man, they don't wait, do they? No, no. No, they. And the youngest is my kid's age, so they're both one. Yeah. I think she just had a birthday.

Enjoying it? Oh, yeah, it's awesome. It's the best. Family come with you on the road, everyone? Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. She'll go home during the week if we got to go from town to town. If we don't take our horses home, like lots of times we'll just go town to town to just to save the travel all the way back to Bonneville and then to load up and come back.

Yeah. We just come from Manny and Lake. straight to here. So she'll go home during the week and just kind of relax and get out of the camper. That's a big thing with a one-year-old is get out of a camper and go somewhere where he can move around and get out of the heat too. Like that's that that's a big thing right now. You're pretty much stuck in the EC all day and he gets a little busy to be locked in the camper. Yeah, no kidding. How about you, Danny? No, I'm single, no kids. Single and looking to mingle. Yeah, yeah, always mingling, eh? Just wait, just waiting for restrictions to open up.

Yeah, no. But my parents follow the, they, my dad's the president of the CPCA. Oh, okay. So they, they come to every show and they help out lots too. So it's, like, it's family everywhere. Yeah, they're like my second parents too. Yeah. They take care of their little flaney.

Well, here's a question for the both, you. For people that in Lloyd, I assume people have been to the Chucks. Let's assume for a second. you're new to Lloyd or new to the sport or, I don't know, going, other than the final race where everything, you know, where all the pressures on and the big money's won, if you're new to the sport, what's one of the events that you should take in in this one?

Because there's the Indian Relay, the mentorship heats, and the heritage heat, two heritage heats, I believe, first and last night. Yeah. If you were trying to bring new fans in, what one would you suggest if they were going to come to a night? Or maybe they all happen in the same night. Well, it's the heritage heat is on heat are day one and day nine, I think. Yeah.

And the Indian Relay is the first three nights. And I think that's pretty cool to watch. It's a breakdown for the listener what on earth an Indian relay is. So like they have different races, but it's a they ride a horse without a sense. saddle, it's bareback. Okay. And some of the races are just a race around the track once, but then they have their other races where they switch.

They'll race around the track with one horse, and then there's a box, like they, in chalk on the, like right beside the grandstands. And then they got to switch horses. So they'll jump off almost half full speed or half speed, I would say. Pretty fast. And they'll switch and they'll jump onto another horse and take that horse around the track. Yeah.

So the relay, I think they do three laps. So they start on one. they do a lap they jump off switch horses get another one do a lap and do it as fast as they can and i think there's five or six teams going at once so when they're coming into the infield it's pretty much freaking demolition derby trying to get to your box and switch horses and take off again so they got there's a lot of skill and a lot of good athletes those guys are good riders and athletes i'll tell you that much well they ride around the track uh as hard as you can go yeah yeah And that's the first three nights

So that'll be Sunday Monday Tuesday Yeah I'm pretty sure And then The mentor heats There's two heats before the races So I think they started six Every night? Yeah every night So there's six guys in those

So three wagons A heat And They just race against each other They're not part of the other show But they're kind of newer drivers And young rookies That's just maybe not ready

So like, let's say go back in the day when you're an outrider. Yep, Chris. This would be something as you're an outrider you could actually participate in just to get kind of a feel for it? Well, you've got to remember that we've already went to two shows. All the outriders are already, they've rode a bunch of shows already, right? I mean, for this mentorship heat, is this like people, like an outrider who's never driven before? Oh, no, no, they've all driven before. They're all driven before.

They're all on the tour. Oh, okay, they're all on the tour. Oh, okay, okay. It was more or less we wanted, they wanted the show to be the nine heats of four from both associations. And we had some extra drivers and they just, we didn't want, like the whole idea is for everybody to get a piece of the pie. I got what you're saying. So we kind of, they made up this other thing where they can kind of share the wealth. So they're all drivers.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. But they're not in the main. show, but they get to be a part of it. So I got you. And then these six guys, they're racing for a dash on day eight, I think, because they only run three a heat.

Yeah. And then it's a dash for $3,000. And they get a spot in the NACC next year. Yeah. So the winner of those six six. That's enough to motivate a guy. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It's a good deal for them. Because to qualify for next year, I believe it's the top 12 of the

the other association, the top 12 of our association, and the top 12 that finished this week at the NACC. So you'll have 36 guys next year, but, so having that one guy of the NACC, maybe he has his first year on the tour, he doesn't finish in the top 12 in either spot. So that's pretty good incentive. If you can win that mentor heat, you get to go next year. Because I don't know if every year they'll have these mentor heats, right? This the first year, we're just kind of getting the show off the ground. And hopefully it's, you're never, ever going to replace the Calgary Stampede because they kicked us out or whatever. But we're trying to build a couple of shows that we can actually make a living at where the sport can live on.

Because this sport is a lot of money. Don't kid yourself. Like, we put a lot of money and time into this sport. And if we don't have big shows like this, there probably won't be much Chuck Wagon racing in the future. That's the whole idea of this NACC is to keep wagon racing going. She's a tough world. Well, and we rely heavily on the sponsorship to get us down the road and stuff. And then your prize money, you hope to make enough so that you can buy new horses for next year,

upgrade, maybe your trailer, a truck needs fixed or stuff like that, right? We're definitely not getting rich doing it, but we love what we do, and we want to at least not be in the negative every time we finish. the season. So that's where when we finally qualified for the stampede in 2019, things were looking up, right? But then COVID hit and they changed a bunch of rules there. And this year they didn't have Chuck Wagon's at all. So what rules did they change? Well, they went from 36 drivers to 27. So actually in 2020, we got invited to our second Calgary Stampede. Okay. So when COVID hit, they, in the spring or whatever it was, I can't

remember the timeline exactly. They were going to change. change when this is when they still thought the stampede was going to run in 2020 they went well we want 27 people there instead of 36 because it's safer because they're going to run three wagons per heat instead of four this is off of the bad year there was some there was yeah it was it was a bad year but um a lot of things that getting rid of a driver wouldn't have changed right like um break a horse runs down or something and takes a couple with them you're not going to change you're not going to change that by getting rid of one driver. I don't, but anyways, so in 2020, we get these letters saying, well, you guys aren't invited anymore. So you can tell how much that stung because that's where the

money is at was Calgary, right? And we've worked our careers just to get there. And they send that letter out and say, oh, we don't want you guys here anymore because getting rid of nine guys makes it safer. So before I go down the safety route, I got to, I got to know, you know, in the truck wagon, I mean, in the stampede world. There's nothing bigger than the Calgary Stampede, at least for this area. What was it like getting the call to go there in 2019? I mean, and both of you at the same time. That must have been cool.

It was pretty exciting. I think he got the call before me, and he wouldn't text me until I texted him. I think he was waiting to see what was going on. Yeah, that's cool because the people that run it, they call you personally and ask you if you want to compete in the following year. They call you in the fall. And it's just, it's shady how they're doing it. Or not, let me rephrase it, not shady, but they went to invite only. Like in the olden days, it would be they'd take the top amount of this association,

the top amount of this association. It didn't matter. They just, the old day, say it was the top 16 from both. Okay. So as long as you were in the top 16, you knew you were going to the Calgary Stampede the following year. But then they started picking and choosing who they wanted to go. So then that. Why would they do that?

get certain people there to make sure somebody that maybe isn't as professional as the next guy to be there. Who cares? Exactly. It's a championship. You want the best. You want the best. You want the best. And that's which in 2020, 2019, I had a bad year on running.

I was kind of rebuilding. My horses run very fast. So I finished way down to the CPCA. So I didn't even think I was going. Like I didn't think I'd get a call or whatever. So they call, I think I was 20th and they called me in. No, that was the last year. The year that we both went in our rookie year, you had a good year.

Oh, no, I know that. But the following year, when we got her invite to the 2020, I was 20th in the CPCA. Like, I didn't deserve to be there. They skipped nine guys or whatever to get to me, but they liked how I acted when I was there and I was good with sponsors. And so they invite you back. But to me, that's unfair.

That's with this show. I wanted to stay. Yeah. If you're the best, you get invited. If you wanted to be the top 12, then that's the top 12. You don't, oh, you dress, you're messy or something. so we're going to skip you. It has to be the top 12.

And another thing for that is that the fans like that when there's different races. Like back in the WPCA, there wasn't just the race for first. There was the Calgary Spot race. And then there was the runoff race. So then you have three different races where, say, if the guy in first is 200 points ahead of the guy in second, it's not much of a race. And then nobody really is interested, right? But if you have three different races and say you're taking the top 20 out of the CPCA,

and you have from 15th to 25th is within 10 points. Could you imagine the people watching biting their nails for that interest? And exciting for us too. So say it's a top 20 and you're in 22nd. You're going to hook your best every day until you, until the years over to try and climb into 20th spot, right? Now when Calgary, well, who cares, I was 20th, they're going to call me. It didn't matter how good I did, obviously.

And then there's guys that never been to Calgary, and they were 12th. They probably deserved to go there, but they skipped them to go to me. So, like, that stuff isn't fair. They just, they changed a bunch of rules to say to make it safer or whatever, whatever it is. It's just, it was, uh, it's disheartening because you could,

you could be eighth or something and they'd skip you, right? Steve, man, you know, we, so much of sport is, is built on if you're good, you're moving on. Exactly. Yep. Now, in the states and obviously in truck wagons, uh, those rules, sometimes get, and as a fan, they sometimes get twisted, right? And you're like, well, that makes, you know, as a fan, you just go, that makes like zero, zero sense. Like, if take, I don't know, I'm going to use a hockey reference, if the Arizona coyotes

pull themselves out of the basement and all of a sudden are the best team in the NHL, they're going to playoffs. And if they continue to win, they're going to the finals. Yeah, can you imagine saying, oh, you guys finish second, but we don't really want you in the playoffs. We're going to take Anaheim that's sitting in the basement Sorry, you don't have enough people in the stands Pulling it back to the NCC

North American here in Lloyd Minster then So moving forward Could you say that again? So they're moving with the structure of the top 12 At each? Top 12 from each association, I believe. And then this week, the top 12 guys that finish Get invited back for next year.

So you're kind of safe. So if you finish in the top 12, you know you're going to get to go next year. That's pretty good. I mean, regardless, there's always incentive to win it. Well, and maybe you want to ease up on your good horses or something because maybe one's sore or tired. And so now you're not going to push so hard to get in the top 12 to get next year, right? So there's a lot of incentive this year to be in that top 12. There's a little bit of strategy, isn't there?

Oh, yes, yeah, especially in a nine-day marathon. So you've got to really get your horses in your lineup. Do you race every single night? Yeah. Every single night? Yeah. I don't know. This might be a dumb question.

You said marathon, so I'll stick on that word and go, nine days is a lot? It's a lot in a row, but you're not driving your same horses every night. They have to have breaks in between and stuff, but it's a marathon because it's just day after day after day for you, right? You're always doing this. It's actually a nine-day show is probably easier because you get in your routine. and it's always the same time, so it kind of works out, but it's still a marathon, right? It's long, and we have a thing that's called fitness to compete for the horses, so you can only run the same horses three days in a row, and then they need a break. So you've got to kind of

constantly be planning on your good outfit, you're going to want to run off maybe the one and two barrel, and then you'll run your second outfit off the three, maybe go back to your good for the four, and so you're always, it's a little more team management too, whereas, on a weekend with only four days, well, you can run them all four days, right? Because then they have a week off. So the nine days is actually, it's fun to think about that part of the, even when you were back in Calgary, your 10 days, you're huge team management trying to figure out what horses to go each night to make sure you can keep them in that fitness to compete program.

I love the strategy. The strategy is the best. Yeah, it gets your mind thinking. and well then all of a sudden one horse doesn't act the way you think and then you're back on the drawing board right and it always works out up here until you get out on the track and some guy beside you goes faster than you thought he was gonna or goes slower than you thought you're gonna you sometimes if you're on the three oh those one and two guys those are fast barrel barillers so i'm gonna tuck i'm gonna pull up and tuck in behind them and come running down the home stretch and then they have a slow turn and you're stuck three wide with your and and that's the other thing like he just said is that you're not just worried about not worried, but you're not working or you're paying attention

to what the other guys, like say, I'm on the three and he's on the two and not somebody else is on the one, but you kind of know what how they turn on that barrel and what outfit, like if you see a horse, okay, I know what he's doing. And that's why we watch the tapes in the morning too. We try and watch who we're hooked with. It's be like, okay, if they got that horse, they're going to turn hard. They got this horse. They're probably going to go for their run or whatever. There's a lot to it. Wait, this actually makes sense to me, but surprise me. You watch who they're dressing for other horses or who they suit up.

You know, you can understand, oh, they got cat in the lineup. Well, they would know everybody would know his lead team. Like they kind of match, they look the same. And his other lead team has a gray on there. So they would know, oh, Danny's got his good lead team on tonight. So he's going to be out of there, right? So, like, everybody kind of watches for that stuff. a wild. I mean, the hardcore truck wagon guy who's listening to this right now is going,

Sean doesn't have a clue, which is fun. But I think it's why, I love the strategy. I love hearing how the night goes and how you're looking at the, oh, who's he got out there? Well, it's night two, so it's probably going to be this guy. Well, what we do is like before the races, we all sit in the paddock before, and then you kind of look around and see what, what's on everybody's hook and you're like, okay, I know what he's doing. I know what he's doing. It's, like I said, It's fun thinking about all that stuff. There's a lot more to it than the naked ice season. Absolutely, absolutely.

How disappointing was Stampede not having the tracks this year? I don't know. The honest truth, I didn't care. I don't care anymore. They've screwed us over the year before. No, that's a lie. I do care. I want Chuck Waitens to thrive.

But they're shooting themselves in the foot. The stands are going to be, that's where all the fans come from. them. Every, every, all 10 days of that freaking stampede is packed with people that come from Europe, from the States to watch Chuck Wagon Racing. They don't come to watch bulldoging. They don't come to see the night show. They're shooting themselves in the foot. It sucks for the wagon drivers, but then now, I don't know, it forced us to make this show. If Calgary didn't do all this stuff, this show wouldn't have happened. I think this is going to force the other association to build a big show. They're down in high river and they're, and they're,

They're doing like a two-week-in thing for three days and three days. So it's kind of forcing everybody to stop relying on Calgary to be the only source. Because they've been putting different rules and different circumstances on everything. Like the prize monies was supposed to go up 10 years ago. It never, ever has. I mean, that's fine. That's all fine and dandy. But they kind of had you under the thumb because everybody wants to be there, thrive to be there.

That's the money. But we couldn't do nothing about it because they controlled it. They did everything. If you outspoke about it, well, you're not coming back. Probably never coming back. So I don't know. It is what it is. But I hope this show now it becomes the new, maybe the new, the new Calgary stampede of Chuck Wagon.

What do they call it on their flyer? The world's greatest chuck wagon race? Because it is right now. It's the best Chuck Wagon race right now. We've got great guys from both associations. It's a great venue. It's going to be great here. Yeah, I mean, it sucks for the Chuck Wagon in general, but it's going to force us to branch out and do better.

I had written down, after, you know, Calgary Stampede, how, you know, what are you? And I underlining it, I had disappointed or huge opportunity. Exactly. I mean, Calgary Stampede is a wonderful show. The funny thing is, is the two or three times I've ever been there over the course of my life, the best part is always the checks. And the busiest. Yeah, we're going to go. Yeah, absolutely.

We've been there lots. Like, we were there, not in the racing, but we were always there. Like, he was outright and I was working as Barnhand. And you'd look into the stands, it didn't matter which year, almost every night. Like, your Monday and Tuesday nights, like, it might only be three quarters full, but it's still 17,000 people. Yeah. Like, you look at there, you look over at the rodeo in the afternoon on a Tuesday, there might be 6,000 people.

Like, even on the weekends, like, you're not happy. There's something about a race, right? Oh, exactly. In the same sense. The rodeo did bring in a lot of people, too. Like, it's... I bet you they went to the races that night, too, though. The Calgary Stampede, let's be very clear, is a juggernaut, right?

Oh, absolutely. But one of the jewels they had was the Czechs. Well, it's Western Heritage, right? Yeah. Like, I'm really excited. Like, you know, when they announced this, I was like, oh, man, that is a stroke of genius. Because honestly, bringing the best to Lloyd, Lloyd's a Chuck Wagon. I get told this all the time with the guests I bring on.

We're a hockey town first, and right behind that, we're truck wagons. Like, what did I say before he came on? I don't know how many dollars I've lost on you guys racing around. Well, that's a cool part about wagons. And you talk about Calgary and stuff is those 20,000 people up there, probably 16,000 are betting their dollar per race. right yeah that's where the excitement all take the one barrel you don't even have to know who it is i think he's spending a little more than a dollar probably in the beginning it was 25 cents

yeah or a quarter as kids we did uh well i don't know how old i would have been probably my teens but we used to do quarters and that's how i got introduced to it that was the best but then you're looking forward to it it makes the race is so much funer right and the guy who loses gets to pick first for the next seat no way you go yeah like um but like i say everybody loves a race, right? It doesn't matter. It could be racing anything. People love it.

Cars and anything. Racing is exciting. Yeah. Like, well, there's just, there's a, this is the rules. Here's where they got to go. Boom, done. Okay. Yeah.

And I'll tell you what, like he talks about he had one big race there where all three guys come across the finish line, but lots of races where you're not going to hear a bigger, like you come around that fourth turn in Calgary and this fan starts screaming and stamping their feet. And there's no bigger rush that when you're running beside a couple other guys coming. across that. So like in the wagon, you can't really hear anything when you're when you're driving. Like it's hard to hear somebody talks to you. You can't hear anything. But like that one time in Calgary, I came around the fourth corner and you could hear the like just like somebody's yelling

in your ear. It was crazy. It was intense. And then you're like, hey, come on boys. Start running. Guaranteed the horses can feel that too. Oh, the energy for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Can we talk for a couple minutes on the heritage heat? I think it's, I think it's a super, I'm a big believer in tipping the cap to the people that have come before and are no longer, you know, they're the alumni of the sport, so to speak. How cool is it to have Brian Labicane and Ray Mitzwing racing a couple times against each other? It'll be pretty neat. It'll be, it's probably one that a guy might, like, I don't really watch the races prior to our own heat, but I think a guy might have to walk up there and watch that one for sure. Like I said,

I grew up working for Brian and when I was younger and hanging out with his son, Jamie and stuff like that. And you guys always knew Ray and lots of respect for him. So it's going to be neat to see them up there pulling on the line and see if they can even do it. My first year, if I had problems, I would go see Brian and he would kind of steer me in the right direction too. And Ray, you'd ask you, you'd always come have a coffee with me and then you go talk

and chat about. So they're pretty big names in our sport and they built. They're some of the guys that built this sport too, right? Yeah, once again, like, their names, I'm not a giant. Like, I can't sit here and act. Like, I, you know, this last weekend you guys were in Onion Lake and the WPCA was in Dewberry. And I didn't go to either, in fairness. But here coming to Lloyd, I'm rather excited about it.

But with those two names, I'm like, I know both those names, right? I grew up watching those guys and got to see Ray's last race too. Oh, yeah. Or one of his last race. I assume it was his last race. The finals in Lloyd probably. Yeah. And anytime a guy is a part of a sport for that many decades.

Yeah, 40, 50 years, right? Yeah, like, like, that's a lot of, that's what I love about Chuck's. Is there any other sport where you can play it that long, honestly? And be competitive. And be competitive. Well, you can stretch golf? Golf. Hey, I tell you what.

Yeah, but they go to the champions league. There's a 55, there's a 55 champion, whatever it is. But, like, you, Kelly Sutherland was still winning when he was 65 and they forced him to quit. I mean, I don't know if he wanted to quit. His body was still in good shape. He probably could have kept going. There's lots of guys, like, I don't know them specifically, but, I mean, their bodies are tired. Ray and Brian, they both will admit that their shoulders over the years take some beating, pulling on all those horses, right?

So I don't, I think both of them were probably. sad to quit. I don't put words in their mouths, but their bodies were probably getting pretty tired. Brian, he'll admit that, yeah. But it'll be pretty cool to see for one time. Yeah, I'm honestly, the first night I got to make, well, tomorrow night, I got to make it because I think that's, anytime you do something like that, it's just like a huge, you're paying tribute to the guys you came before you, and those guys have really pushed the sport in the right direction. And they've been very good drivers for a lot of years. As we kind of wind down here, I do the Crude Master Final Five,

so it's five quick questions, and then I'll let you boys get out of here and on to your day. I know you've got a big week ahead of yet, and I appreciate you coming in here. It's just the Crude Master Final Five. So the first one is a little different than what I normally do, and I'll have the second question as I normally do. But if there was one guy that I could bring in here from the Chuck Wagon's, who would you suggest?

you got the two best guys here already what does it matter um like for an entertaining interview or what are you what are you kind of looking for i don't know you tell me i'm i'm picking your brain i mean just you know somebody that'd be interesting to have sit across the the chair for me probably like if you wanted stories and stuff i think kelly sutherland would probably be i was just going to say if you're talking everybody old wagon drivers kelly tells kelly's one of the greatest wagon ambassadors there is like and he has stories from back in the day where the old old generations of glasses and Dorchester's when he was 18 running against some of those guys right um we've i've

listened to just lots of stuff and interviews that he's done and he's awesome to listen to how about this one then if you could sit down in my seat and interview anyone who would you take anybody anybody oh geez like wagon wise or anyone I don't know, that guy up there would be pretty cool. When we're talking Gordy? We're talking Steve. Stevie Y. Yeah, Stevie Y. He's my favorite hockey player ever, like, from day one. And I just saw, I happened to notice that picture up there.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. We got to meet Gordy in Vegas one time. BJ actually got his jersey signed and stuff, and it was pretty cool. He was pretty old then, but. When it comes to Legends, those two are, I mean, Gordy's Mr. Hockey, but Stevie Y is. Yeah, it would be cool. Yeah. For talking hockey, my favorite player growing up was Jeremy Roanick.

I just loved the way he played hockey and he was just a pest. He is an entertainer. Yeah, no kidding. He would be entertaining, I think. Where is, you know, you've talked a lot about stampede and coming around the final corner and the crowd and everything. Where is one of the hidden gems that you race on the tour that you love going to? I don't know. That show we just came from, honey.

Lake was pretty good. The fans there were amazing. There's probably 4,000, 5,000 people there. Wow. And their cars and everything. And it was pretty cool. And they take care of the, they work pretty hard to take care of us there.

So it's a really good show and nice and quiet. And you're in the middle of a. Lots of space. Yeah, lots of space. Lots of space for the horses. That's always a bonus. Hunting Lake for you too then? No, my little, my hidden gem is always the Turtleford show.

Oh, that's a good idea. We always put on a charity golf tournament there the day before it starts. The women of the wagons. Women of the wagons. So for the Jim Patterson hospital and stuff, they raise money for them in the year-end. So you go golf for one day, and it's almost like a vacation because Turtle Lake, you go to Turtle Lake one day and get ice cream or go for a swim. And the grounds is kind of all spread out.

You're not just in a tight packed area. One guy's in the bushes over here. One guy's here. So you're kind of relaxed, and it's, I don't know why it seems relaxed there, but the crew always puts on a good, the committee always puts on a good show there. For such a small town to do what they do, it's just a nice place to go. But everywhere we go is pretty good. Yeah, there's not really, yeah.

Great committees all over the association. Like, I love coming to Lloyd at the finals too. It's nice to be here too. What do you guys doing in wintertime in the off season? Oh, little as possible would be nice, but I've been in the oil patch forever. I've been dispatching in it for a trucking company for quite a while. In the fall, I help farm on, we farm 40,000, or not 40,000 acres.

And then in the winter and fall, I'm a truck push moving rigs. The supervisor in charge of the trucks that move the drilling rigs from location to location. Gotcha. So full-time jobs in the off-season. Yeah. Yeah. I should give you the opportunity. Who's your major sponsor or TARP sponsor? Who's helping you guys along? So like for this show, I have Alberta Industrial Carriers as my sponsor, but then BNR. Echol is sponsored me for the final and I got Superior Concrete Pumping out of Coal Lake that's sponsored me and ShurShot Wireline. So a lot of good guys and a lot of fun when they come around. My sponsor here and quite a few other shows for this season is Peavatch Corp out of Bonneville.

They do mulching and bucket trucks and hazardous tree removals and stuff like that. Just a great bunch of people. And they like the sport and it's great. You need to have that sponsorship to help you get down the road. Absolutely. Well, your final one, I got to know, what is the best, the best horse name? You've ever given or heard. That's a good one, actually.

Well, Danny is the king of giving three letter names. He has about 10 horses that all art, Cal, Jim, and they're human names, right? So he has so many horses that are just... Way easier to spell, eh? I don't know. So many different names that you wouldn't even... And then, like, sometimes we name horses after people and... Get a horse from somebody or aged.

But I'm asking about the best horse name. There's got to be a horse when you heard it. You're like, man, that's a pretty good name. Or funny or whatever. Or there must be a story behind that. You're telling me the best names you've ever heard, Chris, is Danny or Danny. Art. Hey, that's a good name.

Come on. Get off my case. I'm not saying they're bad names. I'm looking for the best name. Nothing really sticks out. We did, I bought a horse from Luke Turney and we called him Uncle Leo. Uncle Leo. Well, that's his brother's name.

Okay. Everybody calls him Uncle Leo. That was pretty funny. The horse was temperamental, so we called him Uncle Leo. Yeah. Nothing really sticks out there. Because there's every name you would, and you could ever imagine was named a horse was named after it, right?

So, yeah, I don't. All the stories about horses and you can't even give me like nothing. Can't give me nothing. Not great names, no. No. Yeah, that's, it's kind of funny. I don't, trying to think, but I have a horse called ham because he's a big fat horse. I don't know.

Well, I appreciate you guys coming in and sitting and doing this with me. Best of luck to you here in the next nine days. I hope everything goes well. I'm not worried about fans showing up or support. It's going to be a pact. I mean, literally tomorrow, and when they listen to this yesterday, things open up in Saskatchewan, right? Like, she's going to be wild for nine days, in my opinion. And maybe I'm wrong on that, but I have a hard time believing it.

So best luck to you guys, appreciate you coming in here. And yeah, just thanks for hopping in and doing this with me. Yeah, well, thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks. Appreciate it. Hey, folks. Thanks for joining us today. If you just stumbled on the show, please click subscribe.

Then scroll the ball. bottom and rate and leave a review. I promise it helps. Remember every Monday and Wednesday we will have a new guest sitting down to share their story. The Sean Newman podcast available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, Keeners. Hope you enjoyed today's episode. I got to start dropping some hints here pretty quick. I think I got my 200th guest. Pretty excited about it. A few things you got to come together before I'm going to be 100% sure. But like I say, 200th episode is honestly right around the corner.

And I'm super excited for you guys to figure out who may be coming up here very shortly. And that's where I'm going to leave it. I'm pretty excited about it. 200 episodes coming up awfully quick. And, oh, it's going to be a doozy. Anyways, get out there, enjoy the sun. go watch some CPCA and WPCA truck wagons this week here in Lloyd.

All right. We'll catch up with you guys Wednesday.