Professional Bull Riders Inc. - Fried twinkies, buckle bunnies, & bull riders: a year inside the professional bull riders tour

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2005 by Josh Peter

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Photographs by Beiron Andersson; fried Twinkie photograph by Barry Sweet

Book design by Drew Frantzen

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peter, Josh.

Fried twinkies, buckle bunnies, and bull riders : a year inside the professional bull riders tour / Josh Peter.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13 9781594861192 hardcover

ISBN-10 1594861196 hardcover

ISBN-13 9781594865220 paperback

ISBN-10 1594865221 paperback

eISBN 9781623362386

1. Bull riding. 2. Professional Bull Riders, Inc. I. Title.

GV1834.45.B84P48 2005

791.8'4dc22 2005017297

Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 hardcover

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 paperback

For my beloved wife, Vanessa, and my beautiful little Taurus, Norah

CONTENT S

ACKNOW LEDGMENTS

First and foremost, a big thanks to all of the bull riders, especially those who advised me against getting on a bull. As Adriano Moraes put it, At your age, youll probably die.

Simply writing about bulls required an incredible support team that included Frank Scatoni and Greg Dinkin, the best agents a writer could have; Pete Fornatale, my talented and tireless editor; all of the hard-working folks at Rodale, who not only published this book but helped make it something of which Im especially proud; friends like Phyllis Shnaider and Charles Billings, who provided unyielding optimism; and my entire family, but especially my wife and my mother, who believed in me even when I didnt. And thats just the beginning of my gratitude.

This book could not have been written without the generosity of the PBR; without the support of David Meeks and Doug Tatum, my bosses at the Times-Picayune; or without the help of the Outdoor Life Networkespecially Matt Vinick, who must have spent half of the year responding to my requests for videotapes. It also would have been much less fun to write without the camaraderie and friendship of people like Todd Pierce, Jinx Clower, Tandy Freeman, Joe Loverro, Leah Garcia, Brett Haber, Brandon Bates, Beiron Andersson, and countless others.

Additional thanks to Chris McManes, for his friendship and keen eye; Gail Woerner, for her dedication to rodeo history; Sharon Mahrley, for her stewardship of the Lane Frost Web site; and to all of the other men and women dedicated to giving bull riding and rodeo the attention and publicity they so richly deserve.

ONE

MAKE EM SHIVER

If the PBR dont get your fire going, your wood is wet.

Larry Seamans, Texan and ardent bull riding fan

Las Vegas, Nevada

Saturday & Sunday, November 8 & 9, 2003

Climbing into the 6-foot-deep, coffin-shaped metal chute, Chris Shivers lowered himself onto the back of Silver Select, a 1,600-pound bull. He wrapped a custom-made bull rope around his left hand and with his right hand pounded closed his gloved fist. Then he tightened his legs against the bull and called for the gate with a shout of Go.

The chute gate swung open, and out they burst, man and beast.

Ropes of saliva shot from Silver Selects nostrils as he bucked and whirled and leapt and shook. The crowd of more than 16,000 inside the Thomas & Mack Center loved it, all the more because the rider aboard the furious bull at the Professional Bull Riders World Finals was Shivers, a baby-faced 24-year-old from Louisiana and the reigning hero and heartthrob of the PBR. Make us Shiver! read a handmade sign. Thats exactly what happened as the crowd cheered, shouted, and... gasped.

Shivers was hung up.

Hed tumbled off the right side of Silver Select with his hand caught in the bull rope. As Silver Select twisted and spun, Shivers looked like he was caught in a blender. What happened next was a blur.

His left hand ripped free of the bull rope, the bull knocked him face-first into the dirt, Shivers crawled away, reaching his feet and staggering for safety.

Out of danger, Shivers grimaced as he clutched his right arm. The medical staff hustled to his aid. Wincing as he walked out of the arena with the assistance of a trainer, he managed to tip his cowboy hat as if to assure the fans he was okay. Tentative applause rippled through the crowd.

Bull riders are no ordinary men. To see that, one need look no further than the beasts they attempt to stay on for 8 seconds. The bulls, weighing up to 2,200 pounds, go by names like Dippin Rampage, Tombstone, and McNastyand have dispositions to match. The baddest of the lot was Little Yellow Jacket, a 1,700-pound monster whod been voted Bull of the Year for the second straight season. But the riders, if not as strong as the bulls, were just as tough.

At the 2003 finals, one rider was competing with a partially collapsed lung; another was back less than 4 weeks after suffering a broken rib and punctured lung; yet another was climbing aboard bulls 5 months after suffering a skull fracture that required emergency brain surgery. Now, on the eve of the last day of the finals, Silver Select had pounded Shiverss back, strained his left arm, and stomped on his right arm.

Less than 24 hours later, Shivers returned to the arena, ignored the pain, and climbed onto Tar Baby. He felt every bit of Tar Babys 2,000 pounds beneath him as the bull leaned against the back of the chute. The bull thrashed and reared as Shivers made his wrap, weaving the rope between the ring finger and pinkie of his left handa suicide wrap, they call it, because running the rope between the two fingers makes it harder for the bull to pull it out of a riders hand but also harder for the cowboy to let go. About half of the PBRs riders use the suicide wrap and risk dangerous hang-ups.

Shivers fidgeted, trying to get comfortable on the anxious bull; and with Tar Baby still wriggling, he called for the gate.