RIDING TO THE RESCUE
Codey McCurrach drove his own chuckwagon then filled in for Obrey Motowylo’s rig in Wednesday’s Rangeland Derby, after Motowylo suffered a broken collarbone when he was run over by his own wagon Tuesday night.
The chuckwagon community is rallying behind driver Obrey Motowylo after he was flung from his wagon and then run over by it during Tuesday night’s Rangeland Derby.
Motowylo was hospitalized with a broken collarbone. Stampede spokeswoman Kristina Barnes said he’s in good spirits and thankful for all the support he’s received.
But while the injury will keep him out of action, his wagon will return to the track Wednesday night.
Codey McCurrach stepped in for Motowylo for Wednesday’s race. McCurrach raced his own wagon in the fifth heat, then took Motowylo’s place in the eighth heat.
McCurrach said when an accident happens, all other drivers step in to support each other and help out.
“There’s not one driver that wouldn’t help another driver out, that’s for sure,” he said. “We’re all very competitive and we want to beat the other drivers but, at the same time, when it comes to tough times everyone pitches in.”
McCurrach called the nature of Motowylo’s accident, “not common at all but certainly a risk.”
Motowylo hit a barrel near the start of the race, which tossed him from his wagon.
“I’m not sure exactly why (the wagon) tipped and for the most part the driver doesn’t go out,” said McCurrach. “But it can happen.”
Chuckwagon driver Jason Glass, who debuted a new helmet made by Back on Track on the first night of this year’s Stampede, said about 10 drivers wear helmets.
He said accidents like the one Tuesday night are not common in the sport.
“The number of accidents we’ve had over the years in wagon racing is very, very small,” he said.
But when someone does get hurt, everyone pitches in and does what they can, Glass noted.
“It’s a pretty small community,” he said. “There’s 36 drivers and all their families and tons of kids. We’re together for four months.”
Previous reports suggested track conditions could be to blame, but Barnes said track conditions were good.
Motowylo is a farmer and rancher in the off-season who spent 15 years racing pony chuckwagons, and was a three-time world champion before he started racing thoroughbred chuckwagons in 2004.
In 2009, the 46-year-old from Bluffton, about 200 kilometres north of Calgary, won the Calgary Stampede’s Orville Strandquist award for top rookie driver. Last year, he made it to the Rangeland Derby final for the first time, finishing in second place and taking home $25,000, leaving him ranked sixth in the world.
McCurrach says he’s planning to visit Motowylo soon but said he was focused on Wednesday ’s race.
“I definitely want to do good tonight and focus on getting his team up in the top running for the night,” he said before hitting the track.