A guide to ‘the chucks’ in Calgary
Famous chuckwagon races attract a diverse crowd at the annual Stampede
CALGARY, ALTA.— As the chuckwagons come hurtling around the track — thoroughbred’s hooves thundering and drivers’ faces grimacing — the announcer’s commentary picks up speed, too.
When the winning team crosses the finish line, 25,000 people cheer. It’s a diverse crowd: Downtown project managers in shiny cowboy boots, ranch hands in muddy ones, tourists wearing brand new gingham, and rodeo stars sporting champion belt buckles.
Guy Weadick would be thrilled. He’s the promoter from the U.S. who started the Calgary Stampede back in 1912 and came up with the idea of chuckwagon races 11 years later.
There are different stories about where he got the idea. Maybe he saw farm wagons race at a rodeo near Calgary. Perhaps he had been among the ranch hands that raced to the saloon after round up. Or it could have had something to do with the land rushes in Oklahoma. Regardless of where Weadick got his inspiration, there’s no question the sport he invented took off.
The very first race didn’t have rules; the cowboys made them up as they went along. There were plenty of rules by 1949, when a professional circuit was sanctioned.
Today, the most famous (and controversial) chuckwagon race in the world is at the Calgary Stampede, where 36 drivers race 216 horses over 10 days for more than $1.5 million in prize money. The formal name is the GMC Rangeland Derby but no one calls it that — it’s just “the chucks.”
There are four horses in each team and four teams in each heat. The evening races start with the blast of a horn and outriders throwing a barrel in the back of each wagon (to signify breaking camp). As the outriders jump on their horses, the drivers ma- noeuvre a figure eight around barrels before taking off full speed around the track, out of sight from the stands.
As the chucks race around the back of the track, every head in the stands swivels to watch the action on big screens. When they come back into view, drivers’ shirts billowing behind them, the big screens show close-ups of the drivers’ mud-splattered faces. One has a GoPro strapped to his cowboy hat.
Between heats, music blares in the stands and tractors come out to smooth the infield — cowboy Zambonis. People in red Stampede shirts walk up and down the stands selling beer, burgers and greasy (and delicious) popcorn. Tipsy city slickers in straw cowboy hats emblazoned with beer logos make friendly wagers on the next race with folks in expensive Stetsons.
Just outside the track, as people shriek in delight on midway rides that hurl them into the air, the sun starts fading behind the Calgary skyline and you tuck your sunglasses away.
If you’re lucky or connected, you may wrangle an invitation to the barns behind the track to meet real cowboys and get a glimpse of the professional chuckwagon life. It’s a small, tight community with more than a few family dynasties — fathers, sons, uncles and cousins compete against each other in the circuit.
Plenty of people in the stands have their favourite drivers — they’re like those lake neighbours you only think of in the summer. But it doesn’t matter that you don’t utter the word “chucks” the other 355 days a year. Come the 10 days of Stampede, as you watch the horses and their drivers get ready for the next race around the track on a warm summer night, everyone is a cowboy.