John Growney, the stock contractor, wears a beige suede cowboy hat, a blue denim shirt and blue Wranglers a couple of shades darker than his ice-blue eyes. He is sauntering past his trailer toward his shiny white pickup. The animals have had the whole winter off, they haven't competed since October. And my job is to buck cowboys. He climbs onto the cab and starts dropping fur-lined flank straps and saddles to the ground.
People go to a stock car race, they want to see a wreck.
They go to a boxing match, they want to see someone get knocked out. We aim for over a 50 percent buckoff rate. Growney is one of the top stockmen in the nation. He raised Red Rock, the red brindle bull who went unridden 309 times until the famous Lane Frost finally hung on for longer than the mandatory eight seconds. Growney still owns Wolfman, Red Rock's grandson, but Wolfman is back home in Red Bluff tonight.