In what looks like total chaos, one holds the horses while others hurl items representing a stove and other cooking implements into the back of the wagon. Once loaded, each wagon completes a figure eight around a set of barrels, and then charges out onto the track at breakneck speed. The outriders have to cover a prescribed distance on foot, then jump on their horses and catch up. Their teams lose points if they don't finish the course within 150 feet of their wagons. There is debate over the origin of chuckwagon racing.
Some oldtimers say it developed out of wagon races cowboys used to hold on the open range.
Others say it recalls land rushes, when settlers raced in wagons to stake their claims. Guy Weadick , however, Stampede's founder back in 1912, maintained it was his idea, inspired by the round up crews who raced to the nearest saloon at the end of the day.