NASCAR execs exchange wheels for hoovesHelton and Childress stop by the PBR World Finals |
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The 21-year-old from North Carolina won for the third time in four rounds, so it was only fitting that he would do so with a pair of NASCAR’s biggest names in the audience.
Richard Childress and Mike Helton watched Round 4 as a guest of Tom Teague, a longtime member of the PBR Board of Directors.
Childress, who owns a team of drivers that includes Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, has been a familiar face at PBR events for years while Helton, NASCAR President, is equally as interested in the PBR, but was attending the World Finals for the first time.
Helton and Childress stopped in Las Vegas on their way to Phoenix for this weekend’s Sprint Car Series event. Following the conclusion of Round 4, the pair spoke with www.pbrnow.com.
Question: Considering your close friendship with Tom Teague, it’s not surprising to see you here tonight. But how long have you been a PBR fan?
Richard Childress: It goes back many, many years. I used to tell Tommy back when he was first involved that it’s like NASCAR was in the ‘70s, and you just see the popularity of it growing and growing and growing. It’s just keeps getting better and the fan following and everything is just growing like NASCAR was back in the day.
Mike Helton: It’s the first time I’ve been to the (World Finals) and I don’t get to too many, but I watch a lot of them on TV and enjoy the sport, the characters. It’s pretty interesting. This one happened to line up just right with (the race) in Phoenix and it gave me an opportunity to be here tonight for a little while.
Question: You mentioned the PBR reminds you of NASCAR back in the day, is there anything in particular that you have seen the PBR doing that made you come to that conclusion?
Childress: They’re doing a lot of the right things and, I think, and the new owners are even going to carry it to a new level.
Helton: I don’t know that I’m qualified to put all that into perspective…but I would tell you that I do feel like it’s a growing program. That more and more people are paying attention, too. Just through the course of enjoying it myself, I’ve run across more and more people myself who say they do. That’s an evolution and it’s also progression of exposure. I think if you looked in the grandstand tonight and then looked in the grandstand of one of our races, there’s a lot of overlap there, and a lot of it has to do with the charisma of the characters in the sport. I think a bull rider or rodeo rider is a lot like a racecar driver. I think it crosses over.
Question: What is it that draws you to the sport of bull riding? Is the element of danger and comparing a driver racing at over 200 miles per hour to a bull rider trying to stay on the back of 2,000 pound bull for 8 seconds?
Childress: I think it’s the athletes that ride and watching them compete against bulls. Yeah, there’s an element of danger, a huge element, but real professionals who ride know what they’re doing. It’s like anything—you get up in the morning to drive down the street and you don’t know if you’re going to make it back or not, so these guys here ride all the time.
Helton: I just think it’s the uniqueness – the cowboy part of it is big – but it’s something that seems like it would be difficult, if not impossible, to do and these guys to do it and they do it with a lot of grace and style, and it’s just a good program and moving along fast. It’s just an interesting sport to watch.
Question: Obviously as everyone makes their way down the hallway, all the riders know who you are, but what about you—anyone in particular that you’re a fan of?
Childress: Oh, yeah, there’s a lot of them. Justin (McBride) and Ross (Coleman), there are so many great athletes that I pull for them all. I’ve gotten to know Justin and Ross, and I want to see them do good. I want them to be safe, but I want them to do good.
Question: Do you see a common denominator between your athletes and our athletes?
Helton: Yeah, I do. I think it comes from the uniqueness of what they do and the fact of, “Oh my gosh, how do they do that,” because most expectations are the level you put them at because you know you probably couldn’t do it yourself, so it’s amazing to watch someone else. And bull riding is at that level, and I think stockcar driving is too.
Question: Not in the same way as bad guys on a wanted poster, but in some respect they’re like outlaws in the same way they’re like rock stars.
Helton: I don’t know if it’s about being an outlaw as much as they defy logic by why would you even want to do that? So, to that end, it’s an edge, but when you pay attention to it and you understand the combination of it – in this case the bull and the rider and in our case it’s cars and drivers – it’s almost as if the racecar driver is in cadence with or sometimes struggling with the racecar to do what he needs to do. The same thing happens in the PBR. The rider is either in sync with, in cadence with, or in conflict with the bull. I think that the mystique of it all is wondering how it’s all going to come out at that moment.
Question: Coming to events like this, especially getting to see the World Finals, is there any chance you might get more involved?
Helton: Oh, I don’t know. I certainly enjoy it from a fan’s perspective right now. I’ve got a pretty good career and need to pay attention to it, but I really enjoy – for entertainment purposes – to study and watch and follow the PBR.
Childress: Yeah, I might. I might get involved with them here somewhere. I’m just, I enjoy it, I’m interested in it and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
—by Keith Ryan Cartwright
