Las Vegas chuckwagon races may be off to slow start

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

A rift between rival Canadian cowboys won't stop the first Las Vegas Stampede chuckwagon races from being staged near downtown in September.

But it could cut into attendance for the event that features covered wagons racing on a half-mile track.

John Higgins, president of Professional Wagon Racing Inc., said work would begin next month to prepare the track and build a temporary 10,000-seat venue using bleachers and a track on a 61-acre downtown parcel on Grand Central Parkway, west of the Plaza hotel-casino.

Higgins has contracted with Las Vegas Events, which stages a number of special activities on behalf of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority every year, to bring 18 racing teams to the Las Vegas Stampede.

At least 12 of the teams will be members of the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association (CPCA) with six other teams invited by Higgins' company. The teams will be racing for a $110,000 purse. In Canada, the purse is advertised as $175,000 Canadian, making it the sport's second-richest race behind the Calgary Stampede's Rangeland Derby.

But many of the sport's best drivers -- and, probably, some of the sport's biggest fans -- won't make the trip to Las Vegas. The rival World Professional Chuckwagon Association (WPCA) voted to stay away because members felt Las Vegas Events was getting too large a cut of the event's proceeds.

Alan Barrie, interim marketing director of the WPCA, said his association "would love to be down there (in Las Vegas), but only if it's in the best interest of our organization."

Barrie, who makes his living marketing beer in Canada, agreed to help the WPCA finish its racing season after Higgins was fired as the organization's marketing director. The WPCA's board of directors dumped Higgins over a conflict of interest -- he formed his company to negotiate with Las Vegas Events when it was clear the WPCA and Las Vegas Events were at odds.

Barrie said in most race contracts, drivers get a percentage of the "tarp money" -- the cost of a sponsorship when a business has its name on a tarp carried by a chuckwagon racer.

Barrie said Las Vegas Events wanted to keep all the tarp money for the race. He also said the association didn't receive enough specifics on the preparation of the track.

When Higgins and the WPCA parted ways, his company continued negotiations in Las Vegas, hoping eventually to develop a southern chuckwagon circuit in the United States.

The WPCA, which has 36 chuckwagon teams competing on a circuit across western Canada, stood firm in its opposition. Barrie, who said the WPCA drivers are the major players of the sport while CPCA drivers are at the "Triple-A and Double-A levels," believes many of the biggest fans won't travel from Canada to Las Vegas to see the event.

Higgins has invited nine "buckboard wagons" from Nebraska and Arkansas to also participate in the event, giving it a touch of "back-East America." Barrie called those participants "hillbillies."

"We're excited to bring the excitement of chuckwagon racing here, especially against the backdrop of downtown Las Vegas," Higgins said. "We've already gotten quite a few hits on our website for tickets, so we're very encouraged."

Tickets have gone on sale for $35 apiece or $120 for the four-day series, which will run Sept. 19-22. The price of admission includes nightly concerts by country performers Lorrie Morgan and Sawyer Brown.