A four-time world champion will miss the action of chuckwagon racing for the lights, camera, action of making movies.
Jason Glass of High River won’t be racing this year due to commitments as a stuntman in movie productions.
“I started training my horses on April 2 and I stopped training at the end of May once Calgary and Ponoka (Stampedes) cancelled,” said Glass, the 2013 Calgary Stampede champion. “I had to either commit to going back to work at the movies (or race). At that point, there was nothing organized once Calgary and Ponoka cancelled.
“I committed to going back to work in the movie industry. I kicked the horses out and that was my final decision.”
Since that time the World Professional Chuckwagon Association announced a mini season starting in Dewberry on Canada Day. As well, High River will host the Battle of the Foothills on July 16 to 18 and July 23-25.
Glass said he has some regrets.
“Definitely, with High River running, that is heart-breaking not to be entered in my hometown,” Glass said. “I had already committed to go back to work. Those days (in High River) do overlap, with my work in the movie industry.
“I won’t be racing anywhere this season.”
He said there are several movies being filmed in Alberta this summer. He couldn’t say no to a steady paycheque.
“I will be able to stay quite busy for the rest of the summer. You have to think of your family before anything. It was decision I made at the end of May and I have to stick with it,” Glass said. “I am definitely going to miss racing.”
Glass said he is not planning to retire, it is a year off. He plans to run next year in what would have been 100 years of members of the Glass-Lauder family racing wagons if not for 2020 and now 2021.
“For me to take two years off it is going to be a little bit tougher – kind of the same for anyone who had to sacrifice whatever they had to do work-wise the last two years,” the 50-year-old Glass said. “I will be back next year, and hopefully it will be full-steam ahead.
“I don’t plan on retiring for five or six years if all goes well.”
Mark Sutherland of Okotoks is also contemplating taking the 2021 season off, with the possible exception of competing in High River, where he won the Guy Weadick Races in 2016.
“I still haven’t made up my mind – I might be able to justify running in High River,” Sutherland said. “But financially it doesn’t make sense to travel to the other shows.
“It comes down to each individual driver and his own personal finances, how he runs his business and what he has for job options.”
He said revenue will be down for drivers planning to go down the road to race, but costs – wages, feed, gas – have gone up.
“It’s a balancing act to justify the expenses of travelling down the road, with the possible revenue that is coming back,” Sutherland said. “The only reason I am entertaining the High River event is because the community rallied around our sport, and the World Professional Chuckwagon Association. I feel obligated to compete in High River, but I don’t know if it is in the cards.”
Like Glass, he is not planning to retire.
“I don’t have retirement plans in my future, but I am a realist when it comes to my finances,” the 50-year-old Sutherland said. “Hopefully some of the corporate sponsorships will return to what they were and we will race in High River, Ponoka and Calgary in 2022.”
Dewberry-bound
A pair of Foothills area chuckwagon drivers will race for the first time since 2019 when the horn blows in Dewberry on Canada Day.
“I have been looking forward to racing and my horses have been looking forward to it too,” said Blackie driver Jordie Fike. “Everybody Is just excited to be finally doing what we love doing.”
Fike has the majority of his team of horses returning from 2019, a year in which he had one of his strongest seasons. He finished 11th in the WPCA final standings, and qualified for his first championship final heat at the season-ending meet at Century Downs in August of 2019.
Little did he know that would be the last chuckwagon race for WPCA drivers for nearly two years.
He said his horses are ready for Dewberry and the shortened WPCA season.
He said the fact the drivers will miss the biggest payday of the year – the Calgary Stampede – will hurt.
However, he said he is grateful for organizations like the High River Ag Society that have stepped up to fill the void in the 2021 season.
Dayton Sutherland, Mark’s son, also plans to race on the WPCA circuit this year.
“It feels like Day 1,000 of spring training,” Dayton said. “It was nice to be back training and slowly building up. It felt so good to be back.
“My horses are ready.”
