A High River area chuckwagon driver has the world in his hands. He just doesn’t want to drop it at the final event of the year on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association tour this weekend in Rocky Mountain House.
Jason Glass is in first place in the World Professional Chuckwagon Association standings with 1,038 points after finishing third in the Battle of the North $15,000 Dash for Cash Sunday in Dawson Creek, B.C.
He sits 84 points ahead of the driver who was first in Dawson, Kirk Sutherland.
“There is another four nights of running and then the average so there are a lot of points still
out there,” Glass said.
Glass is attempting to win his fourth world title, having previously won in 2000, 2008 and 2009. All three times he has gone into the final weekend of racing with the lead and has not given it up.
“I do have a healthy lead if I do my part and drive well, I have plenty of horsepower to not give up an 84-point lead,” the 41-year-old Glass said. “If I lose the world, it’s no one’s fault but my own. There are four racing days left and I have a beautiful herd of horses. I just have to drive well.”
He is taking nothing for granted as Sutherland, the brother of Kelly “The King” Sutherland and Okotoks’ Mark Sutherland’s uncle, is having the best year of his career.
Glass said Sutherland has an outstanding No. 1 outfit, however, the High River driver feels he has the horses to compete. It won’t hurt that the two drivers will be running against each other in Rocky.
“We will be head to head,” Glass said with chuckle. “If he beats me twice and I beat him twice, I should be okay.”
Glass has led almost from the start of the season. He didn’t let losing the Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby in July on a controversial call get him down.
“I was done the next day, I put it behind me,” Glass said. “You have to look forward and positive. These horses take a lot of time and attention. If your mind isn’t right, there is no way you will do well.
“The competition is so tough this year there are so many beautiful outfits out there.”
There was another High River driver not too happy with how he placed at the Calgary Stampede.
Jordie Fike wasn’t thrilled either. Sure, he ran penalty free, but as the demonstration driver to show the fans how the wagons run, it didn’t count for a thing.
Fike didn’t qualify for the 2012 Stampede, but a second place finish in the aggregate in Strathmore on the Heritage Day weekend and a 10th place finish in Dawson Creek has Fike sitting 14th in the world.
Finishing in the top 23 in the final WPCA standings will likely get him back to Calgary in 2013 for real.
“A guy wants to be competing in Calgary,” Fike said. “But the demonstrations helped me work some new horses in front of
a big crowd.
“In the long run, it might have helped me, but it wasn’t much fun at the time.”
He finished 22nd in Bonnyville the week after the Stampede, but it all came together in Strathmore.
“I have been training my horses to peak at the end of the year and they started to and I knew they would,” the 25-year-old Fike said.
He is cautiously optimistic about getting an invite back to Calgary after turning his season around.
However, he is smart enough to realize in chuckwagon racing, it isn’t over until track announcer Les McIntyre is saying goodnight. Fike has a one-track mind on earning his way back to Calgary with a solid performance Rocky Mountain House.
“Touch wood, I am sitting pretty well, but it is so competitive out here, you just can’t take a
night off,” Fike said.
It’s not just the horses that have improved as the season went along.
Fike was racking up penalty time like the Broad Street Bullies prior to the Calgary Stampede.
“I have been penalty-free since Bonnyville,” Fike said. “My goal in Rocky is to run clean, be consistent and hopefully, I will in the top 10.”
There is only one driver he is concerned about.
His name is Jordie Fike.
“Worrying about the other guys will just get you in trouble,” he said
Mark Sutherland is currently 11th in the world.
The Rocky Mountain House races are Aug. 15-19. The champion will be decided on Saturday night.
