ProRodeo Sports News - August 21, 2020

IN HIS WORDS KENNY PETET

Unintended consequences bring Petet’s life full circle I ’ve come full circle. I’m driving a rock truck I’ll explain. When I was a 25-year-old, broke rodeo After a month of mowing my pastures two or three times, fixing every fence on this place and completely tearing apart my shop and re-organizing it, I moved my attention to the inside of the house. I travel for work, I’m gone quite a bit and my wife

Kenny Petet is a 25- year member of the PRCA. The former bareback rider and saddle bronc rider does plenty nowadays in rodeo, including working as a Specialty Act. The man who has worked at the National Finals Rodeo before – including pointing out that he’s walked former NFR General Manager Shawn Davis’ dog – took over Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey act from Hall of Famer Tommy Lucia. The funnyman Petet offered the following humorous anecdote.

cowboy, I started chasing the pretty, young, barrel racer that would later become my pretty, young wife. I chased her from rodeo to rodeo like a young stud horse chases a filly - head up, lip curled, and eyes closed - until I finally got her corralled in Texas. But it became quickly apparent that she had no interest in eating Spam and saltines, living in my van, traipsing all over God’s green earth from rodeo to rodeo and taking showers under a garden hose at the rodeo grounds. So in order to make this marriage work, I would have to do the unthinkable. I would have to get a job. So I went to driving a rock truck. But from the minute I got in that truck, I was looking for a way to get out of it. That became the start of a 25-year journey as I built the rodeo entertainment company I now own. But with this “new reality,” in one fell swoop, we were shut down. There were no crowds to entertain. Now, let me be clear. My wife and I are fine. We own a nice ranch, she has a real estate company, we have savings and investments, and I could just stay home and catch up on what SpongeBob is doing or binge watch Justified/The Sopranos/ Breaking Bad/Sons of Anarchy/The Mayans back-to-back-to- back. But I couldn’t do it.

is used to doing things by herself and on her schedule. And if you know me at all, you know a little dose of me goes a long way. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I started the dishwasher before it was completely full. I didn’t realize that was a hanging offense. I realize that now. She asked me to, “please go into town and find something to do at least part time or I’m gonna shoot you.” Those may not have been her exact words, but that was the gist of it. So, just like when I was 25, in order to make this marriage work, I drove to town and applied at exactly one place. The gravel company in town that had the nicest trucks. When I sat down with the foreman I actively encouraged him not to hire me. I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to use phrases like: “I’m not really looking for a job.” “I don’t want to take a job from somebody who really needs it.” “I only want to work part time.” “The minute a rodeo calls, I am out of here.” But, despite my best efforts, he hired me anyway. This “part-time gig” has been 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. most days since I started. So there you go. ... I’m driving a rock truck. Full circle.

ProRodeo Sports News 8/21/2020

ProRodeo.com

6