ProRodeo Sports News - Sept.15, 2023

PRORODEO SEASON

FROM PAGE 55

“The more guys would sit on him and wiggle, the more Red Rock, with all four legs would go down into this squat. He could go almost 10 inches without those bull riders feeling him and he was going to blow out of there. Cody Lambert almost rode Red Rock in 1987. He got together with the gate men at this little rodeo in Cedarville, Calif. He told the gate guys no matter where I’m sitting on this bull, when I nod my head, you guys be ready and open this gate. When they opened the gate Red Rock just looked out, he didn’t know it was time to go. When those (cowboys) were screwing themselves down tight and wiggling and everything,

The plan pitted Frost vs. Red Rock. Both had popular personalities. Frost was characterized as extroverted and playful, “quick with a smile and truly enjoyed meeting the fans.” Red Rock “instinctively knew to take a victory lap” around the arena whenever he bucked off a rider but was called a “gentle giant” outside of the rodeo arena. Frost was 25 years old and Red Rock, who retired from PRCA competition following the 1987 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, was 10. “We marketed the sh*t out of this,” Growney said. “George Michael (of the nationally-televised George Michael Sports Machine TV show on NBC) got behind us.

Sue Rosoff photo George Michael, of NBC’s George Michael Sports Machine , interviews Lane Frost, left, and Tuff Hedeman on July 30, 1989, in Cheyenne, Wyo., the day Frost died

“The best thing about 8 Seconds is it exposed rodeo to millions of people who would have never known or had a clue what rodeo was or who Lane Frost was.” – TUFF HEDEMAN

they were sending Red Rock the message to get ready and he would go down lower and lower. In Cedarville, Cody almost rode him. He was on him for 6.5 seconds. Then Red Rock just drove him into the ground and knocked him out.” When Frost was trailing 2-0 to Red Rock, it left his best friend and ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull rider Tuff Hedeman concerned. “What I remember most is he got bucked off him the first couple of times and I was thinking in the back of my mind he might never ride him, and that was the scary part,” said Hedeman, a three-time PRCA World Champion Bull Rider in 1986, 1989 and 1991. Trailing in the Challenge of Champions 2-0 to Red Rock, Frost was bound and determined to turn the tables when the two met in Redding, Calif., May 20. And he did. Back then, Frost explained how he changed his riding position by sitting well over to the right side, thus staying ahead of the bull’s motion. “The first time I rode Red Rock, it was the happiest day of my life – as happy as my wedding day. And a little scarier,” Frost said in an article in the Deseret News , a newpaper in Salt Lake City, Utah. Growney acknowledged before the match-up in Redding, he and Red Rock were distracted by obligations to hype up the ride. “I was at a grocery store most of the day with Red Rock and we had sawdust and the hay and here is an older bull and it was warm that day and I felt like I had taken something away from Red Rock,” Growney said. “By this time we knew how gentle Red Rock was and I could put little kids, if they weren’t very heavy, I could put them on Red Rock.” Frost continued his momentum and rode Red Rock again at the next stop before a sold-out crowd in Livermore, Calif., tying the series at 2-2. According to media reports, Red Rock knew he was in a battle with Frost because he was stopping him from making his customary victory lap. “After Lane rode Red Rock in Livermore, Lane and I loaded up Red Rock in a little trailer I had and we get in my pickup and we go all the way

(Photographer) Sue Rosoff knew people

at USA Today and Sports Illustrated and she knew all the major players that got involved to help this play out.”

During Round 1, Frost and Red Rock squared off at the Red Bluff Round-Up on April 17, 1988, and it didn’t end well for Frost as he was thrown off in two seconds. “At Red Bluff, (announcer) Bob Tallman asked the crowd how many of you for Lane Frost and the crowd politely cheered,” Growney said. “Then, Tallman asked how many of you are for your hometown bull Red Rock and this crowd just went nuts. Lane after the rodeo said that was the first time in my life that everyone was cheering for the bull instead of me. That set the tone of how this thing would go.” The second match of Frost vs. Red Rock was in Clovis, Calif., and once again the 1,800-pound bull proved to be victorious. “The next week we went to Clovis, Calif., everybody was focused on this match-up,” Growney said. “Red Rock bucked Lane off again, so now it is 2-0 in favor of Red Rock. He almost knocked Lane out at Clovis. By now, before Redding, (Calif., stop No. 3), on the inside page of USA Today they had a story that said ‘Red Rock 2, Lane Frost 0’ you can’t buy publicity like that. Cody Lambert, (a bull rider who qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in 1985-86, 1988-89, 1991-93), knew a secret to try and get by Red Rock. Cody looked at me while we were leading Lane out of the arena (in Clovis) and Cody jokingly says ‘We have to tell Lane the secret or this bull is going to kill him.’ I thought Cody would have told him. The secret was not to get a hold of that bull, not to wiggle very long almost don’t be sitting on him like you normally would on a bull. With the coaching of Tuff (Hedeman) and Cody, they figured out how to ride this bull.” Growney explained what would happen if riders would treat Red Rock like just another bull in the chutes.

ProRodeo Sports News 9/15/2023

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