ProRodeo Sports News - September 6, 2019

RODEO AND RACING

Tuf Cooper forms friendship with drag racing world champ Steve Torrence Champs Collide Courtesy photo Tuf Cooper, left, shares a smile with NHRA Mello Yello Series reigning Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence before their race in street-legal Dodge Challengers in May at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis.

BY TRACY RENCK T uf Cooper knows rodeo. It’s the

videos and tried to help him get votes for the ESPY. It was cool.” Torrence is no stranger to rodeo. For the last two years, the Kilgore, Texas, native has been team roping as a header. “It has been a lot of fun for me,” Torrence said. “It is just a whole different world and so different than what I do (as a Top Fuel driver). Then, at the end of the day everybody sits around in the trailer and hangs out. There are a lot of differences and a lot of similarities.” The two got together May 15 to compete against each other in a fun day of skills challenges – breakaway roping, cowboy hat forming and drag racing in street-legal Dodge Challengers. “We came over to Trevor (Brazile’s house in Decatur, Texas), and we roped,” Cooper said. “He (Torrence) brought his own horse and his own stuff. I think he probably roped a lot better than I drove the race car. It was

lifeblood of the four-time PRCA world champion. National Hot Rod Association drag racing Cooper wasn’t well-versed in – until recently. Cooper formed a fast friendship with reigning Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence in the spring when Torrence was up for a 2019 ESPY Award for best race car driver. During the voting process, Torrence wanted to reach out to another world champion in a different sport. Enter Cooper, who won world titles in tie-down roping in 2011-12 and 2014 and all-around in 2017. “Steve is a native Texan, and all Texans are cowboys,” Cooper said with a chuckle. “Steve won his world championship last year, and he wanted to collaborate with different cultures. He reached out to me, and we did some

ProRodeo Sports News 9/6/2019

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