The 2009 National Finals Rodeo marks the 25th year that the event has been held in Las Vegas and at the Thomas & Mack Center. The 10-day rodeo remains the biggest in the world, with the best rodeo athletes, but much of the landscape has changed around the event. Following are facts and figures comparing the 1985 NFR with the 2009 NFR:
Lewis Feild left the 1985 National Finals Rodeo with his first two world championships, in the first year the world’s richest rodeo was held in Las Vegas.
As Kody Lostroh prepared to ride Voodoo Child — a bull only one other rider had ever successfully stayed on — he didn’t know he had already clinched the Professional Bull Riders world championship.
Five riders tied for the round victory in the Professional Bull Riders World Finals on Saturday — a first in the 16-year history of the series.
The Professional Bull Riders has been using J.B. Mauney somewhat as a poster boy.
Hollywood stunt double Kathy Jarvis jumped off an 80-foot cliff for “Six Days, Seven Nights” and staged a fight in “The Big Lebowski.” She’s put life and limb at risk for cinematic brawls, blasts and blazes.
Kody Lostroh would never vacation in Las Vegas. And he wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for the Professional Bull Riders World Finals and paychecks with several zeros.
Six of the top 10 competitors in the Professional Bull Riders would like to forget the opening weekend of the World Finals.
Growing up in a remote village in Brazil in the middle of the Amazon rain forest, Robson Palermo taught himself how to ride bulls by watching videotapes of fellow countryman and three-time Professional Bull Riders world champion Adriano Moraes. … Palermo successfully rode seven of his eight bulls in last year’s World Finals in Las Vegas en route to the title, and he scored 92.25 points Sunday on Black Pearl to win the third round of this year’s Finals at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Before Saturday, only one rider had ever stayed on board Bones, the 2008 PBR World Champion bull, for eight seconds.
Just making it to the PBR World Finals on Friday was a major accomplishment for bull rider Ryan McConnel, who was involved in a life-threatening car accident Tuesday.
Kody Lostroh could win his first Professional Bull Riders championship in the next 10 days and collect $1 million.
Huckleberry Thorn doesn’t roll over or sit up and beg for treats. He doesn’t fetch tennis balls from the pool. He’s not all that big on rubber toys. He doesn’t stand around for 15 minutes waiting for the lighting to be just right while posing for photos.
