NASCAR’s Natural Cowboy

NASCAR’s Natural Cowboy Q&A WITH SPENCER BOYD Driver of the No. 20 Record Rack Chevrolet In the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

In his second season as a full-time NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series driver, Spencer Boyd spends many weekends at racetracks around the United States. But when he’s not hunting big trophies, he’s usually hunting wildlife. Raised in the humble hamlet of Creve Coeur, Missouri, Boyd has long embraced the western, cowboy lifestyle. “My mom grew up on horses, my aunt grew up racing horses, and my uncle rode bulls,” Boyd said. “My dad’s side of the family was into fast cars.” Boyd uses his platform as a NASCAR driver to be an ambassador for Record Rack — one of his primary sponsors and Sportsman’s Choice® brand of wildlife feeds. In addition, Boyd is a celebrity guest of Bucks for the Brave, an annual event that gives deserving veterans and retired first responders the opportunity to participate in the hunt of a lifetime. At the end of the day, Boyd might be best described as NASCAR’s quintessential cowboy — a role that he clearly relishes. Get to know him better in the following Q&A:

• Charro performer Tomas Garcilazo and his horse, “Hollywood”, pose with Spencer Boyd.

Q: WHAT’S YOUR FIRST REAL MEMORY OF HUNTING AND BEING OUTDOORS?

• Boyd: “Probably one of the first hunts that I recall at least off the top of my head was down in Southern Missouri with my grandpa. Our first hunt that

I remember was turkey hunting. You’ve got to get up real early to go turkey hunting, so we got up real early. He had about 200 acres down there and all the turkeys are roosting by the creek. We had to walk across the creek, and I remember him holding my hand because I was just a little kid. It was freezing outside, and we sat down under an old oak tree in these old — I remember it to this day — there were two orange little like elementary school chairs, and we were just sitting there waiting for the turkey and for the sun to come out. Even with all the hunting I’ve done — and I’ve been blessed to go hunting with a lot of people — that day still stands out in my mind.”

Q: WHAT KINDS OF WILDLIFE HAVE YOU HUNTED?

• Boyd: “Whitetail deer hunting has been my favorite. That’s what I’ve done the most of, probably, because of racing season, and whitetail is something you do more of in the offseason in October/November/December months.

So growing up, that was something my dad and I did a lot of. Growing up, you do a lot of hunting — turkey hunting, dove hunting. Mule deer hunting is on the top of my list, but I haven’t gotten to do that yet. But whitetail is what I primarily did, and in Missouri, of course you do a little coyote hunting.”

Q: DO YOU HUNT WITH A GUN, A BOW OR BOTH?

• Boyd: “These days, I hunt more with guns, but through my teenager years and going back home, I did a lot of bow hunting. In Missouri, the places we hunted are so heavily wooded that bow hunting was better. Then as you get out in Texas and some of these big places to hunt out here in North Carolina, you’ve got a lot more land, you’ve got a lot more fields. So with gun hunting, you’ve got a lot more reach.”

Q: WHO HAVE BEEN YOUR FAVORITE HUNTING PARTNERS OVER THE YEARS?

• Boyd: “Growing up, my dad was who I hunted with the most, but it was kind of like a family thing. I’ve been hunting with my cousins, most of whom were 5-10 years older than me, and my dad was pretty much the guy that got all of my cousins into hunting. Being outside of St. Louis, they weren’t the biggest hunters — they were big fishermen — so my dad was kind of the guy who got them into hunting. As I got older, I started going to hunting camp with some of my dad’s best buddies, and that was just always fun, talking about racing stories and hunting stories. I was just a 15- to 20-year-old kid hanging out with all the 40- to 50-year-olds, so hunting camp was always fun just learning a lot about life lessons. As I got into NAS-

CAR, I’ve been able to do some cool hunts with Record Rack taking me hunting and hanging out with ‘Pigman’ (Brian Quaca) and guys like that — some big, influential folks in the hunting world.”

Q: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE HUNTING SPOT?

• Boyd: “Hunting for me is going out in Texas and with all the guys with big ranches. I’m lucky to get to do that. But out here in Midland, North Carolina, my buddy owns some land. That’s one of my local spots to whitetail hunt, and we still have some family friends with land back in St. Louis. Just outside of St. Louis in Warrensburg, we go hunting there for a week once a year. My dad and I and his old work buddies, we’ve been gone from St. Louis for 10 years but we go back every year and do that. It’s fun that I’m still included. I’m not quite the little kid anymore, so we can relate on a few more things.”

• Spencer Boyd attends rodeos near his residence in Mooresville, N.C..

Q: YOU LIKE TO FISH, TOO. WHAT’S YOUR BIGGER PASSION?

• Boyd: “I’d say hunting. Hunting’s so difficult when you set your mind on, ‘Hey, I’m hunting here, these are the whitetail that are around, this is the big buck, I would consider this a trophy to harvest this animal.’ I love eating deer meat. So, I get excited about deer hunting.”

Q: WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF NASCAR’S ULTIMATE MODERN-DAY COWBOY?

• Boyd: “I’m definitely the outdoorsman. I love the rodeo. The rodeo’s something that I’ve fallen in love with probably since I turned 20. I went to some rodeos growing up, but it wasn’t something I went to all the time as a 10-year-old. But now here in Mooresville we have J.B. Mauney, a big professional bull rider from

Mooresville, North Carolina. So, I started paying attention to that and went to a few rodeos at some local places here in North Carolina. Through Record Rack and their connections, that led to me getting to go to some pretty big rodeos, and now I’m friends with Dakota Eldridge and some big-time rodeo guys. I’m lucky to call those guys friends, and now it’s something that I keep up with.

PBR is something I love watching on TV, but the big NFR national rodeo finals usually in Vegas are going to be in Texas now, and that is incredible.

I’ve been to a lot of big NASCAR races and sporting events and it’s incredible the amount of people that go to these arenas to watch it and just the pride for country. I think there’s a huge crossover with NASCAR with just everyone wearing American flags and the pledge of allegiance and national anthem before the events. There’s a lot of synergy there, so me coming over from the professional NASCAR side to experience that, I have a lot of respect. I’m like,

‘Man, if I wasn’t a race car driver, I would love to do this, but these guys are pretty bad ass.’”

Q: EVER HEARD THAT TOBY KEITH SONG, “SHOULD’VE BEEN A COWBOY”?

• Boyd: “Oh, yeah! I crank that one every now and then (laughing). I ride horses from time to time, but it’s not something I do all the time. I definitely fish and hunt more. I don’t want to say I feel like I fit in, but those folks welcome me. I love it. I go hunting in my cracked up Chevy and drive to the race shop and stop at Tractor Supply and pick up Record Rack. So outside of the race car, I’m definitely an outdoors guy, and I love rocking a cowboy hat.”

Q: HOW MANY COWBOY HATS DO YOU OWN?

• Boyd: “I’ve got three or four — a couple of different colors.”

Q: COULD THERE EVER BE A MORE FITTING SPONSOR FOR YOU THAN RECORD RACK?

• Boyd: “Oh, I love it. It’s a great partnership. Everyone over there embraces NASCAR and the cowboy lifestyle and western lifestyle, and there’s just a huge crossover between the NASCAR fan and what we believe in.

I catch myself posting on social media and realize I have the same hat on every time — my Record Rack hat.”

Q: WHAT’S YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE WITH BUCKS FOR THE BRAVE?

• Boyd: “The biggest takeaway for me is I had no idea how the participants and I could continue to communicate after the hunt. By the end of the hunt, you’re high-fiving, you’re hugging, at some point you probably all cried together. It’s just a great experience.

Six months, a year, two years from meeting some of these guys, we still talk almost weekly and he’s telling me good luck, and those are the things I didn’t expect. It just brings a smile.”

Differences Between Cowpunchers & Buckaroos

BY STACEY LORTON

• Cowpunchers wear full-length chaps, batwing or shotgun while buckaroos wear armitas or chicks.

• Cowpunchers have to account for unpredictable terrain when choosing tack.

• Cowpunchers use a shorter rope than buckaroos when tending to cattle. T here has been some debate over the years regarding if cowpunchers are more efficient than buckaroos or vice versa. The truth? Cowpunchers and buckaroos both have the ability to do the same job exceptionally well; they just do it differently. Read below to discover some of the major differences between cowpunchers and buckaroos.

1The tack: Buckaroo gear stems from the Spaniards who occupied California centuries ago. Horsemanship was of the highest importance to the Spaniards, and, as such, they took great pride in developing tack that was not only highly efficient but also provided extra protection for the horses they rode. Fast-forward to the present, and buckaroos are still embracing tradition by using saddles without swells and romal reins.

Cowpunchers have certain geographical concerns to consider when choosing tack, such as unpredictable terrain and an abundance of brush, and opt for saddles with swells and split reins. It is also uncommon to see a cowpuncher with tack that is as embellished as the tack that buckaroos sport, a difference that can be attributed mainly to culture.

2Clothing: A key difference between cowpunchers and buckaroos is that the former wears full-length chaps, batwing or shotgun when ranching, and the latter wears armitas or chinks. As mentioned above, cowpunchers often ride through harsh terrain which is why they prefer maximum leg protection.

3Handling livestock: The way that cowpunchers and buckaroos rope and tend to cattle is very different. Cowpunchers use a considerably shorter rope than buckaroos, generally working with a 35- or 40-foot rope vs. the 60-foot rope that a buckaroo is likely to use. This contrast can again be attributed to differences in the region.

4The Lingo: You won’t hear a cowpuncher say a phrase like “cavvy,” but buckaroo uses this term, they are simply referring to a pack of saddle horses. The reason for the difference in lingo is simply that most buckaroo phrases derive from Spanish words. For example, the word above “cavvy” comes from the word “caviata”.

There are other differences between cowpunchers and buckaroos, but these four help define the variations in lifestyle. It’s important to remember that not every rancher will be 100% cowpuncher or 100% buckaroo. At the end of the day, personal style and horsemanship skills say the most about who you are.

TOP 10 Cowboy Towns of 2020

There is just something about a cowboy town. You know the ones, where you can’t help but get a little pep in your step, a little “y’all” in your talk, and the ones that make you want to ride off into the sunset. Here are 10 examples.

BY PETER VARLET

• Cody, Wyo., is home to the Cody Stampede and the Cody Nite Rodeo. Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the 13th-largest city in the United States and plays a huge part in Texas tourism. Fort Worth welcomes more than 9.4 million visitors annually. Fort Worth, “where the West begins,” was established as an Army outpost in the middle of the 19th century, later becoming a major livestock center. If you are planning a trip, make sure to head to the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District to see the massive steers amble down the street in a twice-daily cattle drive, take in re-enactments of gun battles, explore the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, and much more.

Cody, Wyoming Cody is so much more than just a gateway for Yellowstone National Park, this town prides itself on being the “Rodeo Capital of the World”, in honor of William Frederick Cody – the charismatic American showman known by local folk as Buffalo Bill. Come summer, Cody is home to the Cody Stampede and the Cody Nite Rodeo, which runs every day from June-August. It’s also home to the Old Trail Town – an awesome collection of artifacts such as the grave of mountain man John Johnson, the original cabins used by Wild West outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a saloon frequented by the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, and the home of Curley – the Crow Indian scout who famously survived the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Wickenburg, Arizona Wickenburg is the oldest town north of Tucson and the fifth oldest town in the state (established in 1863). In its heyday, Wickenburg was the third largest town in Arizona. In 1866, it missed becoming the territorial capital by two votes. Today, Wickenburg is known for its clean air, wide-open space, team roping, dude ranches, tourism, and quiet, small-town living.

In the late 1800’s Wickenburg was a boomtown reveling in silver, copper and gold. Its residents, perhaps in excess enthusiasm, exaggerated the potential of wealth in the area to the point that it became common in the West to call any teller of tall tales a Hassayamper, in honor of the river that flows through the area.

Tombstone, Arizona Tombstone, Arizona is a historic ghost town that was founded in 1879. The frontier town enjoyed a population boom in the mid-1800s, due to the local mining industry. Tombstone is best known for the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous gun battles in Wild West history. Famous lawmen Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were involved in the shootout. As far as Wild Western Towns in the USA go, this one is probably the most recognized. Perhaps due to the infamous movie Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, and Bill Paxton, it was a great representation of how events went down back in the day.

Pendleton, Oregon Pendleton, Oregon, is known for the Pendleton Roundup, an annual rodeo that was founded in 1910. The Roundup is within the top 10 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) events in terms of prize money. Pendleton itself, where “the West is still wild”, began as a western trading post. It later became home to immigrant rail workers as well as the Pendleton Woolen Mills, which is still cranking out its iconic wool blankets after 150 years. Tour the mills or join one of the Pendleton Underground Tours for a look at the city’s turn-of-the-century red-light district.

Elko, Nevada Tons of cities that are American follow their origins to railways or ranching. Lots, to any or all three, had ties like Elko. Very few, although, reveal Elko’s historical links with the Basque tradition. The north-eastern Nevada town is not any Johnny come lately regarding observing its American tradition–it’s sponsored the Countrywide Cowboy Poems Gathering for more than 30 years, the Countrywide Basque Event for more than 50 years as well as the Gold State Stampede Rodeo (Nv’s earliest) for more than a century.

Scottsbluff/Gering, Nebraska Who knows just how many emigrants handed by the legendary rock formations recognized as Masonry Rock and Bluff as they slogged across the Oregon Trail? Now’s Scottsbluff ( the town is one word, the stone development is two) houses some interesting historical attractions. Primary included in this is, needless to say, Scotts Bluff Countrywide Monument, which informs the stories of the colonists on the Mormon, Or and Ca paths. The facility also offers many pictures by photographer Bill Mom Fitzgibbons and a famous performer. Pinedale, Wyoming Mountain guys like Jones and John Bridger and a fundamental part played in the quest for the vast, uncharted land between the Pacific Coastline and the Mo Lake. Pinedale Museum of the Mountain-Man is something of a shrine to such guys that are very impartial, ingenious, and severe. The memorial also functions some Indian displays, including a rare zoysia-disguise tipi, complete with zoysia robes, palm-decorated conduits, drum, and additional items, giving visitors an awe-inspiring glimpse into a life that is Indian when the Old-West was still not old.

Santa Clarita, California It’s maybe not always simple to distinguish the misconceptions of the Old-West from the world, particularly in a spot like Santa Clarita. Television programs and motion pictures chance here created several of the stories that, consequently, nonetheless support the world desire for the Outdated Western that was real.

Miles City, Montana Located in the heart of the Big Sky Country, Miles City, Montana, is a living homage to cowboy heritage. Soaked in Western history, Miles City remains a true Western town. Vast stretches of plains and badlands branch out in all directions. The Yellowstone and Tongue rivers flow unblemished in long sections. Once the horse-trading and livestock center of the country, Miles City still has weekly livestock auctions and, once a year, puts on the Bucking Horse Sale for rodeo stock buyers and breeders.