Buckin' a trend
PBR stars attract new audiences with blend of guts and glam
Published: September 8, 2006
Last Modified: September 11, 2006 at 12:12 PM
Last summer, a bull threw Kody Lostroh to the ground and stomped on his back. Nearly a ton of weight slammed his body into the ground face first. The force broke his eye socket.
Lostroh said when he regained consciousness, he kept thinking: "This isn’t worth it." It wasn’t the first time he'd been seriously injured. His medical charts are thick as a rib-eye steak: concussions, chronic wrist and groin injuries, broken bones, a fractured spine.
But a few hours later, that wacky idea about quitting bucked itself right out of his 20-year-old noggin. Lostroh went on to win 2005 Rookie of the Year award from the Professional Bull Riders tour.
"As soon as the pain wears off, I kinda forgot I didn't want to ride anymore," he said, laughing.
After all, who could resist the temptation of becoming a PBR superstar? PBR is the "it" boy of the sports world now. In five years, TV viewership of PBR events has doubled. Just 14 years old, PBR is a $40 million business that doled out more than $10 million in prize money to riders in 2005.
PBR management is aggressively studying NASCAR’s success story, trying to make it their own.
"We wish we could see the same growth, and we're on track to do it," said Jay Daugherty, vice president of event tours. Watch the PBR's Enterprise Tour - including Lostroh - kick up dust today through Sunday in Sullivan Arena.
As PBR tries to reach broader audiences, the association has to strike a balance between the romantic idea of the American West and the aesthetic that sucks in the general population: namely, blaring rock 'n' roll, light shows and pyrotechnics.
Lostroh personifies the collision of these two seemingly contradictory worlds.
Speaking from his home in Longmont, Colo., he talks like a character on "Bonanza," peppering his softly accented comments with "ma'am" and "dang" and "shoot." He has strong faith in Jesus Christ and can't say enough good things about the PBR-hosted weekly church services and Bible study.
"I don’t see how you could not know God when you're risking your life every time you get in the chute," he said. "For me, I need to know where I’m going if this is over tomorrow."
But when Lostroh rides bulls, there's little quaint or traditional about the circus happening around him. His chaps and vest are imprinted with slick corporate logos. His rides are regularly broadcast on TV. He won nearly $200,000 last year. If he reaches his goal of earning a PBR World Championship, he will become a millionaire.
That’s a lot of baked beans.
Daugherty said most bull riders come from rodeo and ranching backgrounds, and the PBR doesn’t want to lose its ties to that culture. But, he added, if you want to sell out Madison Square Garden, you have to add mainstream elements.
"With the right balance, you can get the traditional rodeo audience and the kids who look like they’re motocross or skateboarding fans," he said.
The PBR spectacle is, at times, overwhelming for a humble guy like Lostroh, who spent his childhood riding horses on his stepdad’s cattle farm and riding steers at county fairs.
Though he has rodeoed since 7, his mom wanted him to quit when he got old enough to ride bulls.
"I thought I might because when I first started, I wasn’t very good," he said. "Then I started getting good at it, so she had to get used to it."
Lostroh can sum up his relationship with the bulls in one word: respect.
"It’s their advantage," he said.
No kidding. Lostroh’s got 155 pounds on his 5-foot-6-inch frame, a solid 1,600 pounds less than the average PBR bull.
For this bull rider, the anxiety of waiting for the gate to open never dissipates.
"It’s a nervous but good feeling, facing something that could kill you," he said. "I don’t know, it's hard to explain. But shoot, staying on, falling off, it's all an exhilarating feeling no matter what."
Lostroh also likes testing the limits of how many jerks, twists and throws the human body can endure. Bull riders average one injury every 14 rides. The most common are to wrists and groins, the major points of contact between rider and animal.
"There are actually guys that'll squeeze so hard that it's just too much for the muscle and it'll actually tear," Lostroh said. "I tore mine (groin) clean in half when I was in junior high."
There are fans who are into PBR because of this danger factor, enjoying the anticipation of wrecks. But Daugherty said PBR market research found there are just as many fans who are devotees of the bull riders and the bulls.
PBR capitalizes on this by making their bulls - ahem, "animal athletes" - into superstars. With names such as Ladies' Man, Whisky Breath and Undertaker and champion bull prices ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, these dudes have all the qualifications for entree to Paris Hilton’s birthday party.
Not like the cowboys don’t get their kicks.
"Some guys kinda live more like rock stars on the tour just 'cause of how it is, the huge show, fireworks and music and sexiness of riding bulls," said Lostroh, whose wife, Candace, is a barrel racer. "For me, I just got married this spring so I just kinda, you know, deal with it, give 'em their autographs and picture and leave it be."
In Lostroh's mind, reimagining the cowboy image is something for PBR's corporate heads to worry about. His tunnel vision is focused on the thick, gleaming gold of the PBR World Champion belt buckle. "Well obviously about 8,000 other people want to be world champion, too," he said. "But you know, as long as I try my guts out, I’m satisfied with that."
Contact reporter Sarah Henning at shenning@adn.com or (907) 257-4450.
