Beginning of Better Barrel Races

Rain fills the streets as the sound of hooves against concrete echoes through barns. Horses and competitors are rushing to races in each barn, all here with the same motive: to win.

Robin Haufmann, Destry Fleming, Corky Barder, and Steve and Ross Wright, Better Barrel Races founders and producers, hostedbrought the 14th annual Better Barrel Races Finals in back to Oklahoma City at State Fair Park. This year’s event hosted for another year of bringing more than 1,700 barrel racers representing 12 states. together at the State Fair Park.

During the summer of 2002, Haufmann and the Wrights’ developed an idea that would later revolutionize the world of barrel racing. These three noticed a vacancy for a large added-money finals in the Midwestern region of Texas and Oklahoma, Steve Wright said.

“We needed a large, central finals,” heSteve Wright said.

Haufmann said more barrel racers exist in Oklahoma and Texas than anywhere else in the United States.

“It seemed like an obvious choice,” Haufmann said.

Another issue that was brought to Haufmann and the Wrights’ attention was producers were hosting events during the same dates as other producers and creating a divide among contestants, Haufmann said.

“We noticed producers really were not respectful of each other,” she said. “There were only a few of us who looked out for each other and did not book on top of each other.

“If we could work together on this level,” Haufmann said, “we could all come together to put on this $50,000- added finals.”

The three called together seven of the barrel race producers of the central region. Haufmann and the Wrights’ proposed the idea of working together.

Each producer had his or her own reasons for joining, Barder said. Fleming and Barder of WinMore Productions joined because “it seemed like the right choice,” Barder said.

“There is power in numbers,” Barder said. “The BBR had numbers from all over the region and producers all over the region.”

During the meeting, the producers planned how they would come up with the $50,000 added money, Haufmann said. The producers decided each producer would contribute, and through their contribution they would be named a founder. The producers also came up with a plan for a point system, awards and system for dividing up regions.

The producers also decided how they would promote the BBR. Haufmann started hosting her events where participants had to be approved by the BBR to compete.

“We would be able to facilitate getting a lot of people qualified for it because each producer hosted several events,” Haufmann said.

In January 2004, the first BBR was held and the founders’ idea came to life. The first BBR was a three-day event with 884 entries.

One way the BBR has continued to grow is through independent BBR producers, Haufmann said. These producers sanction their shows as BBR-approved events. This creates more opportunities for contestants to qualify and more reasons for customers to become members.

“People will join to get regional prizes and awards for the regional top 10,” Haufmann said.

To become BBR-approved, the producer’s events had to meet requirements of safe ground, be within a certain radius of other events and prove to be a professional establishment, Haufmann said.

“This benefits the producer by attracting more competitors, benefits the competitors by providing more options for qualification events, and benefits the BBR by providing incentive for competitors to become BBR members,” Haufmann said.

“We have really grown since the offset of social media,” Haufmann said. “It has been the biggest factor in our growth.”

The producers use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat on behalf of the BBR, Haufmann said.

“Barrel racers are huge users of social media,” Haufmann said.

Now, 14 years later, the BBR is a four-day event with more than 50 employees and more than 1,700 entries, Steve Wright said.

The BBR has grown from only three days of racing to more than six side-pot races, a futurity, a horse sale and an average of 55 vendors each year, Haufmann said.

Randi Adams has competed in the BBR since the first finals.

“It all depends on perspective,” Adams said. “There are plenty of options to make money and spend money.”

Adams said the BBR means something different to everyone.

“The BBR is not only a barrel race— it is a social gathering,” Adams said. “You see people who you have not seen in years and meet new people.”

The BBR is now the sanctioning body for the barrel-racing portion of The American qualifier, Steve Wright said.

“This creates an incentive for more people to become BBR members,” Steve Wright said.

This year at the BBR, the weather created obstacles for producers, competitors and horses as the rain and high winds caused a power outage on Saturday resulting in a pause of events.

With 14 years of events comes adversity, Steve Wright said.

The producers made an executive decision to average Thursday and Friday’s results to decide the qualifiers for the finals on Saturday.

“We were able to reformat ourselves,” Haufmann said, “because we were going to be a day short after losing a day of competition on Saturday. We cancelled the short round.”

With the loss of a day, the producers had develop a new strategy for distributing awards.

“We did the awards based on the average of the two times,” Barder said.

The weather also caused three horse trailers and a semi to flip over, but no people or horses were harmed, Haufmann said.

Next year will mark the BBR’s 15th anniversary.

“We are going to make next year really exciting,” Haufmann said. “We plan to have something fun for everyone.”

The BBR has several plans to come, such as Territorial Finals, which are barrel races in the outlining areas of the regions, Haufmann said.

The purpose of this is to reach out to members who might not get to go to many races due to distance, Haufmann said.

“We wanted to provide added-money opportunities for [the members] to give more value to their membership,” Haufmann said.

What originally started with seven founding members is now at a total of five: Robin Haufmann, Steve and Ross Wright, and Destry Fleming and Corky Barder.

The producers plan for the BBR to continue to grow.

“Every one of the competitors are here because of us,” Barder said, “that just amazes me.”