Cost of gas takes its toll on today's 59th Rodeo de Santa Fe

James Barron | The New Mexican

6/24/2008 - 6/25/08

The domino effect of high gas prices has fallen all the way to the Rodeo de Santa Fe.

Even though the event has seen its prize money increase — to more then $100,000 from about $75,000 last year — as well as the contestants list rise to 618, the good tidings for 59th annual event, which begins today, has been tempered by the impact of
$5-plus per gallon diesel fuel.

It's because those prices affect the centerpiece of the rodeo — the cowboys and cowgirls themselves.

"People don't know how much fuel runs this country," Rodeo de Santa Fe president Jim Butler said. "Diesel runs about $5 a gallon and most of these trucks (the contestants drive) have a 35-gallon tank. So you're looking at 160 dollars to go 500 miles or so."

So participants have adopted a car-pool strategy to help share costs. Butler said the organization also moved the rodeo's date back a week to be more accommodating to their performers, so that they can hit several events during the week.

Rodeo de Santa Fe will coincide with other contests in Pecos, Texas; Prescott, Ariz.; and Clovis to maximize the cost effectiveness of driving from event to event. But Butler doesn't want that issue to override the good things the rodeo is experiencing.

A $30,000 grant from the New Mexico Rodeo Council, which was set up by Gov. Bill Richardson to promote rodeo in the state, was the boost the rodeo needed to improve payouts. That almost doubled the participants' list total of 350 from last year.

Among those registered for the rodeo are Trevor Brazile, a five-time all-around champion in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association; Fred Whitfield, a seven-time calf-roping world champion; and Joe Beaver, a three-time all-around champion. But that's just the start.

"Out of the 70 top contestants in the PRCA, we've got about 50-plus of them," Butler said. "You know the old saying, 'Money talks.' The contestants look at that when they get that schedule out and see where they are paying the money."

Butler hopes an improved lineup will result in an improved gate, but he also knows that gas prices are hurting more than just the competitors.

"Fuel affects this country in every way," Butler said. "It affects the farmer, who has to raise prices. It affects the trucker, who has to raise his (shipping) prices because of the gas prices, and then the grocer has to raise his prices because of the farmer and the trucker. Fuel affects everything and everybody one way or the other."