Vigen returns to Rangeland Derby's Dash For Cash after heartbreak; Glass, MacGillivray also in final

The Rangeland Derby Rockstar would like nothing more than to cowboy up to live up to his nickname on Red Hot Sunday at the Calgary Stampede.

Chanse Vigen has been to the Stampede’s championship Dash For Cash on two occasions, in 2017 and 2018, back when the premier chuckwagon racing event was called the GMC Rangeland Derby.

Now known as the Cowboys Rangeland Derby, Sunday’s final will be part of the newly branded Red Hot Sunday when fans are encouraged to wear red to cheer on their favourite drivers and outriders.

By finishing second in the aggregate standings through nine days of racing with a total time of 10:47.12, Vigen and his KMA Construction and KMA Scaffolding Services outfit advanced to Sunday’s final along with Jason Glass and defending champion Layne MacGillivray.

“It’s been a long 365 days to get back here, I’ll tell you that,” said Vigen, who missed out on qualifying for last year’s final by just 59/100ths of a second as he finished fourth in the nine-night aggregate standings behind Kurt Bensmiller, MacGillivray and Ross Knight. “I’m hungry and the team deserve it. The horses deserve it. I’m eager to get there.”

A freak storm proved costly for Vigen on the second-last night of competition in 2023. While the night started out with perfect weather and racetrack conditions, it deteriorated quickly with a heavy rain and hail storm that slowed the track down by nearly five seconds for the final four heats of the night.

“Last year stung pretty bad,” said Vigen, whose best finish was in 2018 when he finished in second in the championship dash, just 23/100ths of a second behind Kurt Bensmiller. “I felt like we had the horsepower to win it the last couple years and it didn’t work out. Some of the mistakes that were made were on me too, outside of just the weather and the rain kind of kicking it to us.”

Glass, aboard his checkerboard Birchcliff Energy wagon, sped around the Stampede Park track in Saturday’s fastest time of 1:11.46 to add $6,000 to his growing bank account.

That put the 53-year-old reinsman, of High River, Alta., into top spot in the cumulative standings with a total time of 10:46.44. He’ll be making his 11th appearance in the finals and will be looking for his second title to the one he won in 2013.

“Over the years, these wagon drivers that are around here everyone works so hard and there’s so many beautiful horses,” Glass told Global TV on Thursday after setting a track record of 1:09.45. “Any time a guy can get lucky and have four horses do what mine did (Thursday), it’s hard to put into words. It’s really amazing.”

Meanwhile, MacGillivray (Shady Creek Ranch) is the only one of the top three drivers to go through all nine nights without a penalty on his way to compiling the third-best aggregate time of 10:52.92.

“We were doing what we could and that’s the biggest thing,” said MacGillivray, who edged out Chad Fike’s Summit Fleet/Shaw GMC outfit by just 15/100ths of a second to secure the third and final spot into Sunday’s final. “You worry about yourself and that’s all you can control — you worry about your barn and go out there each night and do the best you can and let the horses do the work. We weren’t stacking up the way we quite thought we maybe should, but you know what? We’re there now. We’re staying consistent and that’s the biggest thing for us.”

Vigen, the 40-year-old product of Grande Prairie, Alta., who now calls Calgary home, would love nothing more than to capture his first Rangeland Derby title, a feat his grandfather Ralph accomplished on three occasions in 1972, 1976 and 1985.

“You’re never in perfect position until it’s all over,” said Vigen, who won four Rangeland Derby titles as an outrider in 2002, 2010, 2011 and 2016. “You’re never comfortable in this game. There’s so many good outfits.”

AROUND THE BARRELS

Following Saturday’s races, the top three drivers completed the barrel draw for Sunday’s final. Glass won the draw and will race off the No. 1 barrel. Vigen picked next and decided to take the No. 3 barrel, which left No. 2 for MacGillivray … It was MacGillivray’s third straight trip to compete in the Cowboys Rangeland Derby championship dash … Obrey Motowylo was sitting in fourth spot in the aggregate standings heading into Saturday’s races. Unfortunately for Motowylo, on the third turn aboard his Shel-Bar Electronic Industries wagon he noticed a problem with one of his horses and pulled up. “During the eighth heat of (Saturday) chuckwagon race, a horse on Obrey Motowylo’s team did suffer a racing related injury — a fracture,” said Stampede president/CEO Joel Cowley. “Veterinarian care was immediately dispatched, and after consulting with the veterinarian, the owner made the decision that it was the most humane thing to euthanize that horse.”