Column – Chuckwagon racing is unique event

Despite only being at the tender young age of 36 (and the gray hair I found in my beard last week), I have covered a wide assortment of events at newspapers across the state of Alabama.

You name it, I’ve covered it. Every sport you can think of, any type of crime or court case and events ranging from unique to mundane.

I started this journey in journalism when I was 17 and helped start a student newspaper at my high school in Walker County.

I’ve spent the past 13 years as a professional, and even working at small-town newspapers, I have seen a lot of out-of-the-ordinary occurrences.

I say all that to make this point — adding something unique to the events and stories I’ve covered is one of my favorite aspects of the job.

On Sunday, April 27, I made the trek to Seven Springs Lodge to watch chuckwagon races.

Like many first-time viewers, I had to have the rules explained to me, and they were a lot more involved than they would seem on the surface.

The races were broken down by category of faithful steed pulling the small wagon: mules, ponies or horses, and then further by size of the animals in some cases.

The teams consisted of a driver, a “cook” and an outrider on their own horse.

The outrider was tasked with throwing a stand in for a camp stove in the wagon before the driver and cook circled the wagon — quite literally — around a barrel before doing a lap around a large track.

The outrider had to catch up to and pass the wagon before the finish line for full marks.

Any barrels hit or failure in the rules meant time penalties.

If the outrider failed to throw the camp stove in the wagon at the beginning of the race, they had to power their horse to the wagon and chuck the stove either inside the vehicle or to the cook.

While this event may sound niche, once you get into the event it was quite a bit of fun to watch.

Some teams even used noisemakers like firecrackers thrown behind the wagon to get that extra ounce of giddy up out of their chosen steeds.

I’m told the lodge was packed with campers and competitors through the weekend, and many were on hand to enjoy the unique event.

The races were even being filmed by camera and drone for The Chuckwagon Channel, which I’m not surprised exists in 2025.

While chuckwagon races might not be for everyone, the event is a great example of why people should take in something new every once in a while.

Who knows what new hobby or pastime you might find if you give something new a chance.