NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CHUCKWAGON RACE (Arkansas)
Background Article
“Attending the annual National Championship Chuckwagon Races in Clinton is like entering a time warp, or stepping into an old Western movie, surrounded by horses and mules rattling by in wagons and buggies or racing across natural landscapes,” writes Jennifer Nixon in an article entitled, “Chuck wagon races give a taste of the old days” for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Sept. 3, 2015.
It started 30 years ago as a simple Labor Day party that Bar of Ranch owners Dan and Peggy Eoff held for friends. Dan added a chuck wagon race as a little something extra to entertain their guests.
That something extra has grown over the years to a multi-day outdoor, cowboy-style event that welcomes around 20,000 people and more than 5,000 horses and mules to the ranch.
The event goes well beyond the chuck wagon races, with bronc riding, a mule race and evening concerts. They also host a variety of equine-related clinics and workshops, trail rides and a western trade show.
Another highlight is the horseback Snowy River Race with two downhill runs and a plunge in the Little Red River.
As for Eoff’s favorite, she’s partial to the bronc fanning — an event in which a rider tries to calm a bucking horse.
“There is just something about watching those cowboys get on the bucking horses out in the middle of the pasture makes me think about how it was done that way back in the old days.”
Labor Day Weekend 2015
Labor Day Weekend 2019
Labor Day Weekend 2020
Aug. 29 – Sep. 6, 2020 | Bar of Ranch in Clinton, Arkansas | 2484 Shake Rag Road, Clinton | $35 adults, $20 Sunday admission | 501-745-8407
Fund for Horses 