E AST O REGONIAN
Saturday, July 20, 2019
RODEO
annual Chief
Joseph days
rodeo returns
next week
By JEFF BUDLONG
For the East Oregonian
JOSEPH – It’s that time of
year, again.
a small Oregon town will
once again transform into a cen-
ter of top rodeo action where
well-known cowboys and cow-
girls put it all on the line. the
six-day event begins tuesday
with the bucking horse stam-
pede kicking off the 74th annual
Chief Joseph days.
“It is a tradition, and we have
heard from people from Boise,
Spokane, lewiston, Portland,
and they have been coming to
this for 30 years because this
is what their family does,” said
Stacy Green, who helps promote
the rodeo. “For people that are
close, it is a big reunion because
you know that you are going to
see everybody. It is a big social
gathering.”
the town, with a population of
little more than 1,000 people, is
said to swell to more than 10,000
for the rodeo that is always held
the last full week of July.
the Professional rodeo Cow-
boys association rodeo begins
Wednesday afternoon, with
slack at 2 p.m. before the main
action gets started at 7 p.m. on
family night. the same schedule
is set for thursday, Friday and
Saturday, with rodeo slack on
Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m.
thursday is “tough Enough to
Wear Pink day” to support can-
cer screening.
the rodeo has earned a host
of recognition over the years,
including a place on the list of
top-10 rodeos to attend. It is a
rodeo that dates back to 1946,
with the rodeo action tak-
ing place in the Harley tucker
Memorial arena.
Cowboys and cowgirls will
take part in bareback riding,
steer wrestling, team roping,
saddle bronc riding, tie-down
roping, barrel racing, steer rop-
ing and bull riding. Not surpris-
ingly, it is the bull riding that
draws the largest crowd on the
final night of the event.
“We have top cowboys com-
peting and some of those are
world ranked,” Green said.
“they love the intimacy of Chief
Joseph days because fans are
right there by the action, and
Joseph is small and makes it easy
to get around.”
General admission tickets
Wednesday and thursday are
$15, but are $17 on Friday and
Saturday. reserved tickets on
Friday and Saturday are $20.
the PrCa rodeo is the big-
gest draw, but Chief Joseph days
also hosts the little Buckaroo
rodeo for special needs children
and adults at 9 a.m. on Wednes-
day at the Harley tucker rodeo
Grounds. It features multiple
events, including goat tail unty-
ing, stick horse barrel racing, and
a bouncing horse race.
there are plenty of other
activities throughout the six days
outside of the rodeo that range
from dances to an all-night cow-
boy breakfast.
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B1
Pendleton’s Newsom signs with Linn-Benton
Versatile player led the
Bucks in scoring with
25.5 points per game
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
PENdlEtON — It took Pend-
leton’s tyler Newsom a bit longer
than others to declare where he
was going to play college basket-
ball. He needed to find the right fit.
He made his decision July
1 — his 18th birthday — and
announced July 5 that he had
signed with linn-Benton Com-
munity College in albany.
“I like the area and they have
a lot of good recruits coming in,”
said Newsom, who plans to major
in business. “I feel confident in
what we are going to do.”
While the 6-foot-4 Newsom
played every position on the floor
for the Bucks, he said the road-
runners have plans of playing him
at guard or small forward.
“This is a good fit for him,”
Pendleton coach Zach dong said.
“His heart was set on getting out
of Pendleton and expanding, so to
speak. they have a good program
and a new coach.”
Joe Schaumburg was hired
in april to replace Everett Hart-
man, who retired at the end of
the 2018-19 season. He posted
a 51-35 record in three seasons
with the roadrunners.
Newsom made visits to
Chemeketa Community College,
Mt. Hood Community College,
Clark College and Blue Mountain
Community College.
“Blue Mountain recruited him
pretty hard,” dong said.
Newsom, who averaged 25.5
points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.84 steals
and three assists a game, was
named the Intermountain Confer-
See Basketball, Page B2
Staff photo by Brett Kane
Thomas Richardson of Everett, Wash., unloads his car ahead of Saturday’s WESCO Sprint competition at the Hermiston Raceway.
By BRETT KANE
East Oregonian
H
ErMIStON —
the Hermiston
raceway’s lat-
est event doesn’t
kick off until
later Saturday
evening, but the
crew was hard at
work under the
scorching July
sun on Friday
afternoon, making sure every
car and driver is geared up and
ready to go.
Saturday evening, the race-
way will host a stacked bill
for the latest installment in
its summer season, headlined
by WESCO Wing Sprint and
Washington Midget racing
association races. the usual
roundup of late models, street
stocks, legends, bombers, hor-
nets and bandoleros will also be
in the mix.
drivers from all over the
Northwest — and even a few
from Canada — will pay the
Staff photo by Brett Kane, File
Drivers round the track during a heat race at the Hermiston Raceway on June 15, 2019.
raceway a visit to compete in
what will be a historic moment
for regional racing fans.
Sprint cars, which are outfit-
ted to be smaller and faster than
the usual race car, weigh in at
roughly 1,625 pounds and run
on an eight-cylinder, 625-horse-
power engine. For comparison,
the average vehicle at the Herm-
iston raceway weighs about
2,800 pounds.
Saturday will mark the first
time since the 1960s that Herm-
iston has hosted a WESCO
Wing Sprint Car bill.
“they’re the fastest group
of cars we’ll run all season, for
sure,” said owner and promoter
Greg Walden.
and WMra cars are even
smaller. their four-cylinder,
360-horsepower engine runs
on methanol, which burns one
gallon per mile. to put that into
perspective, four laps around
Hermiston’s oval drains one
gallon of fuel.
See Racing, Page B2
SPORTS SHORTS
Cost of Raiders stadium in
Las Vegas rises to $1.9 billion
laS VEGaS (aP) — Offi-
cials have raised the budget to
$1.9 billion for the 65,000-seat
las Vegas Stadium being built
for the NFl’s relocated raiders
and uNlV football.
the Las Vegas Review-Jour-
nal reports the stadium
authority board on thurs-
day approved $40 million in
construction additions. they
include 20 more suites and a
field-level club area to be paid
for by personal and club seat
sales that weren’t part of the
original budget.
the stadium is due to open
in 2020 just off the las Vegas
Strip. taxpayers are funding
$750 million of the project.
Plans call for a translucent
roof, a natural grass field and
sliding doors that can open to
view the Strip.
In this June 4, 2019,
file photo, construc-
tion cranes surround
the football stadium
under construction in
Las Vegas.
AP Photo/John Locher, File