Chuckwagon racing’s first fifth-generation chuckwagon driver, the 2024 season was Cruise’s finest to date as he received the WPCA Clean Driver Award, the Herman Flad Memorial Award symbolic of the WPCA’s Most Improved Driver, and was the recipient of the Kenn Borek Most Sportsmanlike Driver Award at the Battle of the North.
Cruise kicked off his 2024 season with a bang, winning top day money on opening night of the Grande Prairie Stompede, and by season’s end he posted 14 top ten runs including the day money run and 4 other runs that also placed inside the top five. Cruise had top 10 overall finishes at the Grande Prairie Stompede, the North American Chuckwagon Championship, the Battle of the Foothills and the Battle of the Rockies, and improved 16 spots to finish the 2024 season in eleventh place in the World Standings. 2024 also saw Cruise become the youngest winner of the WPCA Clean Driver Award.
Cruise is a fifth generation chuckwagon driver whose great-great grandfather Wesley Smith drove chuckwagons in the 1940’s, his two great-grandfathers are former Calgary Stampede finalists Allan Bensmiller and Allen Smith, his grandfather is chuckwagon legend Buddy Bensmiller, his uncles are chuckwagon drivers Kurt, Chance and Dave Bensmiller, and his mother Lisa is a former Ty Tournier Award winner. After spending the last few years as a judge on the WPCA Tour, where he was the WPCA Judging Award winner in 2017, Cruise made his debut as a chuckwagon driver at the Poundmaker First Nation Show in 2020. Cruise works in the movie industry in the off season, and makes his home in Dewberry, Alberta.
