The 2014 World Champion Chuckwagon Driver first picked up the lines in 1976, and now Kirk Sutherland has the longest tenure of any active chuckwagon driver in the world today. In 2016 Kirk swept the Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby, the Calgary Stampede Richard Cosgrave Memorial Trophy, and for the second time won the Calgary Stampede Safety Award. He was the recipient of the Calgary Stampede’s prestigious Guy Weadick Award in 2022, and has had two horses named to the Calgary Stampede’s Equine Athlete of Excellence.
The 2023 season saw Kirk post thirteen Top ten runs, including a track record run at the Century Downs World Chuckwagon Finals, and four other runs that cracked the top five. A fifth place overall finish in the Century Downs Racetrack and Casino Aggregate Championship was his best of the season.
In addition to his Rangeland Derby success, Kirk has won nearly every prestigious chuckwagon championship including the Ponoka Stampede and Edmonton’s Chuckwagon Derby among many others. He has had 4 horses named to either the WPCA Equine Outfit of Excellence, and is the track record holder at the Bonnyville Chuckwagon Championship. Kirk has qualified for the Calgary Stampede COWBOYS Rangeland Derby’s championship final five times, and was the WPCA Most Improved Driver in 1984. Along with his brother Kelly is the only brother combination to qualify for the Calgary Stampede’s championship final heat in the same year – a feat that has happened three times.
Kirk and his wife Kathy have four children – fellow chuckwagon driver Mitch, Traci, Misty, and Ashley – and make their home in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
