By Laurence Heinen
And then there were four.
At the outset of the World Professional Chuckwagon Association season, D.J. King was one of eight permit drivers looking to lock down a spot to compete at the Ponoka Stampede.
Mission accomplished for King, who spent the past nine seasons competing on the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association circuit following his rookie year in 2014 with the Western Chuckwagon Association.
By virtue of his strong showing at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede, where he had his first WPCA day-money run on June 21 followed by a fourth-place showing in the aggregate, King moved into 26th spot overall in the World standings for drivers.
Along with Luke Tournier, Todd Baptiste and Preston Faithful, King secured one of four spots for permit drivers to compete at the Ponoka Stampede, which wrapped up on Canada Day.
“I wanted to experience this one, for sure,” said King, who had never been to Ponoka before he finished a respectable 13th out of 36 drivers in this year’s aggregate standings at the Stampede. “We pulled in (prior to the event) and everything was good. I’ve never been here. I drove by it and saw the grandstand. That’s about the closest I’d ever been to the Ponoka Stampede.”
As for his first-ever WPCA day money run in Medicine Hat, King posted a time of 1:02.46 aboard his AJS Indigenous Housing Solutions Inc. outfit off of barrel No. 1 in the second heat under perfect racetrack conditions.
Later on in the evening, a rain and hail storm slowed the track down by nearly five seconds for the last six heats of the night meaning that King’s quick clocking stood up as the best of the evening by just 2/100ths of a second over Evan Magee.
“Mother Nature kind of helped out for me, for sure,” said King, who celebrated his 40th birthday on June 27. “I’ll take it when I can. I was in those early heats before that storm hit. I was excited that my outfit measured up.”
King cited his love for chuckwagon racing as the reason he wanted to make the jump to compete on the WPCA circuit.
“They started before (the CPCA) and I just enjoy driving,” said King, who won a Memorial Cup playing left wing for the Kelowna Rockets in 2004. “All the racing out here is tough. When you’ve got tough racing, it makes for good production for the crowd and the fans.
“It gives guys options to move on, for sure. My goal for next year is to just come out and to continue on – as not a permit driver – just to have a spot here on the WPCA.”
Before finishing his WHL career in Kelowna, King played for 2-1/2 seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was selected 190th overall in the sixth round of the 2002 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues and went onto play 118 games over six seasons with the Blues and the Washington Capitals.
“Hockey was my life since I was a kid,” said King, who also played for Worcester IceCats, Peoria Rivermen and Hershey Bears of the AHL in addition to the Alaska Aces and Ontario Reign of the ECHL. “I would just move onto the next rink and a new place until I was about 26 years old. After that career, I was always around horses. I knew that was going to be my next venture. After hockey, horses were always a part of my life.”
Prior to competing in Ponoka, King caught the end of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to see the Florida Panthers win their first-ever NHL title.
When King started his NHL career with the Blues, he was teammates with Keith Tkachuk and remembers him being followed around by his young sons Matthew and Brady.
“Matthew Tkachuk was in the dressing room when I played with his dad,” King recalled. “I got to see him and Brady being little shits in the dressing room, so it was kind of cool watching them grow up.”
While King finished 14th in the day-money standings on the final day of the Ponoka Stampede, it was Tournier who prevailed in the $75,000 Tommy Dorchester Championship final heat.
“You need some luck and we got some luck (on Monday),” said Tournier, who won the dash in a time of 1:16.25 aboard his K & H Developments chuckwagon for his first title in Ponoka in seven trips to the championship final. “I’m happy and I like what we’ve got in the barn. It’s fun to run with these guys (on the WPCA). There’s some good wagons. I like to grind it out with the best. If you want to think you won something, you’ve got to beat out some tough competition.”
Tournier had his son Quaid as one of his outriders, while veteran Rory Gervais also helped him out in Ponoka.
“My son holds leaders,” Tournier said. “Of course, I’m going to be biased, but he’s the best lead-man there is. Somehow we’ve got Rory Gervais riding for us. I don’t know how that happened. He’s won the (World) title a few times and he’s a hell of a rider. He doesn’t cost us any penalties and he does a good job.”
Rae Croteau Jr. finished second in Ponoka, just 23/100ths of a second behind Tournier, while Kurt Bensmiller placed third. After knocking over a barrel in the championship final, defending Ponoka Stampede champion Chanse Vigen finished in fourth place.
NORTH AMERICAN CHUCKWAGON CHAMPIONSHIP
After winning his 2nd dash for cash of the 2024 WPCA season, Luke Tournier will join DJ King along with drivers from the CPCA and WPCA at the North American Chuckwagon Championships in Lloydminster. Tournier is the defending NACC champion and has to be considered as one of the favourites to win it in 2024.
The NACC runs from July 4th through July 14th. Visit the North American Chuckwagon Championship Facebook page for more information.
