It’s typically the veterans that electrify the grandstand crowd, however, there is a young crop of drivers coming up that will soon make their mark in chuckwagon racing. They are the Young Guns. In sports the term “Young Gun” refers to a young person who is successful or expected to be successful. They are the future of their respective sport and chuckwagon racing is no different.
One of the Young Guns in the wagon box is WPCA driver Layne Flad. Recently celebrating his 22nd birthday, Layne started driving with the WPCA in 2019 during his last year of High School. “I was in grade 12 and getting ready to do my final exams” said Layne, “I was asked to come fill a spot for a driver who had to medical out, so I drove in Grande Prairie then the Saturdays and Sundays at the next few shows until my school was over.”
Fast forward to 2022 and Layne is now a full-time member on the WPCA Pro Tour. This year Layne finished a respectable 24th in the WPCA Pro Tour standings but feels he needs some added horsepower to improve in 2023. “All the leaders I drove last year should be returning” he says, “If one of the new ones shine then I will move him in.” Layne feels he needs more wheel power and hopes to get that from one of the nine horses he and his dad Darcy recently purchased. While Layne looks to improve horsepower, he feels his biggest improvement personally is his attitude. “I used to focus on results first but now I focus on doing the right things first, be my best and learn every race” he says.
The energy of the Young Guns is apparent in front of the crowd and behind the barns, however, it’s the backstretch where sometimes that energy also gets shown. Layne says he will sometimes chirp another driver down the backstretch. “I was in a race with my good friend Tuff Dreger and started running around the outside of him” says Layne, “I started chirping something when I went by then we both started laughing and continued the race.”
Layne is currently enrolled in his 4th year of the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
Photo Credit – Shellie Scott Photography
