A staggering purse, an exciting format, and over 80 years of this legendary rodeo. Here are the numbers of the 2018 Ponoka Stampede:

Stop No. 2

The Ponoka Stampede is the second stop on the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s Finning Canada Pro Tour. The tour consists of rodeos that have at least $8,000 in added money per event, but the Ponoka Stampede goes above that to offer $50,000 in each event.

Watch the Finning Pro Tour: Ponoka Stampede June 26 to July 2 LIVE on FloRodeo.

4-Man Showdown

Tension builds as the top-four showdown nears each and every year. In the long round, roughstock and barrel racing contestants compete once, while steer wrestlers, tie-down ropers, and team ropers compete twice. The top 12 move on the finals on July 2, and then the top four from there will turn right around and compete again in the showdown where the fastest time or the highest score takes home the coveted Ponoka Stampede jacket and the lion's share of the prize money.

The WPCA chuckwagon racing is no less exciting. Thirty-six drivers are whittled down to an eight-man, two-heat semifinal; the best four from the semifinals compete in the famous Tommy Dorchester $50,000.00 Winner-Take-All Championship heat where the winner takes all the cash and the Ponoka Stampede championship.

5 Future Canadian Champions

Last year, five of the competitors that won the Ponoka Stampede went on to win the Canadian title in their event: Levi Simpson and Jeremy Buhler (team roping), Jason Thomas (The first American to capture a Canadian steer wrestling title), Garrett Smith (bull riding), and Ky Marshall (all-around). 

7 Returning Champions

There are seven reigning champions of the Ponoka Stampede that will be returning to compete in 2018 between the CPRA rodeo and WPCA chuckwagon racing.

8 Victories

The record for the most victories at the Ponoka Stampede in the WPCA chuckwagon racing is held by two legends: Kelly “The King” Sutherland, according to the WPCA, won the Ponoka Stampede eight times between 1980 and 2011. Known as the greatest champion in chuckwagon history, Sutherland also capped off an impressive 50-year career with a race just last year at the Ponoka Stampede where four Sutherlands (Kelly, his brother Kirk, son Mark, and grandson Dayton) had a never-before-seen family match race for charity.

Ralph Vigen also holds the record of eight victories with his championship occurring between 1959 and 1977. 

12th Largest Purse In PRCA

At $300,000 in added money (plus $50,000 in the WPRA), the Ponoka Stampede ties with Reno Rodeo in Reno, Nevada, for the 12th-largest purse in the PRCA. 

36 Drivers

The 36 drivers in the WPCA will compete in nine heats of four drivers each night. An aggregate champion will be named after four nights of competition. Luke Tournier set the track record at the Ponoka Stampede grounds in 2014 with a time of 1:12.19.

Watch the WPCA: Ponoka Stampede June 27 to July 2 LIVE on FloRodeo.

82 Years

The Wild West of ’36 has been going strong for 82 years now. 

80,000 Fans

The small town of Ponoka, Alberta, has a population of just over 7,000 people, but that population swells each and every Canada Day weekend to host 80,000 Ponoka Stampede fans that come out each year to watch the rodeo, chuckwagons, concerts, and camp out on the Ponoka Stampede grounds.

$450,962

The payout at the 2017 Ponoka Stampede was over $450,000, making this event the highest paying regular-season rodeo in the CPRA.