The 2024 WCRA Reliance Ranches VRQ Champion Program has been extended through April 6, 2025, meaning there’s still plenty of time to get in the race for $25,000 bonus.

At the end of each year, the WCRA crowns its Reliance Ranches VRQ Points Champion in each event, awarding a $25,000 bonus to the winners. Due to the cancellation of Rodeo Carolina after Hurricane Helene, the 2024 program will pay out at Rodeo Corpus Christi in May of 2025. This will also be the final chance to win the VRQ bonus as the WCRA will discontinue the RRVRQ Bonus Program following the 2025 Rodeo Corpus Christi.

So wait, how’s the VRQ bonus work?

The Reliance Ranches VRQ bonus is an incentive that pays out cash bonuses to the top four athletes in each discipline who earn the most points throughout the year (points are earned by nominating ProRodeos, amateur rodeos and other events with publicly verifiable results to the WCRA). The VRQ points are earned based on the athlete’s finish in each rodeo event. The top four athletes in each discipline with the most VRQ points at the end of the year will be eligible for the bonus.

Athletes are required to qualify for and participate in a minimum of one WCRA/WRWC major event to be eligible for the bonus. Athletes must also participate in the Program Finale, aka Rodeo Corpus Christi, to be eligible for the bonus.

The nomination period started Sept. 11, 2023, and has now been extended through April 6, 2025. In 2023, Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins won the $25,000 bonuses in the heading and heeling.

THE PAYOUT FOR THE VRQ BONUS PROGRAM IS AS FOLLOWS:

• First Place: $25,000
• Second Place: $10,000
• Third Place: $7,500
• Fourth Place: $2,500

Don’t forget about Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo

The WCRA’s newest prize for the champion in each event: a spot on the WCRA’s Free Riders Team at Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo in 2025. 

Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo inaugural event wowed the industry with a stoplight setup for timed events, a thrilling concert and team-based format that saw the WCRA Free Riders take the gold. Now, WCRA competitors can win their way onto the reigning champion team at Rodeo Corpus Christi.

Who leads the VRQ Bonus Program?