Team roping’s big dogs will face all kinds of conditions out on the rodeo trail this month. One of the most unique and most traditional is Salinas out in California. Salinas has always been the ultimate team roping rodeo for a lot of reasons, and so many cowboys will tell you it’s their favorite. It’s one of the rodeos Clay and I miss the most, so we’re headed back to Salinas to rope in the rodeo and PRCA Gold Card Roping this month. 

Both guys come from the left side of the steer at Salinas, and it’s the only five-header the rodeo guys go to all year. The 40-foot score is the longest in rodeo, and the chute-run steers are typically pretty strong and really run, especially after taking that big head start.

I can remember when I first got my card, which was in June of 1980 after Allen Bach asked me to rope. I was coming straight out of Smalltown, New Mexico,  in Bloomfield, and as soon as I got out amongst ’em, I started hearing about Salinas. It was the talk of the town with team ropers. I couldn’t fathom in my mind what it was all about. That arena and the score were even longer back then, and the steers didn’t even have horn wraps. 

The only long-score roping I’d ever been to was the OS Ranch Roping in Post, Texas. It was a big steer roping and team roping back then, and the score wasn’t as long as at Salinas. The first part of the arena was pretty narrow, then it opened up on both sides. There was no way you could turn a steer in that little lane, so that was the most unique setup I’d seen before we got to Salinas. 

Back in the early days of my career there was a roping at Rodrigruez’s Arena (Jim Sr.’s place, where Jimmy, John Bill and their three sisters were raised) right there out of Salinas that was kind of a Salinas warm-up. On our way over there, Allen and I stopped at a lake in Utah, rented a boat and went fishing. Peggy (Allen’s wife) and his nephew had driven all night and were sleeping. 

Allen and I pulled off to let our horses rest in some corrals, and fish. We were a couple of hillbillies out there on the lake with no shirts. It got hot, so Allen got out his pocket knife and made shorts out of his jeans. I rolled my pants up, and went barefoot. 

We showed up at that Rodriguez roping so sunburned I couldn’t put my boots on. I roped in a pair of black high-top Converse tennis shoes, and Leo (Camarillo) got such a big kick out of that that he nicknamed me Sha Na Na after the rock group, and called me that for the longest time. 

I didn’t do a very good job at Salinas that first year. Some of the guys from California had roped under those conditions at places like Chowchilla, but it was all new to me. Between letting those steers out 40 feet and those big horns, I did not have a good first showing.

But Salinas grew on me, and became one of my favorite rodeos. Nothing beats those cowboy conditions and the cool weather, especially that time of year. I love that place. And it’s a big deal to win one of those buckles. In my book, you have gold buckles, then the NFR, BFI, Salinas, Cheyenne and Pendleton. Winning one of those buckles is every team roper’s dream. Clay Tryan has five Salinas buckles. That makes him the king. 

When you show up at Salinas, you better have a horse that can really run, then slow those steers down when they’re going wide open to give your heeler a chance. It’s easy to get anxious, and patience is key. You also can’t let the barrier drop and get out a mile late or you’ll get outrun. With both guys coming from behind the barrier on the left side, most steers are going to veer to the right toward the fence. 

Salinas is a fun one. It’s a challenge, and also a chance to catch your breath after the Fourth of July and that second week in July that’s also so hectic. People camp, barbecue and catch up with old friends. Salinas is a vacation rodeo.

—TRJ—