Croteau ready to compete with the best at Rangeland Derby

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Having to wait until the ninth round to compete doesn’t bother Rae Croteau Jr. in the least.

After all, it just means he’s one of the guys to beat.

“I don’t know if it’s easier, but when you’re out front, you have a little bit of calm and confidence,” Croteau said of competing in the final leg of the Cowboys Rangeland Derby alongside Chad Fike and defending Rangeland Derby champion Layne MacGillivray. “I like to describe it as the calm before the storm. I have that sense of calm and preparedness now that I’m getting older.”

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Over two nights of racing in front of fans at GMC Stadium, 2013 Rangeland Derby champion Jason Glass led the field with a total time of 2:39.39, followed closely by Fike at 2:23.91.

Croteau, meanwhile, was in third place, just 1/100th of a second behind Fike.

“Obviously being fast is a priority, but being clean and consistent is what gets you there,” said Croteau, who finished with the third-fastest time out of 27 drivers on Friday and Saturday.

A third-generation driver whose father Bert and grandfather Ray pioneered the wagon trail before him, Croteau has learned to keep his horses operating at their peak performance level by the time the Calgary Stampede rolls around.

“You pretty much plan your whole spring around that and the horses are healthy and feeling good, so we’re right where we want to be,” said the 42-year-old driver from Rapid View, Sask.

Croteau, Fike and MacGillivray earned the right to close out the Calgary Stampede’s evening show’s featured sporting event for the first three nights of the 10-day show by being the top three drivers in the World Professional Chuckwagon Association standings.

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After Sunday’s races, the three drivers with the three fastest times will be eligible to take part in the ninth round, from Monday to Wednesday, while the remaining competitors will also be reorganised.

Heading into the Stampede, which is not a WPCA event, Croteau leads the world standings with 665.5 points, followed closely by Fike (645.5) and MacGillivray (617.5).

“Everything went well,” said Tournier, who qualified for the Bonnyville Chuckwagon Championship, the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede and the Ponoka Stampede. “Like everyone, there were a few hiccups – minor things – but I think the world rankings are largely a reflection of who had the fewest hiccups and was consistent.”

Although he currently sits atop the WPCA hierarchy, Croteau has yet to win a championship title. He finished second to Luke Tournier in Bonnyville and Ponoka, while he was third to Chanse Vigen and Kirk Sutherland in Medicine Hat.

“I think it’s just a little bit of luck,” he said when asked what it would take to win a championship. “When it’s your time, it’s your time. Just that and a good draw. It’s hard to tell you the answer to that question.”

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Over the next six nights of racing, Croteau will try to figure out how to stay in the top three overall to earn a spot in the Rangeland Derby Dash for Cash next Sunday (July 14) afternoon.

His ultimate goal will then be to improve on his second-place finish at the 2014 Stampede, where he finished just 6/10ths of a second behind Kurt Bensmiller, who won the first of his four Rangeland Derby titles.

Despite a six-year hiatus from the sport, from 2016 to 2021, Croteau returned to the sport he loves with a vengeance, finishing fifth in the 2022 WPCA Pro Tour driver standings.

His long break was now a distant memory for Croteau, who did not lose his rhythm once he climbed back into the seat of his cart and took the reins once more.

“Everyone always asks me, ‘How many years did you take off, two or three years?’ and I say, ‘No, six years,'” Croteau said. “They say, ‘My goodness, it didn’t seem that long.'”

“It’s like a little blip on the radar, actually. It doesn’t seem like that long. It seems like maybe a year.”

During the 10 days of the Rangeland Derby, Croteau will have a different announcer adorning the canvas atop his cart.

“All over Calgary, we just sold out the days off, so there’s a different company every day,” said Croteau, while noting his two main sponsors are Cinch Oilfield Hauling and TeKh Group. “Cinch kept the last day for themselves and TeKh is the last Saturday. It was a real team effort between TeKh and Cinch and the people they know. They were able to sell out every day. They did a lot of things themselves or for us. It’s a big team effort from everyone.”

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