Challenge of the Champions

The Challenge of the Champions in 1988 was a series of seven matchups at seven rodeos that paired up bull riding champion Lane Frost with the bucking bull champion Red Rock. The publicity that the Challenge received increased the popularity of rodeos and bull riding amongst the general public.

Red Rock was an 1,800 pounds (820 kg) bucking bull. He had never been ridden in competition and had bucked Frost off at the 1985 National Finals Rodeo (NFR) and again at the 1986 NFR. This had kept Frost from riding all 10 of his finals bulls in 1986 and from winning the World Championship that year. Finally, Frost won the World Championship in 1987, the same year Red Rock won Bucking Bull of the Year.

Sometime in 1988, John Growney envisioned a special matchup between the two 1987 Champions. It was decided that Frost and Red Rock would have seven showdowns at different rodeos in states across the West. The event was titled the "Challenge of the Champions." It was described as "a publicity match made in heaven," a popular cowboy versus the best bucking bull. Both had reached the pinnacle of the sport. The series was widely covered by the mainstream media, the best of the best matchup between man and bull was "...something that everybody could understand," Growney said.

Frost and Red Rock both had popular personalities. Frost was characterized as extroverted and playful, with a ready smile and a person who enjoyed meeting fans. Cowboys were afraid of Red Rock because no one could ride him. The bull intuitively took "victory laps" around the arena whenever he bucked off a rider because he knew he'd won. Red Rock was called a “gentle giant” outside of the rodeo ring because the bull would allow people, even children, to have their pictures taken with him.

The first match took place at the Red Bluff Round-Up on April 17, 1988 in Red Bluff, California, Red Rock's then-current home town. The crowd cheered louder for Red Rock than for Frost, who was bucked off after two seconds and commented that it was the first time he’d seen more people cheer for the bull than for him. The second match took place in Clovis, California, and Red Rock took that one also. The third match was in Redding, May 20, 1988, and Frost had studied videotapes, consulted with friends, and worked out prior to this event. Frost stayed on, and at the eight-second mark, Frost was still on Red Rock, and this was the first time that anyone had ever stayed on Red Rock for a qualifying ride. Frost was happy to explain how he proved his doubters wrong, He changed his riding position by sitting well over to the right side, thus staying ahead of the bull’s motion. "I know I can't catch up to him when he goes to the right, I've tried." Frost expressed happiness to have proved all of the doubters wrong that day.

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