Ride with the Free Riders

Here’s How to Compete in Kid Rocks’ Rock N Rodeo with WCRA’s Free Riders

Missing being picked in the Rock N Rodeo draft is no biggie if you know the alternate way in.

Kelsie Domer clinched the 2023 WRWC Breakaway Championship, worth $60,000.
Kelsie Domer clinched the 2023 WRWC Breakaway Championship, worth $60,000. Photo courtesy WRWC/WCRA

Here’s how to compete in Kid Rocks’ Rock N Rodeo at the AT&T Stadium for a share of a $1 million payout on May 17.

The event is the first of its kind in partnership with the PBR—boasting a team format with a live performance by Kid Rock.

Plenty of ropers, steer wrestlers, barrel racers and bucking horse riders—almost 1,200—tossed their names into the pool for the draft but only two per event per team were chosen, leaving way more competitors standing on the outside looking in when the draft results were announced on March 12, 2024.

But for all of those athletes facing FOMO, fear not.

Five teams, representing 80 athletes may have already been decided, but the final team to compete is the World Champions Rodeo Alliance’s (WCRA) own Free Riders. And unlike the other teams who were chosen by team coaches during the draft process, members of the Free Riders must win their way on to the team during Rodeo Corpus Christi, May 7-11.

Following its stated mission, WCRA offers both conventional and unconventional ways to qualify for its events, leaving the opportunity there for both full-time and part-time competitors. The Free Riders are no exception to WCRA’s long standing model.

So, still want to be a part of the newest team rodeo concept, a head-to-head competition in a team tournament with all-star coaches and a Kid Rock concert right in the middle?

Luckily, your chances to win a spot on the Free Riders are not one in a million . . . they’re much better.

How to Compete in Kid Rocks’ Rock N Rodeo

First, you can guarantee a position in Rodeo Corpus Christi by being inside the top top 20 of the WCRA’s Rodeo Corpus Christi (RCC24) Leaderboard by the cut-off date of April 7 11:59 p.m. CST. Find the current standings at www.wcrarodeo.com.

Haven’t been using the Virtual Rodeo Qualifier (VRQ) through the WCRA app to earn points at your rodeos and jackpots?

The WCRA’s got you covered with four Last Chance Qualifiers, each offering the winner a spot into Corpus’ Wild Card Round.

Thinking the Last Chance doesn’t represent a good chance to earn a championship? Ask 2023 Women’s Rodeo World Champion (WRWC) Breakaway Roper Kelsie Domer. Without a guaranteed spot into the WRWC, the richest women’s rodeo event on the planet co-hosted by the WCRA and PBR, because she’d missed arena time while having her daughter Oaklynn, Domer took her shot during that event’s Last Chance Qualifier. She worked her way through the rounds to advance to the main event, eventually becoming the champ and more than $60,000 richer.

“I’m so grateful for this opportunity and the way it all played out,” Domer said at the time. “After having my baby and knowing I had this qualifier as an option took away a lot of the stress to get my nomination points in.”

So here’s how you can take your shot at being the Kelsie Domer of Rodeo Corpus Christi 2024:

1. Enter one of the Last Chance qualifiers in April and May (San Angelo, Texas, Logandale, Nevada, McDonald, Tennessee or Guymon, Oklahoma).

2. Go to NextGen Rodeo and enter the WCRA RCC side pot. Entry fee is $500.

3. Be the highest placing competitor in the side pot and pack for Corpus Christi.

Once you arrive on the Corpus Christie Bayfront, there’s plenty of incentives beyond the one-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of the first ever Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo.

Rodeo Corpus Christi dividends

Rodeo Corpus Christi has a total payout of $600,500 and the Triple Crown Round winner in all events on Saturday night will get $15,000 and a fancy new custom surfboard.

Rodeo Corpus begins with the CEAT Specialty Tire Division Youth Showcase and Wild Card Round, held over two night May 7-8; the top 4 will advance to the Progressive Rounds and the winner will take home $2,500.

Made up of the #1-8 on the Leaderboard and the Wild Cards, the Progressive Round is two go’s and an average, representing $29,000 of the total payout. The two round winners and the top five in the average go on to the final night’s Showdown Round for a guaranteed check of at least $500 but contestants earn more by surviving the Showdown Round and being one of the top three to advance to the Triple Crown Round. To save runs on their horses, all barrel racers advance to the Triple Crown Round.

That final round is a furious battle with the top three (seven in barrels) going head-to-head, sudden death for the $15,000 first place check.

The best consolation for each Reserve Champ in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie down roping, breakaway roping and barrel racing is the chance to join the Free Riders along with the Rodeo Corpus Champs.

For more information on the Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo, visit kidrocknrodeo.com and stay tuned to wcrarodeo.com for the latest information and updated standings.

Cut-off date for RCC24 Leaderboard: April 7 11:59 p.m. CST

Rodeo Corpus Christi Last Chance Qualifier Schedule:

  • San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo, PRCA, San Angelo, Texas, April 5-19
  • Clark County Fair & Rodeo, PRCA, Logandale, Nevada, April 10-14
  • 4th Annual Alhambra Shrine Rodeo, IPRA, McDonald, Tennessee, April 26-27
  • Guymon Pioneer Days, PRCA, Guymon, Oklahoma, May 3-5
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