LAS VEGAS (October 21, 2010) - Winning a round at the Built Ford Tough World Finals has its advantages. Just ask Round 1 winner Dustin Elliott.
Not only is Elliott $20,000 richer for his first-round victory at a Built Ford Tough Series event, he also got to ride to the buckle presentation in a PBR limo. But, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.
“I didn’t get to bed until 2 o’clock this morning, then I got a phone call bright and early that said a TV station wants me for an interview,’ Elliott said. “I was like, ‘Uh, all right, I guess I’ll take it.’”
Elliott had bucked off 13 straight bulls on the Built Ford Tough Series prior to his 89.25-point effort on Hee Bee Gee Bee (Boyd/Floyd Bull Co.) on Wednesday. He thinks the seven-day break he recently took at home in North Platte, Neb., helped him clear his head.
“I took my wife [Cynthia] out to dinner on Saturday night, just stuff like that gave me a mental break,” Elliott said. “Being mentally rested helped me come out and capitalize on the opportunity.”
Some observers think that Elliott’s buckoff streak had to do with him also pursuing the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He won the PRCA bull riding championship in 2004 and is currently 10th in the world standings (the Top 15 make it to the NFR). He’s trying to become the first man since Paulo Crimber six years ago to qualify for the NFR and the World Finals in the same season.
Elliott, who doesn’t think he’s been hurt by getting on too many bulls, estimated that he’s climbed aboard 200 this year. He said it’s a business decision.
“It’s just another opportunity for the business, if you look at it that way, to make money," Elliott said. "Riding bulls, it’s really relatively a short career. Like I said just a minute ago, ‘Capitalize on the opportunity and take advantage of it when you can,’ because in this sport you’ve got to retire when you’re 35, 36 – that’s getting up there in age to be a bull rider.
“So, the more money you can make younger, the better off you could be later on.”
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