ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ― More than 18 years after making a handshake deal, the business partnership of Ty Murray and David Allen is better described as a collaboration of two old friends.

Their longstanding relationship resulted in one of the most successful Built Ford Tough Series events in the 21-year history of the PBR. This weekend will be the 18th year they’ve partnered with the PBR to produce the Ty Murray Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.

However, the better part of two decades later, neither Murray nor Allen can remember when or where they actually met.

They’ve seemingly always known of one another.

After a couple minutes of pondering, Murray said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. We’ll have to ask him at dinner.”

“Wow. No,” said Allen, who paused a day later when asked the same question, “I mean, no, I don’t remember.”

Murray quickly added, “I can’t either.”

“I don’t remember specifically,” Allen said, “but it had to be through somebody like Cody (Lambert).”

Their friendship is just one of those things that, at this point in life, they’ve been friends for a longer time than they haven’t been. To put it in perspective, 19-year-old rookie sensation Gage Gay was 1 year old when Allen and Murray produced their first event.

WESTERN SPORTS ROOTS

Allen, who studied journalism at the University of Wyoming, has been around rodeo since the early 1970s – first as a rodeo photographer before he was quickly hired by the PRCA in the mid-‘70s to start a media and communications department.

He then wound up at Wrangler in 1979 where he started a rodeo marketing program for them. A year later, Wrangler got involved with NASCAR and country music and put Allen in charge of the whole “special events” department and he started working closely with Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt was the top rookie driver that season and in 1980 he started driving the Wrangler car.

Eventually, Allen left Wrangler in the late 1980s to start his own marketing company and continued working with Earnhardt and Richard Childress.

A lifelong fan of rodeo, Allen still had a hand in the Western lifestyle – in addition to Earnhardt, he was working with rodeo stars and country music singers – and by the mid-‘80s he began hearing about a kid from Arizona. At 18, Murray turned pro – competing in all three rough stock events – and, according to Allen, “was doing it at a high level.”

GETTING  STARTED WITH THE PBR

In 1995, the PBR was a fledgling organization and in addition to working with Earnhardt, Allen was asked if he would help with sponsorships.

“David’s a special individual that’s been involved with the PBR for a long time,” said PBR CEO Jim Haworth. “In the early days, he tried to help them understand how to run the business. David’s been a great asset.”

One problem, the PBR was essentially a startup company and “didn’t have any money to pay” Allen for his services. In exchange for his help, Allen said Tuff Hedeman – one of three influential co-founders along with Lambert and Murray – suggested he could co-promote some PBR events.

Allen was not only behind the PBR’s first event in Kansas City, Mo., but he also hired Flint Rasmussen to work a PBR event for the first time. He also started the Denver event, which is now a Touring Pro Division competition, which is held every January in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show.

He convinced them to let the PBR have Monday and Tuesday nights.

The TPD has done so well over the years that it’s since expanded to include Wednesday night.

A COWBOY’S AGREEMENT

Then, of course, there’s Albuquerque.

“I knew bull riding would be big here just because of the demographics,” said Allen, who noted the appreciation and support Hispanics and Native Americans have given bull riding over the years.

No cowboy had stronger name recognition than Ty Murray.

“I found out Ty had some roots here,” Allen said. “He wasn’t born here, but, as a kid, he spent all of his summers here and kind of grew up here and his folks were living here, at that time.”

Murray’s father was a race horse trainer.

The family was from Phoenix, but when he was young they spent every summer living in Ruidoso, N.M., and then in grade school they’d spend their summers in Santa Fe, N.M., before coming to Albuquerque – more specifically, Pena Blanca – for three months every summer during junior high and high school.

“It was like, ‘Man, Albuquerque would make great sense,’” recalled Allen. “It was really that simple and it’s always been on a handshake. There’s no contract – no nothing – and he’s always done everything he said he would and more.”

“David’s one of the most unique individuals,” Haworth said. “What I love about David is he has a no-nonsense approach to anything you ask him. If you want to know something and you ask him, be prepared, because he’s going to give you a straight answer.”

Murray compared the gentlemen’s agreement to the cowboy way of being a man of your word.

“It’s a rare thing and that’s why it’s special to me for the past 18 years,” Murray said, “and I can see us having 18 more just like the 18 we’ve had.”

THE COMPARISON OF TWO CHAMPIONS

Allen likens working with Murray to his time spent with Earnhardt.

According to Allen, there’s a reason Earnhardt, who he worked with from 1980 until his untimely death during the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, 2001, won the cup series seven times and Murray is a nine-time World Champion.

Both are obsessed with not only with winning, but being successful in all aspects of life.

In short, they’re both winners.

In Earnhardt’s case, he wasn’t just successful on the track, where he won 76 races, but he invented souvenir merchandising in NASCAR.

“Not only did he invent it. He dominated it,” Allen said. “He made way more selling t-shirts than he ever did driving a race car.”

The same holds true for Murray.

Allen said, “I’ve come to learn quite a bit about Ty over the years. He’s not just another bull rider going up and down the road, at least when he was competing. He takes it seriously and he wants to succeed. He spent a lot of time saying, ‘Well, what do we have to do to make this event do this or do that.’

“Everything was, ‘We have to do this right. We have to do this the best.’ That’s why people like them succeed. It isn’t just driving a race car or riding bulls.”

THE FLOODING AT TINGLEY COLISEUM TO THE INTIMACY OF THE PIT

The past 17 years hasn’t been without its growing pains.

Originally the event started out being held at the old Tingley Coliseum and one year it was under renovation – which Allen likened to “putting perfume on a pig in that place” – so the main entrance was closed and 9,500 fans had to come and go through the fire escape.

Another year, it was raining and the roof leaked causing the dirt on one side of the arena to become mud. They remember so much water coming in that it began to pool up in front of the bucking chutes and both laugh about the year when a drunken fan jumped into the arena and began running around while a bull was still in there.

The last year they went to Tingley, which was 2008, the lights went out and there was a delay getting them back on.

“It was like a comedy of errors,” Allen said. “You couldn’t make this stuff up that would happen.”

However, once they made the switch from Tingley to The Pit, Allen realized they had an opportunity to put on one of the best events on the BFTS.

The Ty Murray Invitational, which was honored by the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors as the 2012 Promotion of the Year, is revered by riders, stock contractors and fans right along with the New York event at Madison Square Garden, the annual Iron Cowboy event at AT&T Stadium and the World Finals in Las Vegas.

Murray said, “There are things about it that aren’t the best – the locker rooms – but when it comes down to it, it’s as good as it gets.”

“The product is there,” Allen agreed, “despite the obstacles we had with the venue.”

It’s the second oldest PBR event – topped only by Billings, Mont. – and the third largest in terms of total attendance over the three days. According to Allen, it’s also one of the top events in terms of merchandise sales.

“It works,” Allen said. “To me, this is the heart and soul of the PBR—markets like this.”

He likens it to NASCAR’s annual race in Bristol, Tenn.

It’s about tradition, which is what Murray said he’s most proud of, with hardcore fans.

Fans in Albuquerque are literally on top of the action and there’s a relentless energy that results in a great competition for both riders and bulls.

“If you’re a NASCAR fan you haven’t lived until you’ve been to the night race in Bristol,” Allen said, “and, I think, if you’re a PBR fan this is one of the events you need to see.”

THE RANKEST BULLS

The one constant throughout the past 18 years has been the quality of the stock.

“Every year it was the highest level and the best it go,” Murray said, “and maybe I’m partial too, but Cody Lambert being my best friend and geographically – being where Albuquerque sits – you can argue that for 18 years there’s not been a place that’s had ranker bulls.

“Oh, the bulls,” Allen said. “I agree, yep.”

As a matter of fact, Bushwacker will be in Albuquerque this weekend.

Earlier this year, owner Julio Moreno announced that the two-time World Champion Bull will retire at the conclusion of the 2014 season.

With bulls of that caliber there have been great moments.

The Hart brothers won the Ty Murray Invitational in back-to-back seasons starting with J.W. in 1998, followed by Cody, who won it in 1999 en route to winning a world title. New Mexico native Owen Washburn won the event in 2000, while Mike White won it three years in row from 2002-04. Like Cody Hart, two-time World Champion Justin McBride won in Albuquerque in 2005—the year he won the first of his two titles.

Last year, Joao Ricardo Vieira won the Ty Murray Invitational. It was the first of three BFTS wins in a four-event stretch for the eventual Rookie of the Year.

When Washburn won in 2000, he rode Promise Land for 95.5 points in the championship round – the same bull that sadly claimed the life of Glen Keeley two days earlier.

A year later, McBride scored 95.5 points on Hollywood.

Then in 2002, Gilbert Carrillo rode Blueberry Wine for 96 points.

“I love sitting down on that floor and listening to those fans,” Allen said. “They’re into this thing. I might be partial, but they’re really into this event.”

“Well, I might be partial too,” Murray agreed.

It’s become a brand onto its own, much the same way Cheyenne, Wyo., and Pendleton, Ore., have done the same in the rodeo world.

“It’s not just another bull riding,” Allen said.

Through the years, Murray and Allen, who is now the President and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, have developed a working relationship that is not dissimilar to two young friends talking through their hopes and dreams.

They mutually appreciate one another as businessmen and throughout the year, they’ll call one another with new ideas.

A few years ago, Murray called Allen with the idea of extending invitations to top Native American riders. Allen loved the idea and so too have the local fans.

This year, Guytin Tsosie – the reigning International Finals Rodeo Champion, who is from nearby Farmington, N.M. – is competing for a third time.

“This is the only thing I’ve ever hung onto from clear back in the ‘90s,” said Allen, who brought in Bo Wagner to help oversee the day-to-day process of producing an event of this magnitude. “I have to credit Ty for paying my kids’ way through college cause that’s what I’m doing with the money out of this event. I’m building a college fund for my kids.”

Allen, who is originally from Deadwood, S.D, and Wagner, who’s worked all but two of the events since 1998, both reside in Billings, Mont.

THE ALBUQUERQUE DINING TRADITION

As is typically the case, whenever they’re not at The Pit or out promoting the event, all three men can usually be found dinning at Cervantes Restaurant & Lounge.

It’s a longstanding Albuquerque tradition.

More than two hours of dining over Mexican food – they rave about the green chili – the table talk covers everything from kids and family life to college basketball and gold, as well as wildlife conservation and adventurous trips to Alaska.

The one topic that leaves them searching for an answer, is how or even when they met.

To them, it’s not important.

What is important is the admiration and respect with which they’ve conducted business and cultivated a friendship that needs little more than the same handshake that wraps up one of as many as six trips to Cervantes over a four-day period every March.

Just then, Murray recalls the one contract he wrote up for Allen to sign.

From day one Murray wanted to boast about sellouts. Allen joked that he’d run naked through the arena if they were able to sell out the venue. Murray wrote it up and had Allen sign his name. Allen’s still laughing whenever Murray brings up their contract.

“When you going to pay your debt?” Murray asked.

Laughing, Allen replied, “We did have a contract for this. He wrote it on a napkin and he misspelled naked. To this day, it makes me so mad that I didn’t keep it or maybe I have and I haven’t found it yet.

“It had to be a sellout. I was always going to go and rat-hole about a dozen tickets every year to make sure it wasn’t a sellout, so I didn’t have to streak,” explained Allen.

He hasn’t ruled out paying down his debt sometime in the future.

“Maybe in a wheelchair or something,” Allen said.

Murray added, “Yeah, I’ll push him through.”

“By that time I won’t even care,” Allen concluded, “or I won’t even know it.”

Follow Keith Ryan Cartwright on Twitter @PBR_KRC.