PUEBLO, Colo. – Reese Cates spent plenty of humid days and nights throughout his childhood over at the mud race track in his hometown of Monticello, Arkansas.
Still, Cates never was able to trade his bull rope in for a pair of racing gloves, hop inside a truck and take a whirl around the water-infused, mud pit.
“I wish,” Cates said Thursday afternoon. “I never had anything that could have made it around the track. This thing was legit man. If you didn’t have a pretty badass ride, you weren’t going to make it around this track.”
Cates’ stepfather used to own a mud track and it was some of Cates favorite times as a kid.
“He actually owned a mud track for a long time,” Cates said. “We used to go to the mud races. It was cool. Any given time there would be between 3- and 5,000 people there. Whenever he started dating my mom that was our deal. We got to hang out there with everyone.”
Cates will be making the return to the racetrack – granted a very different one – this weekend in Watkins Glen, New York.
The 2008 PBR Rookie of the Year is joining fellow Monster Energy cowboy Gage Gay in a series of media appearances at this weekend’s NASCAR XFINITY Series and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races at The Glen.
The two riders will take part in fan Q&A’s and will meet with select NASCAR drivers, crew chiefs and personnel.
More importantly, the two will hop in the pace car and bring the field to the start line for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I LOVE NEW YORK 355 on Sunday afternoon. Fans can watch the race on NBC Sports Network and the NBC Sports app at 3 p.m. ET.
“Thanks to Monster, Gage and I are going to go up there and take our families,” Cates said. “It is going to be a fun weekend. I am pretty excited about it. I know we are going to get to ride in the pace car Sunday and we are going to have an opportunity to speak with some kids that have had a traumatic experience over the year, whether it was losing a parent or some other traumatic event that had happened to them.”
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Gay grew up a NASCAR fan, especially after moving to Staley, North Carolina, in 2006 and tries to keep up with the sport whenever it is on television.
The 22-year-old, though, doesn’t shy away from what keeps his eyes glued to the television screen more often than not.
“I like watching wrecks,” Gay said. “I don’t hope anyone gets hurt, but I want to see a good wreck. I want everyone to be safe, but that would be nice.”
Gay says he understands the exhilarating rush that some racing fans have when it comes with the anticipation of watching danger develop on the race track.
In many ways, that same kind of anticipation is witnessed inside the PBR bull riding arena when a 2,000-pound bucking bull tosses the skinny and 145-pound Gay onto the hard, dusty arena dirt.
“It is the same kind of crowd,” Gay said. “Nobody wants to see someone almost get hurt, but if a wreck happens, they sure don’t want to miss it.”
This will be Cates’ second NASCAR race.
A few years ago he attended a race at Texas Motor Speedway and hung out with Kurt Busch.
“I hung out and stayed in the pits, that was pretty neat,” Cates said. “It will be interesting down there. I never thought there would be NASCAR in New York.”
Following his weekend in upstate New York, Cates has plans to return to Dallas for a follow-up appointment with his surgeon Dr. Daniel Worrel and PBR official doctor Dr. Tandy Freeman.
Cates has been rehabbing after breaking his elbow and tearing ligaments in Canada on June 23-24.
The No. 41 ranked rider in the world standings was first bucked off by Minion Stuart in 2.2 seconds at the PBR Canada Touring Pro Division event in Ponoka, Alberta, before trying to ride Get Blitzed (3.19 seconds) at the PBR Canada Monster Energy event in Toronto.
“I think I actually may have slapped him and his horn maybe broke it,” Cates recalled. “Then landing after I came off I dislocated and torn the ligament at that point. It was kind of both deals together.”
Worrel performed the surgery, which involved seven screws, to repair the fracture and ligament damage in Cates’ free arm.
Cates is hoping he will be able to return to competition in time for the Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour Banner Bank Pendleton PBR Classic on Sept. 11-12.
However, it will depend on how things go with his follow-up appointments next week.
“I am real interested to hear what Tandy is going to say next week,” Cates said. “As far as everything feels, it is good. I just don’t have my range of motion back yet.”
Cates later concluded:
“I will be at the Finals. Yeah, I will be at the Finals.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
