Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo

Lisa Novack Story by Julie Mankin, photo by Larry Smith She couldn’t have timed it better. Lisa Novak of Laona, Wis., won the year’s use of a brand-new Dodge truck at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, held March 15-18 in Pocatello, Idaho. The next day on the way home, her GMC broke down – to the tune of $8,000 in repairs. DNCFR champions were like kids in a candy store with the Dodge catalog. The company had discontinued its long-running Dodge Truck series two years earlier and decided instead to award the trucks to each DNCFR champion in 2006. Novak, 35, ordered the whole shebang – a shiny red Mega Cab dually decked out with leather, a DVD player, sunroof and top-of- the-line stereo – and was told to expect it in six to eight weeks, gooseneck hitch included. “Mike Orman of Dodge Rodeo was really good at helping us pick them out and deciding on rear ends, that kind of thing,” she said. “We were kind of worried about the short bed on the Mega Cab, but he said it’s the same frame as the long box.” In her second trip to Pocatello, Novak and her 13-year-old gelding, Cash N Blue (“Cash”) strung together two runs of 16.11 and 15.88 seconds, respectively, that didn’t hit pay dirt in the first two rounds. “He struggled with the ground and was taking care of himself, so his times were off,” Novak said. “In the second round, Amanda Clayman offered me her horse, ‘Trey’ [Willy Nick Bar]. I had run him before, and I debated switching, but decided I’d made it there on Cash, so I’d finish on him.” Plus, Cash was giving Novak serious grief at the gate. He was refusing, then charging through her hands too early, regardless of the help of Novak’s husband, Dan. In the second round, Cash took off through the alley headed straight at the first barrel. A disappointed Novak had already unsaddled and started wrapping her horse’s legs for the long trip home, sure she hadn’t made the semifinals. Then Dan tracked her down to tell her she’d made it in the last hole. “I just looked at him and burst into tears,” she said. “I’d been so down because I knew my horse could do better than that.” A few hours later in the semifinals, Novak got down to business. She was able to set up Cash better for barrel No. 1, and he ran a lot harder and with more confidence. Several tough horses hit barrels, but Novak’s 15.57 placed third and was enough to send her to the finals. She would make three runs on Cash that day – the most she’d ever asked of him. She called her veterinarian, Michael Steward, DVM, for moral support. He told her to go ahead and win it. “That’s when it dawned on me that maybe I could,” Novak said. “I just kept thinking of him saying that to me. [Calf roper] Bill Huber had been there a million times. He came up to me and said I was guaranteed fourth, and to just go out there and have fun. Everybody was so positive about it. I took that energy and went with it, and it was wonderful.” She might not have had much time to be anxious, considering how often she had to reassure her nervous husband, who was “white as a ghost.” Or maybe it was the pressure itself that spurred Novak and Cash to a winning 15.44 – five-hundredths faster than second-place Lanita Powers. “Those girls went out there and got it on,” Novak said. “I thought, ‘this ain’t going to be just keeping the barrels up – this is going to be a barrel race.’ It’s got to be the best barrel race in the world when there’s four entries and the winner gets a truck.” In addition to the pickup, Novak won a buckle, a gear bag, Justin boots, a Dodge keychain and a $750 American Quarter Horse Association bonus. But her favorite perk was the victory lap. “That’s Cash’s favorite event,” she laughed. “He wanted to pass the flag horse but I wouldn’t let him. Once I got out of there, they whisked me away for a radio interview and autographs. It was overwhelming. It was so cool.” Lyndee Stairs of Hanford, Calif., topped the semifinals with a 15.42. In the sudden-death final Wrangler Round, Novak's winning time of 15.44 was followed closely by Powers’ 15.49, Sabrina Lay’s 15.53 and Stairs’ fourth-place run of 15.66. Powers was the barrel racing’s high-money cowgirl with $7,800, followed by Stairs with $5,861 and Novak with $5,851. Read the complete story in the May issue of Barrel Horse News.