By Laurence Heinen
And then there were four. At the outset of the World Professional Chuckwagon Association season, D.J. King was one of eight permit drivers looking to lock down a spot to compete at the Ponoka Stampede.
Mission accomplished for King, who spent the past nine seasons competing on the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association circuit following his rookie year in 2014 with the Western Chuckwagon Association.
By virtue of his strong showing at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede, where he had his first WPCA day-money run on Friday followed by a fourth-place showing in the aggregate, King moved into 26th spot overall in the World standings for drivers.
Along with Luke Tournier, Todd Baptiste, and Preston Faithful, King secured one of four spots for permit drivers to compete at the Ponoka Stampede, which runs from Wednesday night until the championship dash on Canada Day.
“I wanted to experience this one, for sure,” said King, who had never been to Ponoka before making the trip north from Medicine Hat on Monday.
“We pulled in (Monday) afternoon and everything was good. I’ve never been here. I drove by it and saw the grandstand. That’s about the closest I’d ever been to the Ponoka Stampede.”
Last Friday in Medicine Hat, King posted a time of 1:02.46 aboard his AJS Indigenous Housing Solutions Inc. outfit off of barrel No. 1 in the second heat under perfect racetrack conditions.
Later on in the evening, a rain and hail storm slowed the track down by nearly five seconds for the last six heats of the night meaning that King’s quick clocking stood up as the best of the evening by just 2/100ths of a second over Evan Magee.
“Mother Nature kind of helped out for me, for sure,” said King, who will celebrate his 40th birthday on Thursday.
“I’ll take it when I can. I was in those early heats before that storm hit. I was excited that my outfit measured up.”
King cited his love for chuckwagon racing as the reason he wanted to make the jump to compete on the WPCA circuit.
“They started before (the CPCA) and I just enjoy driving,” said King, who won a Memorial Cup playing left wing for the Kelowna Rockets in 2004.
“All the racing out here is tough. When you’ve got tough racing, it makes for good production for the crowd and the fans.
“It gives guys options to move on, for sure. My goal for next year is to just come out and to continue on – as not a permit driver – just to have a spot here on the WPCA.”
Before finishing his WHL career in Kelowna, King played for 2-1/2 seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He was selected 190th overall in the sixth round of the 2002 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues and went on to play 118 games over six seasons with the Blues and the Washington Capitals.
“Hockey was my life since I was a kid,” said King, who also played for Worcester IceCats, Peoria Rivermen, and Hershey Bears of the AHL in addition to the Alaska Aces and Ontario Reign of the ECHL.
“I would just move onto the next rink and a new place until I was about 26 years old. After that career, I was always around horses. I knew that was going to be my next venture. After hockey, horses were always a part of my life.”
After getting set up in Ponoka on Monday, King caught the end of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to see the Florida Panthers win their first-ever NHL title.
When King started his NHL career with the Blues, he was teammates with Keith Tkachuk and remembers him being followed around by his young sons Matthew and Brady.
“Matthew Tkachuk was in the dressing room when I played with his dad,” King recalled.
“I got to see him and Brady being little shits in the dressing room, so it was kind of cool watching them grow up.”
Following his breakout performance in Medicine Hat, King will be looking to keep his momentum going in Ponoka.
“The goal of every driver is to just run fast and clean,” said King, while noting that defending champion Chanse Vigen will be the one to catch.
“It’s going to be tough to beat Chanse. He’s got it going.”
After finishing atop the aggregate standings in Medicine Hat, Vigen put an exclamation mark upon his performance by winning his first championship title in the Gas City as well.
“Medicine Hat was good to us,” said Vigen, who guided his Volker Stevin Canada rig across the finish line in a time of 1:02.61 to beat Kirk Sutherland and Rae Croteau Jr. in last Sunday’s championship dash.
“It’s nice to get a good showing under your belt and get some momentum going into Ponoka and Calgary. The next couple weeks are crucial.”
