How else can you win $55,000 and a new truck for less than 16 seconds of work?

Ashburn’s Brad Culpepper and his partner Speed Williams captured the title at the 2006 George Strait Team Roping Classic rodeo event Saturday. Culpepper teamed with returning champion Williams of Llano, Texas, and the pair won the competition with a three-round score of 15.82 seconds. Williams also placed second with another partner, Rich Skelton of Llano, Texas, with a score of 16.48 seconds.

Culpepper and Williams each won $55,790, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, a Strait X-treme three-horse slant trailer, a Twister saddle and a Gist buckle.

About 650 teams of all skill levels competed in the event, and individuals could compete with up to three different partners. Each team took on two steers Friday and the top 50 teams advanced to Saturday. At that point, the scores were reset and the 50 teams roped three steers each. Scores were based on the overall time over three rounds.

Culpepper almost backed out of the event because his best horse was on the mend.

“I started not to go,” he said. “My first string horse, my number one horse, was injured.

“Thank goodness, I went on and went.”

Team roping is one of the most popular rodeo events, according to Culpepper. It involves a team of two cowboys with one roping the horns of a steer while his partner ropes the legs. “The Strait” is one of the premier team-roping events in the nation.

“The guy I rope with ropes really good and I’ve worked all my life,” Culpepper said. “It was our turn to win, I reckon.”

Culpepper took up roping as a hobby as a child, learning the sport from his dad. Now 35, he has been roping for about 24 years. He called team roping “one of the rodeo sports that everybody can do.”

Great American Country television network will air a one-hour special on the George Strait Roping Classic at 9 p.m. March 29. GAC is televised nationally on DIRECTTV and Dish Network.

Country music singer George Strait and his family will also be featured on the show competing and talking about their love of roping.

Strait and his brother Buddy started the event 24 years ago as a small competition for friends and family, but the event grew to a national competition with hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes.

Culpepper joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association in 1992 and had earned more than $575,000 in career winnings by 2004. Some of his other partners include Jimmy Tanner, Joe Beaver, Frank Graves and Nelson Linares.

Culpepper lives in Ashburn with his wife, Misty. He has two sons, Braxton and Alex.



To contact reporter Dusty Vassey, call 382-4321, ext. 208.