Calgary, AB (CKLQ) – Champion chuckwagon driver Kelly Sutherland has retired after more than 50 years controlling the reins of horses as they thundered around the track.
Sutherland, who turns 66 this year, participated in his final race on the weekend in Rocky Mountain House in west-central Alberta.
The 12-time world chuckwagon champion says he has been mentally preparing for this final season for the last few years.
Sutherland says he’s had the ultimate career and feels blessed to have been able to compete _ and win _ for so many years.
He won his 12th world championship just months shy of his 60th birthday.
He also holds a dozen championships from the world-famous Calgary Stampede, won nine times at the Ponoka Stampede in central Alberta and triumphed once in his hometown of Grande Prairie, Alta.
