World & NFR Champs Turtle Powell
& Jhett Johnson Ride Out Of
Vegas With Record Riches
Turtle Powell and cancer-survivor Jhett Johnson took the victory lap on Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night at the $6 million Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The team set an NFR team roping earnings record with $125,625 per man, and won both the NFR average and world team roping titles.
(PRCA ProRodeo Photo/Greg Westfall)
By Kendra Santos
Special To Ropers Sports News
Turtle Powell and Jhett Johnson are humble husbands and dads. Yes, they rope for a living. But no, they never would have dared dream of the 2011 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo they had. To wish for the trifecta of an NFR team roping earnings record, the NFR average title and the world championship would have been too greedy, and that’s simply not their style.
When these guys rode into Vegas, Turtle was ranked 13th in the world among headers and Jhett was 12th on the heeling side. Yes, I know Allen Bach’s catapulted up the standings ladder from 15th to first over the course of the Finals before. But the odds say it’s a bad bet, and it’s one you’d never bank on.
Turtle and Jhett’s first six rounds were the stuff of fairytales. Night after night, they cashed check after check. They took two victory laps, and placed in the other four. Turtle missed their seventh steer, but it didn’t do much average damage. Fact is, five teams went out on opening night. Eight teams got their first two steers down, five teams caught their first three steers, and at the end of the first four rounds only two teams—leaders Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith, and Turtle and Jhett had four times in the books.
