‘One jump at a time’ Practice and talent take Mauney from Mooresville to the top of the world

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (February 5, 2010) - J.B. Mauney was different from the other kids.

He grew up in the small town of Mooresville, N.C., surrounded by some of the greatest names in NASCAR, but he was destined to be a professional bull rider, not a stock car driver. And from an early age, he was noticeably better than the other kids who rode sheep, calves and steers, and even the ones who eventually got on bulls.

Or at least that’s the way Mike Laws remembers it.

“He has the drive and the heart to win,” said Laws, a venerable old timer, who was quite the rider in and around the Southeast before giving up the sport to raise a family. “It was destiny. I’ve always known that.

“Some guys are destined to be champions, and I believe that about J.B.”

Laws has only made that bold prediction once before. That was back in 1999 when he told his oldest daughter Hannah that her husband Mike White was going to win a world title that year. He made her promise not to say anything until afterward. In December, sure enough, White won eight of 10 rounds at the NFR and went from 12th place in the standings to winning the PRCA World Championship.

And now, a decade later, Laws is sitting in his Statesville, N.C., office, as the stories of his own family and those of the Mauneys blend together.

Southern living

Mooresville is located 25 miles due north of Charlotte. Known to NASCAR fans as Race City USA, the sleepy community of 19,000 is home to some 60 race teams, including Penske Racing South.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. lives here, as does and Kasey Kahne. There’s Carolina Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers, and former Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs. And then there’s Mauney.

Except for a few signs marking attractions like the NASCAR Technical Institute and the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, the city is a nondescript southern town.  Marquees advertise Bob’s Grill and DE Turner’s Hardware (open since 1902) along with Nelson Royal’s Western Store.

There are times during the year that you can find a bull riding event seven nights a week within a couple hours of Mooresville. Every Thursday from May through September, the best of them is hosted by Boyce Knox in nearby Statesville, and features a pen of bulls owned by Tom Teague.

You’ll find Mauney there—so long as he isn’t out on the road traveling to a Built Ford Tough Series event.

“Don’t think he (doesn’t) go to those,” Laws said, “and people say, ‘Well, why would he do that?’ I think that’s what is keeping him where he’s at. He doesn’t worry about it.”

Mauney is most relaxed at the practice pen—even if that means putting up $100 to whoever could ride a longhorn steer the longest, backwards and without a rope.
 
“Once you start worrying about money, a woman and winning—you’re done,” said Laws, who recognizes that a career as a professional bull rider is short-lived. “He hasn’t reached that point yet.”

Family tradition

“I helped other kids too,” Laws said, “but my kids and J.B. are like one and the same.”

“My dad steer wrestled, and after a certain point he couldn’t tell me (anymore),” J.B. recalled, “and then Mike stepped in. … He was there until the time I got out of high school.”

Laws, whose father Jack was a stock contractor, met Tim Mauney back in the ‘70s when the two were on the rodeo trail. He was a lanky bull rider, who probably didn’t weight more than 140 pounds, and Tim was a tall, stout bulldogger.

The two traveled together until they both got married and started families. Laws and his wife Shelia had five kids – Hannah, Bonnie, Caleb, Cassie and Ethan – and a short time later Tim married Lynn. Soon enough, they had two children of their own – Jessi and J.B.

Before long the two families were hauling the young ones off to junior rodeos. The girls rode barrel horses and learned to team rope, while the boys steer wrestled and rode calves.

As Laws remembers it, Lynn wasn’t keen on her son riding steers because “they have horns.” When he told her she couldn’t stop the boy, she replied, “I can, and I will.” But eventually she relented. As Laws explained, “The boy’s got natural talent.”

“Before he started riding bulls,” Laws recalled, “I said to Lynn, ‘He’ll be in the PBR one day,’ and she laughed. I said, ‘He’ll be a World Champion.’ I don’t know why I know these things, but I just knew that he was that good.”

From the time the kids were 5 and 6 years old, they were entering junior rodeos on weekends.

Once all seven kids were entering, Mike and Lynn would pack up one vehicle and take J.B. and Caleb along with Jessi and Hannah off to one place, while Tim and Shelia would take the others off in another direction.

By this time, Laws could really see that J.B. had a “special effort that is rare. … We weren’t going to rodeos to play. We were going to win.”

Loose ‘n’ cool

Back when Laws taught Mauney how to ride, he had two rules: No deep holds and keep shuffling your feet. And if you get in trouble, kick loose and jump back to your rope. Mauney calls it riding “loose ‘n’ cool,” but in 2006, when he debuted on the BFTS, everyone else seemed to see it differently.

“The first two years everyone said he was sloppy,” Laws said. “I said, ‘Just wait. We’ll see.’”

“I really didn’t care,” said Mauney, who this weekend is looking to win the Winston-Salem Invitational for the second year in a row. “I try to stay as loose as I can because there’s no way I’m going to overpower a bull, and I’m not going to try. I get myself in some awkward positions sometimes to where I have to just keep my hand shut and hang on.”

It all goes back to the belief that “muscles don’t ride bulls.” Instead it’s about talent, finesse and speed—three facets of bull riding that Laws said Mauney came by naturally. The other, which has to do with focus, is something that Laws and Tim taught him back when he was still riding calves.

But once he made the transition to bulls, Laws would preach, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. You’ve got to give to receive.” Simply put, “Take what the bull gives you. … The object is to give to the bull, but you have to take it back.”

“He told me to keep riding them like you’re riding a bicycle,” Mauney said. “Keep moving your feet and don’t take a hold, because if you think you have a good seat it’ll throw you off.”

Mauney spends hours each week studying film. Watch closely and you’ll see him slide (or shuffle) his feet just before the bull finishes off his kick. As the bull is coming up, he’ll take back his rope, move back to the center, get a bend in his riding arm and be in position for the bull to come back down – “he’ll try to straighten your arm out, and that’s OK” – and it’s at that point that he’ll take back his rope again.

“You can’t keep pulling and trying to out-muscle him,” said Laws, who likens the style to floating. “I don’t think the longevity of out-muscling the bull will work—your elbows and shoulders will give out.”

He compares riding bulls to landing an airplane. In the same way that landing is a controlled stall, riding a bull is about what the rider does to get back in the middle. Equally important is the effort put forth not just on the first explosive jump out of the gate, but throughout the 8-second ride.

“J.B. doesn’t need me,” stated Laws, with emphasis. “He doesn’t need a coach. He has all the tools and he knows how to use them.”

Mauney, on the other hand, laughed, “I talked to him the other day after Anaheim, and he said, ‘Just go back to the basics—loose ‘n’ cool.’”

Winning is everything

Last November, during the Finals, Laws actually sent Mauney a short text message that read: “Pick with your heart. Not your pride.”

“He can ride any of them,” Laws said, “but picking with pride will cost you at the end of the year.”

It was tough lesson to learn – Mauney finished second for the second time – because there’s a thin line between winning and losing.

“I’m not cocky,” replied Mauney, when asked what most fans don’t know about him. “A lot of people think I am, but I’m not. I’m not going to tell you that I’m going to win it, but I’ll tell you that I’m going to try everything I can to win it, and I expect myself to win it. That’s a lot different than being cocky. I expect myself to win every single time and that’s why I get so mad when I get thrown off.”

“He’s 23 years old, so he’s probably done some things to give him that reputation,” said Laws, who added that the younger Mauney has the same sense of humor as his dad and gets a little bit of his toughness from his mom. “Now of course, being mad and throwing your rope or helmet doesn’t bother me. That’s part of being a champion. If you’re so weak-hearted you don’t care….

“A lot of people take them the wrong way.”

In fact, former PBR CEO Randy Bernard often compares Mauney to Dale Earnhardt – a NASCAR legend who made his home in Mooresville until his untimely death nine years ago – and said PBR fans “either love him or hate him.”

There are those who don’t like that he often looks toward the stands and raises one finger. “That’s not arrogance about being number one or winning the round or winning the event,” Laws explained. “That’s one jump at a time. We taught him that when he was young.”

“I’ve always thought J.B. was destined to do well,” said Laws, who is as convinced that Mauney will win a title as he was when his son-in-law claimed a world title 11 years ago.

“She used to laugh at me,” he said of J.B.’s mom, “but she’s not laughing now.”

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright

© PBR Canada, Inc. 2011