"The Arena Director tells the Chute Boss what the next event's going to be, so you've got to be ten minutes ahead of yourself all the time. The Chute Boss keeps the cowboys moving and gets them out on time, because a fast rodeo's a good rodeo. The cowboys indicate that they're ready to go with a nod of the head. Some blokes sing out and give a big nod, others give a little shake of their hat and they're ready. Sometimes the gate openers don't know how a cowboy signals, and they're looking, looking, and I'm saying 'He's nodded, get him out' - only there's more 'language' in it. Some of them still call us 'Sir' because we can make it hard for them. If they're getting too smart and holding up the process, or they're out the back yapping on the third call, we can scratch them.
 
"A Brahman bull is the worst to bullfight because he doesn't shut his eyes on impact, so he can see most of what's going on. Clowning is terrifying. There used to be a bull called People Eater - and he was just savage. He actually got me on the ground about 15 years ago. A bloke got hung up and wouldn't let go of the rope, and as I raced in I slipped. I had the bull by the horn and he got on top of me and gave me a good hammering. But I didn't go to hospital. Bullfighters don't go to hospital. A bull can spin right down beside a rider and come back on top of them, especially a nasty bull. Bullriding is an adrenalin rush, that's all. A bullrider is just a good saddle bronc rider with his brains kicked out.
 
"I say contract stock is not as good as Carandotta stock. A lot of cowboys will argue with me, but 20 years ago the cowboys would come to Mount Isa and they wouldn't know which Carandotta horse they were getting on. It took a roughstock rider to ride those type of horses. They'd be running around asking me 'What's this horse, what's that horse?' Like the Sunday when I was out the back there, and those blokes who'd been mucking around with Ray Hermann the night before asked me 'Which horse is Blondie?'
 
"Well, Blondie's half sister was there, another big grey mare, and they didn't know which one was Blondie, so I just told them 'It's a grey one', and I walked away. So I believe that the rumour about Ray Hermann riding Blondie was started by a fool, but I also believe Hermann would have ridden her because he's a good bronc rider, and at that time he was in his prime, and Blondie was a good buck jumper. I tried to stop her going out because she had a foal on her. I said, 'The cowboys don't know which one's Blondie and the crowd out there wouldn't know - run the other grey mare out there and buck her out'. But they wouldn't listen to me.
 
"Steve Gibson rode her that year, but I don't think he would have ridden the other grey mare because she bucked her cowboy off in the final of the open bronc ride. And I still believe the other mare would have bucked better than Blondie did that year. Like I said, a mare that's got a foal on her, it's all she's worried about. She hadn't got her mind on the job. She never stopped singing out to that foal."
 
Russell recalls as clearly as Doughboy the Mount Garnett stoush between bikies and cowboys.
 
"I was tangled up with that one. She was on, it was unbelievable. Just as I was getting a good grip on the saddle, someone's yelled, 'Blue at the bar - it's the bikies'. And a couple of blokes shooed me off the horse and we were just into it. There were about 300 of them - knives, guns, everything. Old Ronnie Purse roped one bloke off, and the bikies had to keep looking behind them. The cowboys won, of course. But then the bikies started a blue again at the Australian championships down at Bowen, but there weren't as many of them then. It's good the bikies have got a bit of heart too - they kept coming back.
 
"They were good times. I only hope the young cowboys enjoy themselves as much and are not being as stupid".