Wild Child wows rodeo crowd

Troy Lerwill and Rebecca Rigal. Photo by Craig Eisenbeis

Faster than a wild bronc, more powerful than his sleek Dodge truck, able to leap a tall Sundowner trailer in a single bound.

Superman? Nope, even better. It's The Wild Child, also known as Troy Lerwill.

As the featured entertainment act for this year's Sisters Rodeo, Lerwill brought something a little out of the ordinary to the rodeo arena. Although raised in a rodeo family, Lerwill favored motorcycle racing and was a Utah State motocross champion at the age of 16.

With death-defying motorcycle leaps, wacky antics, thrilling maneuvers, flashy pyrotechnics and a healthy dose of comedy, Lerwill left the Sisters crowds oohing, ahhing, and laughing during his four performances.

Even as a motorcyclist, Lerwill didn't entirely abandon his rodeo roots. Unable to resist the draw of rodeo, he became a rodeo clown, bullfighter and barrelman in 1994. Then, in 1998, he combined his two interests to create The Wild Child.

In his act, fans are introduced to a putative Wild Child who is delayed in making an appearance. During the delay, a clumsy goofball rodeo clown steals the show -- and the motorcycle. Of course, that's Lerwill's clown persona -- the real Wild Child -- and part of the show.

When the alleged motorcyclist finally shows up, the clown is already out of control and careening around the arena. The crowd learns who the real Wild Child is when --through smoke and fire -- the "clown" performs a dramatic motorcycle leap over the truck and trailer.

To further aid the deception, Lerwill actually serves as the performing rodeo clown throughout the show and later does duty as the barrelman during the bull riding.

Acting as the supposed motorcycle star, the other performer is Rebecca Rigal, Lerwill's business and romantic partner. They met three years ago while performing at the California State Fair in Sacramento and have been together ever since.

Rigal, a native of Germany, has been in this country for eight years and is a Friesian horse trainer and dressage performer. She has temporarily put her professional interests on hold to support Lerwill's act.

The demands of the rodeo circuit have made it difficult for Rigal to keep up with her sport.

"We did almost 180 performances last year," she said. "I've been through Sisters before," Lerwill said. "But I've never performed here. When the rodeo committee approached me in Las Vegas, I was really excited about it because I knew it was a real neat little town."

Lerwill's Wild Child act was named rodeo specialty act of the year in 2001 at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho. He also performed at the Calgary Stampede in 2000.

Sisters Rodeo Association President Glenn Miller was extremely pleased to land The Wild Child act, then he ran into an unexpected problem. "The sponsor I had backed out," he said, "so I needed a sponsor for Troy (Lerwill). A special thanks to RE/MAX Town & Country Realty, Tewalt & Sons Excavation and Sisters Tree Service for stepping up to the plate on this."

Lerwill said other performers told him that Sisters has rowdy crowds that like to have fun and that he'd have a great time here. He and Rigal, who own a bike shop in Utah, agreed that the quality of life at potential performance sites is a big factor in deciding where to go.

"We rode our bicycles into town and the people here stop for you and are very courteous. It's a neat little sports town," Lerwill said.

The couple are not exactly in a hurry to leave either.

"You guys have a real nice town here. We're probably going to stay until Tuesday or so," Lerwill said. "We have to be in Reno Thursday; but, in the meantime, we'll just hang around, have some fun, and spend some money."