By Ted Harbin
ATLANTIC, Iowa – The truth is Cord McCoy and Tad Olsen share much in common. Both know the value of hard work. Both enjoy working with their fathers. Both carry a love for family and community.
That’s why Olsen’s Outdoor Power and the Cord McCoy PBR Challenge is a great tandem to present the inaugural Professional Bull Riders Tour Pro Division event, set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Cass County Fairgrounds in Atlantic.
“I think one of the reasons we wanted to get involved in the PBR Challenge is because it’s a great community event,” said Olsen, who has operated Olsen’s Outdoor Power with his father, Jim, since 1986. “It’s going to bring people to town, people who will eat here, stay here, shop here. It creates movement of money, and we know that a lot of guys that are going to enjoy watching the bull riding are going to be our customers as well.”
Olsen grew up in Atlantic with three brothers and a sister. The business was developed two and a half decades ago to meet the needs for auto repair and towing.
“Our thought was that the automobile is always going to be around, and there’s always going to be things breaking down and people needing new equipment,” he said. “A few years after that, we dipped into the lawn and garden side of it and started offering lawn and garden equipment. Dixie Chopper is really the first brand that took off for us. Since then, we’ve been able to pick up many quality brands like Polaris, Suzuki, Arctic Cat ATVs, utility vehicles and snowmobiles.
McCoy knows something about top quality. He’s been one of the fan favorites in the PBR for several years. This past spring, he and his brother, Jet, were the talk of reality TV when they finished second in CBS-TV’s “The Amazing Race.” Beyond that, he’s a proven champion in the sport of rodeo, a five-time International Professional Rodeo Association champion who continues to live the life of a ranch-raised cowboy living his dreams.
“I think it’s great that we’re partners with a father-son business,” said McCoy of Tupelo, Okla., whose father, Denny, grew up in southwest Iowa and graduated high school in Villisca. “I think they know what it means to put everything on the line, just like my family does on the ranch.”
Besides his father, McCoy shares more ties to the area: His fiancé is Sara Best of Brayton, Iowa, and the two are planning a November wedding in Atlantic.
“This is just a great community,” McCoy said of Atlantic. “The people are great, and they’ve gone out of their way to make this feel like home to me.”
Tad Olsen understands that as well as anyone.
“Atlantic is a great town,” he said. “I grew up here and stayed here because our customers are so great in this area. We’re in a farming community, and everybody here realizes the benefit of hard work.
“We started this business from scratch, and we’ve made it work because of a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours. We are here six days a week, from 7 in the morning to 5 in the evening every day. We strive to have really good customer service. If there’s a problem, we try to cure it. We’ve grown from nothing to a well-oiled machine that has a staff of 15 people who all put their own touch to making things work; we could not do it with out their awesome help.”
It takes a great team. McCoy is working with the Cass County Fair Board in the production of the bull riding-only event that is expected to feature some of the big names in the PBR as well as some of the rising stars in the game. The community’s support will help make it successful.
By being involved in the Cord McCoy PBR Challenge, the Olsens see it as a way to give back to the community.
“I think it’s great to have this kind of event coming to town, and I’m excited we’re part of it,” Olsen said.
TICKETS: Advanced tickets can be purchased at the Cass County Extension Office, Atlantic; KSOM, Atlantic; Weirich Welding Plus, Lewis; R&B Feeds, Atlantic; and KSCI Radio, Red Oak.
