Rattler Wrapped: 2024 In Review
Rattler Wrapped: 2024 In Review
It’s always a great day – and a great year – to be a member of Rattler Nation. Before the ball drops tonight, we’re taking a moment to reminisce on all the memories we made this year with a look back at some of the most exciting highlights 2024 had in store for the Ariat Texas Rattlers.
Long before the opening weekend of the Camping World Teams Series was even on the horizon, the Rattlers were hard at work across the individual circuits, sharpening their skills and advertising what lay in store for the season to come. For the first five months of 2024, it was all eyes on the Unleash the Beast Tour: Joao Ricardo Vieira stepped into the year in style with a monster 91.75-point-ride aboard Flyin’ Wired at UTB Tulsa in January, and by May, Brady Fielder had made it abundantly clear that he meant serious business. He ended an impressive weekend at the PBR World Finals with a knockout 90.25-point-ride in the championship round, clinching a third place finish in the UTB series overall.
June brought the first taste of Teams Series action to Texas. With opening weekend just a few weeks away, the guys headed west to take on the Odessa College Wranglers (and each other!) for some friendly competition at the first-ever PBR Chevron Showdown. The event served as the launching point for Chevron’s 800-for-8 initiative, in which Chevron pledged to donate 800 dollars to charity for every qualified ride logged by a Rattler throughout the 2024 season. The Showdown was a massive success, drawing an audience of nearly 4,000 fans excited to cheer on all the athletes as they rode to rack up money for Permian Basin youth organizations.
The next two months kept the team on their toes as the 2024 season officially got underway. After a bit of a slow start in July, the Ariat Texas Rattlers began to climb the ranks steadily in August. We got even with the Gamblers in the battle for the Texas Cup, found our starting lineup groove and even welcomed a few new faces to the team. The guys also proved that their bond goes deeper than the love of the game, banding together to support Brady Oleson after he sustained a career-ending-injury at Gambler Days. Despite being forced into retirement, Oleson remained an active part of the Ariat Texas Rattlers from behind the bucking chutes throughout the rest of the season. He was honored with a ceremony at Rattler Days in September, and again in October at the world finals with each of his teammates sporting special edition jerseys with his last name across the back.
It’s safe to say that September was our favorite month of all. Brady Fielder broke into the top five standings in the MVP race during the first week, and by the final week he’d earned his spot in the history books as the first rider ever to score 2000 points in a PBR Teams Season. The guys also picked up their second perfect game in history with a 5-for-5 victory over the Missouri Thunder at Cowboy Days. But the crown jewel of the month was, of course, Rattler Days. Record-breaking numbers of PBR fans flocked to Fort Worth to get a piece of the action – which there was PLENTY of. The Rattlers defended their home dirt flawlessly for the third year in a row, going undefeated in all of their matchups – including a win over Austin that officially helped clinch the first-ever Texas Cup championship.
In October, our self-published children’s book Venom’s 8-Second-Dream: A Bull’s Journey to Victory officially hit the shelves! October also brought the 2024 Camping World Teams Series to an end, and although the finals didn’t shake out in another World Championship Title, there’s nothing for Rattler Nation to hang our heads about: The Ariat Texas Rattlers finished the 2024 PBR Teams regular season ranked No. 4 with a 16-12 record.
The 2025 Unleash the Beast Series kicked off in early November and has been going full force ever since. Plenty of familiar faces have been battling it out throughout the past couple of months, including Daniel Keeping, Brady Fielder, Claudio Montanha Jr. and Joao Ricardo Vieira. The PBR also announced the launch of the Monster Energy Team challenge, presented by Camping World, that will be kicking off in early 2025. The Challenge will add a little bit of spice to select weekends, where rivals from the Teams Series will play a 6-on-6 game for a shot at some serious bragging rights. Naturally, your Ariat Texas Rattlers will be taking on our in-state rivals, the Austin Gamblers. Much like the battle for the Texas Cup, we’ll be facing off against Austin in three events throughout the UTB season — and we all remember how that ended up the last time, don’t we?
Call us biased, but we’re pretty confident that the Ariat Texas Rattlers have the best fanbase in the league. The Rattlers are grateful for all of Rattler Nation’s support throughout 2024. We’re looking forward to ringing in another year of excitement with you all – one 8 second ride at a time. See you in 2025!