Page 35 - Barrel Stallion Register 2017

It is often said that rodeo is a family sport. We see that in how youngsters get their start in rodeo from an early age following
in the footsteps of their parents. That is how Sherry Cervi and JoLynn Alexander, two successful barrel racers, got their start in rodeo - as their mother and father were both rodeo performers. Their parents are Mel and Wendy Potter of Marana, Arizona.
Mel Potter got his start in rodeo as a young man after his family moved from Wisconsin to Arizona. The move opened
a door for Mel to become a lifelong rodeo roper that went from not knowing anything about roping, to being inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame. Wendy Potter has her own career in the rodeo arena. She won six Arizona WPRA Barrel Racing Championships and became a three-time Wrangler NFR qualifier.
The first notable horse for Wendy
Potter was Auto Dial, a 1958 son of the World Champion racing American Quarter Horse Johnny Dial. The sire of Johnny
Dial was the Thoroughbred Depth Charge and his dam was Black Annie by Rodney. The dam of Auto Dial was Tris Ann by the Thoroughbred Tristan and out of a daughter of Rodney. This makes Auto Dial double bred to Rodney, a Cajun-bred running horse by Dedier (Old DJ).
Auto Dial carried Wendy to success in the arena, then gave JoLynn a start to a successful show career. JoLynn would go on to become a 2-time National High School All Around Champion, a National High School Barrel Racing Champion and a National High School Breakaway Roping Champion, as
well as a number of runner-up and top ten finishes in events like barrel racing, goat tying and cutting.
When Sherry started her rodeo career, she was involved in several events like her sister but her true love was barrel racing. So when Sherry decided to go all out for barrel racing, she needed the right horse. The right horse was Sir Double Delight or “Troubles.” Troubles carried Sherry to her first Wrangler NFR appearance in 1994.
Not long after Troubles came on the scene, Sherry found another horse named Jet Royal Speed, known in barrel racing circles as “Hawk.” The entrance of Hawk would bring Sherry her first WPRA World Championship in barrel racing in 1995. In 1999, Sherry
and Hawk won a second WPRA World Championship in barrel racing. They also won the Wrangler NFR average that year. Hawk and Sherry earned over $600,000 in barrel racing.
When Sherry started her rodeo career, she was involved in several events like her sister but her true love was barrel racing...
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who carried her to her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo appearance in 1994.
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Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. Hawk brought Sherry her first WPRA World Championship in barrel
THE DRIFTWOOD INFLUENCE
Mel Potter has always worked to see that he and his family were well mounted when they entered the rodeo arena, and it was this that fueled his desire to raise good horses. Today, the Mel Potter breeding program specializes in roping and barrel horses.
Mel feels a key to his success as a roper was his appreciation for the Driftwood-bred horses he not only rode, but also breeds today on the Potter Ranch. Driftwood was
a match racehorse in Texas that went to Arizona to become a well-known rope horse for Ab Nichols and then with Asbury Schell. Channing and Katy Peake bought Driftwood
and he became a full time sire. Driftwood produced a number of horses from Arizona to California that have been used over the years and that continued the Driftwood influence.
Mel tells us how he got started with the Driftwood horses and his first rope horse. “I had this little mare and she was pretty decent, considering her training – with me training her, and I didn’t know how to rope,” he said. “Anyway, I bred her to a horse of Dale Smith’s named Speedywood, a son of Driftwood. Speedywood was a full brother to Driftwood Ike - there were four full brothers and a sister out of the mare Hancock Belle. The others were Maestro, that Eddie Schell won the
Mel Potter has worked to carry on the legacy and influence of Driftwood, and he feels a key to his success has been appreciation of and the influence of Driftwood-bred horses.
SPEEDHORSE 33
SPEEDLINES
AQHA Hall of Fame and Museum
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