Joe Carbury was seventy-one when he sat as model. For over forty-five years his familiar call, “And they’re off!” echoed eight times an evening throughout the chuckwagon races at The Calgary Stampede. The Stampede recognized Joe’s contribution to both thoroughbred and chuckwagon racing through an honoured induction in their Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1980. Joe stated that his crowning tribute was the induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

“Joe did not talk much while he was sitting as my model. I knew him as the voice of chuckwagon racing. He had to be part of my collection of “A Face in the Crowd” because his career spanned the lives of generations of wagon drivers and their fans.“

– Jay Contway