March 11, 2025 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, have you ever seen a buffalo race horses and win? Harvey Wallbanger did—and on real racetracks against real racehorses. Francie Berg of Buffalo Tales and Trails tells this remarkable...and wacky story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Today.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We're going to start with a story about a man
who placed his bet on what may be the most
unique competitor to ever hit a horse racing scene. Here's
Franci Berg with a story of racetrack legend, Harvey Wallbanger.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
My name is Trancy Bird and I have a website
that's spoon me on Bushlow. So we have lots of
stories and one of them is Harvey Wallbanger, the racing Bushlow.
His second grace was in Miles City, Montana, which is
(01:03):
my hometown. And when I was growing up, we had
many entertaining things.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
At a rodeo. Nowadays it's just, you know, all these
guys want to compete for their money. But in those
days we had I remember having girls that rode in,
standing up with the two horses each sisters and all
kind of entertaining things. And so one of the entertainments
(01:30):
was Harvey Wallbanger. His owner and trainer and jockey was
Colin Horstensen or TC by tc so Thorstensen said he
was raised down a Sioul Indian reservation in the hills
in North Dakota, and he was always fond of animals
(01:53):
and he trained small pets. He worked on the Milwaukee Railroad,
which goes through Miles City and some Wyoming area, and
he drove coal trucks in Wyoming and became a jockey
and a trainer. Harvey's story began in nineteen eighty when
his mother was shot by a poacher. So TC rescued
(02:15):
the orchard bushlo and the little guy was thirty five
pounds only, but TC fed him with a bottle until
it was a year and a half old, and he
carried him in the back of his car until he
got to be two hundred and fifty pounds, and then
he put him in a barn. But Leana Bushalo did
(02:38):
not like staying in the barn, and he kept slamming
his body at the dividing wall in the barn, and
that's why he named him Harvey Wallbanger, so he was
always banging the wall. And as he grew to full size,
t C rigged a kind of a addle to fit
(03:01):
and climbed on and Harvey took well to being ridden
and then began performing at rodeos. The audiences loved him
because he loved to race and he just ran wide open.
Harvey grew well to full size and by nineteen eighty
(03:24):
five he started racing. Now, Harvey Wallbanger is going to
the front two eyebvert his second.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's going to come down to these two.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Harvey Wallbeger holding on over to eyebird.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Harvey Wallbanger wins it two Iburt for his second. Cisco
was third. The Apple is a smoke signal finished fourth.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Harvey Wallbeger another flawless for formats.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He was first invited to race in Joette, Wyoming, that
was his home state. He won the race by two
and a half lengths and his best race was one
hundred and ten yards against a quarter horse on a
real track. But he also raced all kinds of race horses,
corter hoors, thoroughbreds, and a whole field of harness horses.
(04:16):
But Tis never let him be in a venting situation,
so it's just his honest run. He raced with horses
that were half his weight, and because of his size
and also he had a unique smell, most competed horses
(04:37):
were afraid to get close to him, so he had
an advantage running alone there by the rail. Harvey was
very large, much larger than a horse, so he kind
of had to hold his breath going in. He was
led into the starting gate on a forty foot row.
It's tight or instance, and said, but he'll fit in
if he inhales on the way in and x heels
(04:59):
on the way out. His best year was in nineteen ninety,
so he had raced for five years when he raced.
His best year he ran twenty races and he earned
one hundred and eight thousand dollars that year. But in
his whole career he raced ninety three times and he
(05:23):
won seventy nine of them. Harvey Wallbanger, My congrats has
been pretty good in four career starts, Harvey Wallbanger, Prince Sensation.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I was on track when Harvey Wallbanger campaigned in Chicago,
at first at Maywood Park against some saddles horses, but
that was a hardest track in a great crowd, and
then at Arlington Park as well.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I saw him run at Wyoming Downs. This was a
tremendous circus side show. Unfortunately, when he was thirteen, he
died abruptly from eating contaminated hay in Tucson, Arizona. Pornston
sends Nevis data and he sued the people that furnished
the feed for the rodeo, Kenny and Jimmy Murdoch, and
(06:06):
he went to court to sue them, and they conceded
that oleander, which was a poisonous bush, probably got mixed
in with the hay, and TC won his case and
it was ordered almost half a million dollars in damages.
He started over by training the young buffalo that he's
called Harvey Wallbanger Junior, but Junior was not interested in winning.
(06:33):
He refused to grab the rail or run hard to
see ahead of the race horses. So he did more around,
acting in movies and commercials and promoting rodeos and sporting
events around the nation for a time, so TC changed
to just a buffalo who did tricks. Unfortunately, TC never
(06:54):
found a buffalo again with a genuine desire to win
his race who could take the pilace of welove a
Harvey Wallbanger. My buffalo aren't just ruffalo, we said, they're
family members.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Reagan Habib and Madison Derricott. I'm a
horse facing fan, always have been, and the story of
Harvey Wallbanger is one of horse racing's finest A classic
Americana story. The story of Harvey Wallbanger here on Our
American Stories. Lee Hibib here the host of Our American Stories.
(07:35):
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Ouramericanstories dot com and click the donate button. Give
a little, Give a lot. Go to Auramerican Stories dot
(07:57):
com and give
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Today.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We're going to start with a story about a man
who placed his bet on what may be the most
unique competitor to ever hit a horse racing scene. Here's
Franci Berg with a story of racetrack legend, Harvey Wallbanger.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
My name is Trancy Bird and I have a website
that's spoon me on Bushlow. So we have lots of
stories and one of them is Harvey Wallbanger, the racing Bushlow.
His second grace was in Miles City, Montana, which is
(01:03):
my hometown. And when I was growing up, we had
many entertaining things.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
At a rodeo. Nowadays it's just, you know, all these
guys want to compete for their money. But in those
days we had I remember having girls that rode in,
standing up with the two horses each sisters and all
kind of entertaining things. And so one of the entertainments
(01:30):
was Harvey Wallbanger. His owner and trainer and jockey was
Colin Horstensen or TC by tc so Thorstensen said he
was raised down a Sioul Indian reservation in the hills
in North Dakota, and he was always fond of animals
(01:53):
and he trained small pets. He worked on the Milwaukee Railroad,
which goes through Miles City and some Wyoming area, and
he drove coal trucks in Wyoming and became a jockey
and a trainer. Harvey's story began in nineteen eighty when
his mother was shot by a poacher. So TC rescued
(02:15):
the orchard bushlo and the little guy was thirty five
pounds only, but TC fed him with a bottle until
it was a year and a half old, and he
carried him in the back of his car until he
got to be two hundred and fifty pounds, and then
he put him in a barn. But Leana Bushalo did
(02:38):
not like staying in the barn, and he kept slamming
his body at the dividing wall in the barn, and
that's why he named him Harvey Wallbanger, so he was
always banging the wall. And as he grew to full size,
t C rigged a kind of a addle to fit
(03:01):
and climbed on and Harvey took well to being ridden
and then began performing at rodeos. The audiences loved him
because he loved to race and he just ran wide open.
Harvey grew well to full size and by nineteen eighty
(03:24):
five he started racing. Now, Harvey Wallbanger is going to
the front two eyebvert his second.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's going to come down to these two.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Harvey Wallbeger holding on over to eyebird.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Harvey Wallbanger wins it two Iburt for his second. Cisco
was third. The Apple is a smoke signal finished fourth.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Harvey Wallbeger another flawless for formats.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He was first invited to race in Joette, Wyoming, that
was his home state. He won the race by two
and a half lengths and his best race was one
hundred and ten yards against a quarter horse on a
real track. But he also raced all kinds of race horses,
corter hoors, thoroughbreds, and a whole field of harness horses.
(04:16):
But Tis never let him be in a venting situation,
so it's just his honest run. He raced with horses
that were half his weight, and because of his size
and also he had a unique smell, most competed horses
(04:37):
were afraid to get close to him, so he had
an advantage running alone there by the rail. Harvey was
very large, much larger than a horse, so he kind
of had to hold his breath going in. He was
led into the starting gate on a forty foot row.
It's tight or instance, and said, but he'll fit in
if he inhales on the way in and x heels
(04:59):
on the way out. His best year was in nineteen ninety,
so he had raced for five years when he raced.
His best year he ran twenty races and he earned
one hundred and eight thousand dollars that year. But in
his whole career he raced ninety three times and he
(05:23):
won seventy nine of them. Harvey Wallbanger, My congrats has
been pretty good in four career starts, Harvey Wallbanger, Prince Sensation.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I was on track when Harvey Wallbanger campaigned in Chicago,
at first at Maywood Park against some saddles horses, but
that was a hardest track in a great crowd, and
then at Arlington Park as well.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I saw him run at Wyoming Downs. This was a
tremendous circus side show. Unfortunately, when he was thirteen, he
died abruptly from eating contaminated hay in Tucson, Arizona. Pornston
sends Nevis data and he sued the people that furnished
the feed for the rodeo, Kenny and Jimmy Murdoch, and
(06:06):
he went to court to sue them, and they conceded
that oleander, which was a poisonous bush, probably got mixed
in with the hay, and TC won his case and
it was ordered almost half a million dollars in damages.
He started over by training the young buffalo that he's
called Harvey Wallbanger Junior, but Junior was not interested in winning.
(06:33):
He refused to grab the rail or run hard to
see ahead of the race horses. So he did more around,
acting in movies and commercials and promoting rodeos and sporting
events around the nation for a time, so TC changed
to just a buffalo who did tricks. Unfortunately, TC never
(06:54):
found a buffalo again with a genuine desire to win
his race who could take the pilace of welove a
Harvey Wallbanger. My buffalo aren't just ruffalo, we said, they're
family members.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And a terrific job on the production, editing and storytelling
by our own Reagan Habib and Madison Derricott. I'm a
horse facing fan, always have been, and the story of
Harvey Wallbanger is one of horse racing's finest A classic
Americana story. The story of Harvey Wallbanger here on Our
American Stories. Lee Hibib here the host of Our American Stories.
(07:35):
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Ouramericanstories dot com and click the donate button. Give
a little, Give a lot. Go to Auramerican Stories dot
(07:57):
com and give
Host
Lee Habeeb
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