Scott Palmer believes what he believes. One doesn’t need to ride a horse or straddle a bull to be a cowboy. 

“I’m a cowboy. I must be a cowboy,” the Professional Bull Riders [PBR]-sponsored Palmer declared. “Even the PBR asked me, ‘Can you ride a horse?” 

“I told them I’m not real corporate, and we are a little rough around the edges sometimes here. But they asked me, can you ride a horse? I said, ‘Absolutely not. I cannot ride a horse.”

Palmer said the PBR executives said that proved their point. 

“That’s why they’re so popular,” Palmer added. “You don’t have to be able to ride a horse to be a cowboy. Sometimes being a cowboy is mentally, are you a cowboy or not? Over here, it’s kind of odd because I went to a high school in Marlow, Oklahoma, and it was Marlow Outlaws, so I grew up an Outlaw, so I think it just stuck with me.”

Outlaw, Cowboy... Palmer said they are one in the same. As he sees it, he’s perfectly content not being the corporate-influenced Top Fuel racer. 

“I don’t really know why that is, but I don’t like people telling me what to do, for one thing,” Palmer said. “I don’t like making a plan. If you never make a plan in life, you’re never disappointed. That’s one of them. But that’s the truth if you think about it, that is the truth, and that’s why my PBR deal is good. These are a bunch of cowboys that are outlaws.”

Palmer said he’s one of the PBR outlaws... er, cowboys.  

“They’re just like me,” Palmer explained. “They just ride horses and bulls instead of hot rods. Sometimes they’re beat up and sore and don’t want to get out of bed early like me. They socialize with everyone, and they stay out late and have a few cocktails, and they’re just good old boys like a lot of racers are. I think some of us racers have forgotten that. 

“Like last night out here, we were having a few drinks with the fans out here and I bet we had 50 people in our pits at midnight. And it’s not that we were staying up late partying. We’re just visiting with the fans that are staying in the campground. That’s what our sport needs. We need to bring those fans back in here.”

Palmer carries major sponsorship through his longtime association with executives at PBR. He said he had been approached multiple times about carrying their brand on his race car and repeatedly turned down all offers. He told them, “I’m not your guy.”  

“They said, ‘That’s exactly why I’m the guy. Because they are that way,” Palmer said. “Even though PBR is a big business, it’s also a bunch of cowboys that have not forgotten where they come from. They’re still ordinary people at heart. They just ended up in a sport that is huge. PBR is bigger than NASCAR, so it’s a big sport. But they’re still ordinary people. I mean, they promote all their riders. They promote from top to bottom. They don’t care if you’re the world champion last year or a rookie this year. They promote you the same. 

“That’s one thing we need to do out here [in drag racing]. We need to promote everybody out here. We need to promote everybody who’s out here racing.”

Palmer said the upcoming PRO Superstar Shootout [Bradenton, Fla.] is a prime example of the spotlight major league drag racing has needed for a long time.

​

“Our sport needs more spotlight, and one of the ways we’re going to get that,” Palmer said. “Baseball has an all-star game. We’re going to have a superstar race. Of course, I would like to be in it, but I won’t be in it because I’m not a full-time car. But as far as our sport, that will give us a spotlight. To me, it’s going to make our sport more legitimate because now we’re running for a purse that’s a big purse like it’s still not as big as other motorsports, but just the fact that the general public is going to see a race for $250,000 is going to make our sport more legitimate.”

Palmer has no regrets that he’s not a full-timer. He did that in 2017 and 2018 and hasn’t done it since.   

“To be real honest, I proved my point,” Palmer said. “What I wanted to do is prove that a little guy, given the opportunity, could get in the top ten, and we did that two years in a row and after that, I don’t want to do that. I love drag racing, but I love Pro Mod racing. I love Top Fuel racing. I like match races. I like taking the Top Fuel cars to little tracks like Ozark Raceway and Mo-Kan Dragway and putting on a show, and I enjoy that.”

Pamer has a robust fan following that can rival many of the leading professional drag racers, and he’s got the t-shirt sales to prove it. 

“I judge everything off t-shirt sales,” Palmer said.” If you are selling a lot of t-shirts, I don’t sell them out here, but we have a pretty good following that orders stuff from us, and it’s because we go to these small venues and put on a show and hang out with the fans. Same as last night. Last night we had a pit full of people, and none of this would be any fun if you couldn’t share it.

“Out here, you’re 30 days away from being out of business. I mean, guys like us, we’re out here scratching and clawing, doing the best we can, but we are, honestly, we’re kind of like bull riders. They’re eight seconds away from being out of business. They could get hurt, whatever. We’re in the same boat.”