The annual competition for the fastest draw in Amarillo took place Friday afternoon, June 6 at Rex Baxter “corral,” with six competitors vying for the title at the TX 66 Celebrity Fast Draw Shoot Out. Two were finalists last year, with Patrick Lee barely whizzing by Mayor Cole Stanley by just milliseconds in a number of rounds.
All that was needed at the Rex Baxter Building at the Tri State Fairgrounds that afternoon was the theme song from “A Fistful of Dollars,” the Western movie starring Clint Eastwood that started a series of spaghetti Western films, low budget movies that topped the box office in the ’60s. Six well known contestants, ranging from the Amarillo mayor to an Amarillo police officer, TV newsperson and Big Texan marketer took place in the rigorous competition.
The line was drawn at last year’s competition of the celebrity fast draw, when champion Lee inched by Mayor Stanley by fractions of a second. It resulted in a mock comeback grudge match, which had the two challenging each other.
This year, Stanley — or “Quick Draw Pete,” his alias — came back with a vengeance to hopefully steal the title from “Pistol Pete” Lee. Other competitors numbered four, and one of them began to look like a new gun on the horizon during the heated competition.
All six shooters lined up at the beginning, and three shot at the first round. The next round included the other three until it began to narrow down. If a person got two X’s, they were eliminated.
Quick Draw Pete, the mayor, started off fast, showing promise and training he had done. His stance was good and he went into it to win. But, Pistol Pete Lee held strong and began to take over the lead in scoring with razor sharp reactions, scoring numbers like 0.484 on his target. The whole contest is measured by a muli-faceted computerized system that records how fast the shooters react to pulling their gun out to the actual shooting of the target and the accuracy of the shot. Recorded times can be fractions of seconds, according to Jerome Price, Range Mater for the event and also the coordinator of the event.
Price said high tech rquipment measures the KPI of a person, which is a speed index that measures not only the speed of a draw, but also the accuracy of hitting the target.
APD Officer Josh Jenkins, or “Officer Leroy,” as he was dubbed, began to come up fast as the shooting went on, rising up the scale and becoming a contender. As the field narrowed, Jenkins became a threat to Lee and edged out Stanley.
It finally got down to the final rounds with only Lee and Jenkins standing. The rest had been waved off the shooting platform. In the final round, Jenkins shot an impressive total, but Lee came in faster, allowing him to maintain his title. As winner, Lee was able to take the prestigious belt buckle, a bejeweled buckle fit for any cow puncher or cowboy.
Questioned after the competition, Mayor Stanley said, “I had the sun in my eyes and an old war injury that held me back,” with a laugh. There was also a silent auction at the event and some vendors present in the building. Some hand guns were also there for sale.
The excitement was orchestrated by Xtreme Fast Draw (XFDA), who promotes the fastest timed sport in the world and goes to competitions all around the world. They also had fast draw contests during the cattle drive Saturday and later throughout the Coors Cowboy Club Ranch Rodeo. The World Finals Championship took place Sunday when the team championship ended.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: When the smoke cleared, who won the Amarillo fast draw contest?
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
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