Have You Ever Seen an Oklahoma Pumpjack Rodeo?

Across much of Oklahoma, it's not uncommon to see a pumpjack out the window as you drive the lonely roads. We've always been an oil-focused state, and I'm frankly surprised these aren't considered the state flower... especially since watermelon is the state veggie.

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Growing up in North-Central Oklahoma, these were everywhere. In the backyards of my friends, in the fields next to schools, literally in the middle of Main Street in Barnsdall.

Everywhere.

My oil-industry dad couldn't pass one in the car without telling us how dangerous they are to be around. As we got older, the stories of warning started to include a little of his personal experiences.

Back in the 70s, with his generation, it was considered an exciting Friday night for the party crowd to grab a few sixers and meet up in a field to have an old-fashioned oil well pumpjack rodeo.

They would ride these pumpjacks for fun. Talk about small-town life.

Apparently, it was a pretty universally popular thing too because even I can remember the state airing PSAs about how dangerous pumpjacks are and why you should keep away from them all the time.

In fact, if you Google "pumpjack accidents," there are thousands and thousands of news articles about crushed and lost limbs, even deaths due to negligence around these slow-moving behemoths.

It's amazing what passed for entertainment way back when in small-town Oklahoma.

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