Status: Harness racing driver.
DOB: June 21, 1956 In: Livermore, CA
First Harness Racing Memory: “At Bay Meadows, I was about three or four. They used to race harness, quarters and thoroughbreds all in the same day. My first memory is being at the grandstand, watching all these guys get real muddy. They were racing on a dirt track. These drivers were so muddy. First time I ever was behind a horse I was four. My dad (Don) was the trainer. I was hooked.”
Racing Inspiration: “Oh, money [smiles].”
Nickname: “Rockin’ Ronnie. Jack Lee gave it to me at Freehold about 25 years ago. And it just kinda stuck. When they’re not cussin’ at me, my nickname is just Rockin’ Ronnie.”
Hobbies/Leisure Activities: “Ski, fish, scuba dive, turkey hunting.”
Last Book Read: “I read a lot. Which one did I finish last? The Orion Connection. There’s many books written on the subject. Have you read any? (No.) You might not want to.”
Favorite Movies: “I have a lot. As a kid I got a kick out of Cat Ballou. In my teens I got a kick out of Little Big Man – Dustin Hoffman. And I like all the old westerns, John Wayne, Charles Bronson. I saw a great movie a couple months ago – Lincoln Lawyer. There’s so many great movies.”
Favorite Meal: “I like raw game. Sika deer steak. Very tender, very delicious. With freshwater crawdads for an appetizer. Out of the river, cold water, preferably. The colder the water, the better they taste.”
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Heath Toffee Crunch.”
Pre-Race Feeling: “Depends on the race. Like an overnight race, I could be thinking about what I’m gonna do with my days off. Like, say, the Hambletonian or Little Brown Jug or a major race, I totally focus on what I’m doing.”
Current Car: “A Lexus 460.”
Greatest Sports Moment: “Oh boy. I’ve had a lot of great moments. I felt one of my best drives in my career was when I won the Breeders Crown for Per Eriksson in Pompano back in ‘91 or ‘92. He was tough to get around big turns. That was one of my better drives. I’ve had so many great moments – it’s hard to pick one overall. I had three Hambos, four Jugs, three Meadowlands Paces, 24 Breeders Crowns. It’s really hard to pick one over the other. I can tell you one of the races when I felt the most pressure was on me. Was going for the triple crown with Blissfull Hall. He already won the Cane Pace, he won the Jug, he won the Messenger, he was gonna be a triple crown winner. I did feel like the weight of the grandstand was on my shoulders for a couple of days leading up to the race. Usually pressure doesn’t get to me too much. But it got to me pretty good leading up to that race. There was a $250,000 bonus on top of the purse. I felt a lot of pressure. I went out and watched our horse go out on his trip with Ben Wallace training him. And after seeing him go on, I just totally relaxed. He looked so good. I even took a 20 minute nap, came back out, won the race. When I got under that wire, just crossing the wire, all that pressure that was on me – I didn’t let it bother me – during the race – it felt like it switched off. That was the most pressure I ever had on me.”
Most Painful Moment: “When I broke my neck in Los Alamitos.”
Favorite Racetrack: “Meadowlands.”
Favorite Horse: “Mr Muscleman. Great horse. He’s kinda like Moni Maker. Big ‘ol, long, tall horse. Long stride. Just so natural, natural gaited. I started driving him at two. All the way up to when he was six and a half, seven. The horse gave you 100% every time he went out there. And he was just so easy to drive. Two fingers to drive. Just a classy horse. Plus, he wound up making close to $4,000,000. We won a lot of major races with him. Couple Breeders Crowns, couple Maple Leaf Trots, The Nat Ray. We would’ve won the Hambletonian – he was the best horse that year – but he got sick that year the week before the elimination. I love that horse. You couldn’t help but love that horse. Everybody loved that horse.”
Strangest Race: “Good question. Right here (at the Big M start of homestretch in the late 1980’s), we used to have a hub rail here. A bolt of lightning came right over the grandstand and right on top of us, on top of the horses at the top of the stretch. It hit the transfuser box behind us. Everything got so bright, really, extremely bright. And then it hit he transfuser, and everything went pitch black. It made a terrible sound. We were lucky. All the horses kept it together. The only one who had a problem was (William) O’Donnell – he did run into the guardrail. Other than that, we all came out in one piece. That was a strange race. We were lucky that bolt of lightning didn’t hit the field of horses.”
Embarrassing Racing Memory: “Happened right here too. The two fastest horses in the world were here on a Saturday night – Water Baron and Senior Skipper. Senior Skipper held the world record for fastest mile in the history of the sport ever at night. Water Baron just came up from Florida. He had a reputation of being a warhorse. They were gonna get it on. I’m warming up Senior Skipper. I was coming on that turn – Water Baron is way up the racetrack. So I’m just jogging along. No one else is out there. All the sudden, Skip’s head goes up like this. He was a real steady horse. His ears go up. I look to see what he’s looking at. And right in front of me is Water Baron. And Skipper ran into him. Like he wanted to jump on him. And I’m like, Whoa! I slowed him down as much as I could. We still locked wheels and I crushed his wheel. And there must’ve been 25,000 people in the grandstand. That was before the lottery and Atlantic City took off. I couldn’t find a hole deep enough to climb in. But you know what? It wasn’t my fault. Water Baron was walking down the middle of the racetrack. But he shouldn’t have been walking. He should have been jogging. (Who won the race?) Water Baron.”
Funny Racing Memory: “The funniest thing I ever saw was Bill O’Donnell. There was a mare here that nobody else would drive named Buddy’s Girl. It was a muddy night. She was bad. She would grunt like a bull. Snort like a bull. She was just a dirty, rotten, filthy, miserable mare. I was the only one to drive her. We were in the gate. O’Donnell is right next to me. She kicked me, she kicked so fast, so hard. In the leg. My leg flew up, hit me in the arm. The arm flew up and hit me in the lip. My teeth cut my lip. O’Donnell thought that was hilarious. I didn’t think it was funny at all. A few months later at a Garden State qualifier – there we get off, we get on another, get up, get on – O’Donnell gets on Buddy’s Girl. And he didn’t know it was Buddy’s Girl. I was going down next to him. And I didn’t tell him. We’re coming back this way, getting ready to go back to the gate at an angle. His leg goes flying up. When she kicked, she meant it. He goes, UHHHH! Then his leg goes flying up again. He pulls himself off the horse. I get back – he’s sitting on the bench. He can’t get his boot off because his leg’s all swelled up. His leg was broke. I started laughing so hard. He started cussin’ me. Because I didn’t tell him it was Buddy’s Girl. That was one of the funniest things I ever saw. God that was funny. He deserved it thought. He thought it was hilarious with my teeth going through my lip. She was a miserable horse. I haven’t seen one that bad in many, many years.”
Favorite Sport Outside Harness Racing: “Hunting, fishing.”
Most Emotional Win: “Gosh darn. Hambletonian 1993 with American Winner. My first Hambo. A dream come true for me. Something I dreamed as a little kid, never thought it would happen, and then it did.”
People Qualities Most Admired: “I like people that are honest and up-front. That will say what they’re thinking to your face. And I can’t stand hypocrites. Take (Jimmy) Takter for example. That guy – if I have a bad race for him – he’s gonna tell you about it, right to your face. He’s not gonna go behind your back and bad-mouth you to everybody else. He will, but there’s nothing that he won’t say to your face. But then like ten minutes later, he’s fine. I can’t stand people that are hypocrites. Nice to your face, then turn around and bad-mouth you to your back. All my good friends are honest, I’m honest to them, otherwise you’re not my friend. I can’t stand liars or thieves.”
Topics: Bay Meadows, Cat Ballou, Charles Bronson, Crawdads, Dirt Track, Dive Turkey, Dustin Hoffman, Grandstand, Greatest Sports, Harness Racing, Lexus 460, Little Big Man, Little Brown Jug, Livermore Ca, Old Westerns, Raw Game, Sports Moment, Thoroughbreds, Turkey Hunting, Westerns John Wayne
Biofile with Ron Pierce | 