JB Mauney and Other PBR Dudes Will Ride Bulls in Times Square Tomorrow!

Though Professional Bull Rider JB Mauney has been here before, Imus didn’t recall the interview. “It’s like visiting your crazy grandfather at the home,” he told Mauney of being a guest on this show. “I can’t remember who was on yesterday."

Currently ranked the #2 bull rider in the world, Mauney, a North Carolinian, is in New York this week because tomorrow at 1pm, he and the rest of the top 10 PBR riders will make history by bucking bulls in the middle of Times Square.

But Mauney can do a heck of a lot more than ride bulls. “All through high school I rode bareback horses, roped calves, did team roping, steer wrestling,” he said. While he’s thought about competing at those events at a professional level, he’s going to wait until after he retires from bull riding, which he said gives him the strongest adrenaline rush.

On Sunday, Mauney leaves for the PBR finals in Las Vegas, which lasts for five days. “Whoever leaves there first gets a million dollar bonus, and gold buckle,” he said. After Vegas the riders get some time off, and then head right back up to New York to kick off the 2011 Built Ford Tough Series at Madison Square Garden.

Physically, 2010 has been a rough year for Mauney, whose lung collapsed in May. “They kept me in the hospital ten days there, and had to do surgery,” he told Imus, who had almost the exact same thing happen to him after getting bucked off a horse. “I had tubes in and everything, and then it was six weeks before I could ride again."

He remains #2, however, in a top ten composed of several riders from Brazil. “I wish they’d all go back to Brazil—I could win a lot more money!” Mauney joked. He traveled to Brazil last year for the PBR World Cup, where he estimated there were 70,000 fans in the audience. “I’ve never seen so many people.”

The crowd ain’t too shabby at the now annual MSG event in January, which has drawn huge crowds every year. “New York is a great place,” Imus told his guest, and wished him luck in his upcoming competitions. “Get that million dollars and that gold buckle next week!”

To which Mauney promptly replied, “Yes, sir. I’ll try to.”

Good cowboy.

-Julie Kanfer