ST. LOUIS – Daylon Swearingen was at his hotel room at the Courtyard by Marriott Oklahoma City downtown last weekend following a vicious buckoff against Vanilla Ice in the 15/15 Bucking Battle when he pulled out his cell phone.
Swearingen wanted to send a quick text message to Cris Welch at 100x Helmets simply to say thank you.
The No. 4-ranked bull rider in the world knows things could have been much, much worse when Vanilla Ice stepped on his head inside the Paycom Center last week following a 7-second buckoff.
Swearingen had to be backboarded out of the arena and was eventually diagnosed with a concussion, but he avoided a possible skull fracture or further injury. Swearingen also did not need to be transferred to a local hospital.
“I am definitely thankful,” Swearingen said Friday in St. Louis before heading to Enterprise Center for Round 1 of the PBR TicketSmarter Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires. “Everybody coming up should wear a helmet. Ever since I was really young, my mom put helmets on my brother and I when we were riding sheep. It looked ridiculous with us getting on with bike helmets, but I am glad it became normal.”
Swearingen did not realize how bad his injury appeared until he rewatched his wreck on TikTok on Sunday evening.
“When I saw the video, it didn’t even really look that bad from the angle I first saw,” Swearingen said. “I didn’t even think I got stepped on, and then I saw a TikTok that was sent to me of a different angle and realized I definitely got stepped on.”
Swearingen’s helmet was shattered during the buckoff, but that is actually not out of the ordinary, he explained.
“The way 100X makes the helmets, it is supposed to break like that once it takes a big hit,” Swearingen said. “If it didn’t break, it would absorb all the pressure. When it broke, it relieves it.”
Swearingen said the wreck was not the worst of his career. The Piffard, New York, native recalled a time he was competing in the saddle bronc competition at an amateur rodeo event in Pennsylvania earlier in his career when a horse fell on him, knocking him unconscious and then kicking him in the head.
“That was probably the scariest one for me,” Swearingen said. “I wasn’t scared when I woke up from this past one.”
Swearingen will have to clear pre-event concussion testing before competing on Friday night, but he expects to be good to go for his rematch against Hurts So Good (3-4, UTB).
The 22-year-old is a perfect 2-for-2 against Hurts So Good. He most recently rode the Cord McCoy bull for 88 points in Chicago after first conquering him for 89.5 points at the 2021 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.
“I am excited,” Swearingen said. “I feel good for tonight. I have been working out and been getting ready.”
Swearingen is 8-for-18 (44.44%) on the Unleash The Beast, and he is 186.84 points behind world No. 1 Joao Ricardo Vieira.
Round 1 from St. Louis airs exclusively on RidePass on Pluto TV beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Swearingen will proudly have another new 100x helmet at his disposal on Friday night, and he won’t be worried about what happened a week ago in Oklahoma City.
“If you are thinking about that, you should be worried about stepping outside and crossing the street,” Swearingen concluded. “I’m thankful for my helmet, Dr. Tandy and our entire sports medicine team.”
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