Chuck Wagon Talk with Arnie Jackson
The First Lady Of Chuckwagon Racing Dies
By Arnie Jackson
Jul 20, 2008, 22:09

Tom called her Mom, Jason called her Gramma, and everyone else called her sweatheart.  Iris Glass was literally the Dean of Chuckwagon Racing.

Today many are looking back on the life of the 83 year old “First lady of Chuckwagon” racing as the consummate supporter at every level. “Grandma cheered for everybody in the sport, even though she really wanted Jason or I to win” quipped Iris Glass’s legendary chuckwagon driving son, Tom.

“She went down the road with us everywhere, first with my Grandpa, and then with my Dad” says the retired reignsman from High River, Alberta. “She traveled for 33 years with me and then the last 8 years with Jason”.

How dedicated was Iris Glass? She helped with the branding and training in the spring. She worked the barns before and after the races, and then had time to coach her favorite drivers and outriders, well into the wee hours of the morning.

“She never missed a show, and she never missed a race” said Tom Glass reflecting on what his Mom had done for chuckwagon racing. Racing was her life.

Iris Glass was the daughter of one of the Calgary Stampede’s first chuckwagon drivers, Tom Lauder and she was around horses all her life. For more than a decade she was the colour analyst  on the CFAC Radio broadcasts of the nightly running of the Rangeland Derby Chuckwaqon Races.

Joe Carbury was the Voice from the Eye in the Sky, Lorne Ball was the host and Iris Glass did the rest. Added up the accumulated times each night, told stories about the different outfits, that only Iris Glass could possibly know from her many years serving the wagon racing family at the barns.