Obrey Motowylo rises to the top as 2026 world champion

But the road back to the top of the chuckwagon world was anything but predictable.

The reinsman from Hoadley, Alta., was crowned the 2026 World Chuckwagon Champion at the World Chuckwagon Finals & Battle of the Rockies, completing a season in which consistency, horsepower and patience carried him to the biggest prize in the sport.

Motowylo finished the 2026 campaign with 1,249.5 world points, 76 points ahead of runner-up Jason Glass. Chanse Vigen was third with 1,094 points, followed by Jamie Laboucane at 1,044.

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It is the second world championship of Motowylo’s career, adding another major accomplishment to a family racing operation that has become one of the sport’s most recognizable.

The achievement also provides a fitting bookend to a summer during which Motowylo showed flashes of the speed required to contend with — and beat — the best in the business.

That potential was on display at the Calgary Stampede in July 2025, when Motowylo posted the fastest time on Night 2 of the Rangeland Derby. Driving the Dynamic Energy Group outfit, he stopped the clock in 1:12.30 — edging Chanse Vigen and Jamie Laboucane by one-hundredth of a second.

The performance was part of a strong Stampede run that eventually saw Motowylo finish fourth in the 10-day aggregate standings, just 0.03 seconds behind third-place Jamie Laboucane. After Vigen won the Rangeland Derby final, the new Stampede champion summed up the challenge of racing against the sport’s elite.

“You’re never comfortable when you’re hooked (with) Jason Glass and Jamie Laboucane,” Vigen told Postmedia. “They’re the two fiercest competitors out there.”

That description could just as easily have applied to Motowylo throughout his 2026 campaign. Motowylo’s rise to the world title came in a season during which the margins between the leading drivers were often razor thin. The world championship was decided over months of racing, but the pressure intensified as the final shows approached.

By the time the WPCA Pro Tour arrived in Rocky Mountain House last week, Motowylo had done enough to put himself in position to claim the championship. His reward was another world title, earned against a field that included some of the most accomplished drivers in the sport.

Motowylo’s 2026 world title was also part of a remarkable weekend for the Motowylo family. His son, Hayden, is an accomplished outrider, while Ethan Motowylo has established himself among the sport’s leading riders. The family presence around the barns has become as much a part of the Motowylo story as the black-and-yellow wagon itself. While Motowylo secured the world championship Saturday, the Battle of the Rockies and the Kirk’s Trail Tire Series Championship remained to be decided Monday afternoon.