Wrangler NFR Bull Rider Tim Bingham Out with Neck Injury

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Bull rider Tim Bingham, a three-time qualifier for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (2014, 2016-17), injured his neck following his 84.5-point ride on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Twizzler at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 17.

“I had neck surgery (at Banner – University Medical Center in Tucson, Feb. 18), and I feel a lot better,” said Bingham, 27. “They fused C4 and C5 vertebrae together because the C4 was displaced. I got bucked off right at eight seconds. I came out the back a little bit and I got flipped upside down. I landed right on my head and my neck kind of folded. I didn’t lose any mobility. I got up and ran to the chutes and jumped up over the top of the chutes and sat down on the back there for a minute, and I knew instantly something was wrong.”

As of the morning of Feb. 19, Bingham was unclear how long he would be sidelined, but he expects to be out about six months. He was riding Twizzler for the first time.

Unfortunately for Bingham, he has experience with neck injuries.

“I was at an amateur rodeo in Island Park, Idaho, when I was 17 and I broke my neck,” he said. “That time, I got thrown up quite a bit higher, and I came down on my head and broke my C6 (vertebrae). The first time I broke my neck I didn’t have surgery and was out six months.”

Bingham spent the offseason recovering from a shattered right collarbone he suffered in September at the Justin Finale in Puyallup, Wash.

“That collarbone injury kept me out until Jan. 23 when I competed at the Division 1 Xtreme Bulls in Fort Worth,” Bingham said. “Now, it is just a matter of getting better, so I can get back out there.”

Bingham finished a career-best seventh in the world standings in 2014.

Courtesy of PRCA