Billy Etbauer’s first championship year began on Bear Claw in the first round of the 1992 National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nev. This trip earned the big sorrel Saddle Bronc Horse of the Night honours and set Etbauer on the path to win his first world title, plus set the NFR single-event earnings record with $101,531. The GJ Allen Rodeo Company had previously sold the gelding to Big Bend Rodeo Company.