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It's always unfortunate to go golfing with grandpa and nailing him with your drive....

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<title>Today In Sports: Friday, April 18, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Today In Sports: Friday, April 18, 2025

 It's always unfortunate to go golfing with grandpa and nailing him with your drive....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

After 64 years, Casper’s real-life version of the “Little Engine That Could” will return to its hometown to help put the spotlight on the city’s railroad and refinery legacy.

Fort Caspar Museum has announced that the muscular little 0-4-0 steam locomotive known as “Standard Oil No. 1” that once chugged along the miles of rails at the Standard Oil Refinery starting in 1920 will soon be on display at the museum.

In Colorado, they renamed the machine “Lulu Belle” for a time.

Colorado Railroad Museum Executive Director Paul Hammond said the return of the locomotive comes after the Golden, Colorado, facility re-evaluated its collection and identified items it wanted to get rid of that are not connected to Colorado’s rail past.

“By moving Standard Oil No.1  to the grounds of the Fort Caspar Museum, we will be returning an important piece of Casper’s history and displaying it less than a mile from the center of the refinery where it spent its lengthy career,” he said.

Local historian and Fort Caspar Museum volunteer Con Trumbull has been working with the Colorado Railroad Museum to bring the transfer about, Hammond said.

Trumbull, who has chronicled the state’s rail past and works as a steam locomotive engineer in Nevada, said the acquisition began with a conversation he had with Hammond more than a year ago. 

He said the director was talking about how the locomotive was taking up space that could be better used for Colorado artifacts and needed to “go home” so there could be more Colorado equipment displayed.

As a kid, Trumbull said his grandparents would take him down to the Colorado Railroad Museum when they went down to Denver.

“I’ve always loved trains and loved railroading and that little locomotive hit close to home because it said ‘Casper, Wyoming,’ on it,” he said. “I got to crawl on it as a kid, I got to ring the bell, I got to see it and I always thought that it should come back to Casper.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rail History Void"}]

While many of Wyoming’s towns, including Gillette, Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Douglas have some sort of display featuring a locomotive or caboose paying homage to their railroad past, Casper has never had something to tie to its rail history.

The little 0-4-0 will allow the Fort Caspar Museum to do that, Trumbull said.

Hammond told Cowboy State Daily that when his museum purchased the locomotive in 1962 they used it as a “billboard” to advertise the museum.

“It got dolled up a little bit with paint and was placed on some tracks to attract attention,” he said. “That’s where it picked up a name that it’s had ever since at this museum called the ‘Lulu Belle.’”

After some years, the billboard role became unnecessary and the locomotive was given back its Standard Oil logos and placed as a centerpiece of an area of the museum used for picnicking. 

He said when the museum announced the train was returning to Casper their social media had several comments about people remembering it as a child.

Hammond said with the museum’s reconfiguration and dispersed picnic areas, it meant the timing is right for the engine to find a new home.

The engine was made in 1920 by the American Locomotive Company of Paterson, New Jersey, which was one of the largest manufacturers of steam locomotives at the turn of the past century.

Trumbull said the locomotive was built to last and it worked around the refinery for 42 years before being put up for sale.

“Even though it’s just a small switching engine, it’s still a testament to that engineering prowess and stuff that American railroads were known for,” he said. The Standard Oil Refinery for a time was the largest one in the world and there were a “maze” of tracks throughout the refinery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hauling Tank Cars"}]

Trumbull said it probably mostly “banged tank cars around” but also would have been used to haul other freight cars bringing in supplies or other materials for the refinery.

The current look of the locomotive does not reflect its bulk when it was sold to the Colorado museum.

Trumbull said switchers were very “utilitarian” and tank locomotives were boxy and often museums would alter them to make them look more like a traditional locomotive. 

In the case of Standard Oil No. 1, its tank was cut back from the front to give it a different appearance.

“They didn’t cut this one up as bad as I’ve seen others do,” he said.

Trumbull said well-known Casper railroad retiree Chuck Eckerson, who has built and periodically runs his own little steam locomotive with rail cars around his yard in Casper, has offered to help restore the locomotive.

When the engine went up for sale in 1962, a young Eckerson wanted to buy it and had the option to do so, but he was living with his parents and they would not let him put it in their yard, Trumbull said.

“He is extremely excited that this is coming back and he is already making plans to completely redo the woodworking in the cab and get the windows and doors fixed and repaint it,” Trumbull said. “We are talking about possibly taking the tank back to how it would look like when it was here.”

The goal is to get the locomotive to a place where people can climb back in the cab and see the throttle and gauges and ring the bell to make it more of a “touchable history piece,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fundraising Campaign"}]

A $15,000 fundraising campaign has been launched to bring the locomotive back to Casper. Trumbull said the funds will cover some of the moving expenses as well as cosmetic restoration, interpretive signs, and other things.

The city of Casper’s Public Works Department has agreed to go pick up the locomotive, making the moving costs much cheaper than if a contractor hauled it back to the city. 

The plan now calls for the less than 30-foot-long locomotive to just be rolled onto a “low-boy trailer” and trucked back to its hometown.

“The nice thing about this locomotive is that it’s small enough that you can just load it on a trailer and go,” he said.

Some of the original parts of the 50,000-pound machine are missing. The locomotive will need a bell and headlight and in the future, gauges restored.

There is no date yet for when the locomotive will be brought back up. Donations to help with the fundraiser to bring it back can be made at the 

Trumbull said the locomotive is going to be placed in the yard outside the museum’s front door. He said looking to the future, a tank car, and possibly other items that reflect the region’s “rich industrial history” are some things that may be added to the display.

The response to the news of the locomotive’s return has generated enthusiasm among people connected to the museum and history lovers in the community. Trumbull’s phone has been ringing from people excited about the acquisition.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Everybody loves trains,” he said."}]

Locomotive Engine 2 6 7 26

<title>'Standard Oil No. 1’ Steam Locomotive Coming Back To Casper After 64 Years Away | Cowboy State Daily</title>

More than a century ago, “Standard Oil No. 1” steam locomotive was at work at the company’s Casper oil refinery, but has been gone for 64 years. Now it’s coming back to Casper after decades at a Colorado rail museum.

'Standard Oil No. 1’ Steam Locomotive Coming Back To Casper After 64 Years Away

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

When Wyoming State Archives materials archivist Suzi Taylor first saw an auction listing for what was billed as the original glass plate negative for Butch Cassidy’s Territorial Prison mugshot in a forwarded email from Cowboy State Daily, she stopped everything she was doing and hustled upstairs to double-check the state's collection.

“I was fairly certain we still had it in our collection,” Taylor told Cowboy State Daily. “But I ran upstairs just to be sure. Sure enough, it was in the box, just where it’s supposed to be.”

That had her breathing a sigh of relief as she carefully put this treasured state item back into its acid-free sleeve and closed it back up in a reinforced box. 

The mix-up highlights how questions of provenance can affect high-value Wild West auctions, but it also shows how Wyoming curators quietly document and safeguard key pieces of the state’s Western history behind the scenes. 

offered by RR Auction failed to meet its reserve price and was ultimately not sold during a recent sale, the company told Cowboy State Daily. 

Questions raised about the negative’s provenance — including the fact that Wyoming still holds the original glass plate — are being reviewed before the company decides whether and how to offer the item again.

Taylor, for her part, said the fact the auction house’s glass plate negative isn’t the original doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a fake. 

She said contemporary copies were made from Cassidy’s print mugshot for wider distribution to law enforcement.

That means while not original, it’s still period to the time. 

Since negatives of the time were made of breakable glass, authorities likely didn’t want to handle the original too often. Re-photographing a print was a much safer way to make additional copies for other law enforcement agencies.

Cassidy’s mugshot is one of the most iconic of the few images ever taken of America’s last cowboy outlaw, made famous in the Robert Redford movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Taken during Cassidy’s only significant prison stint, the photo freeze-frames were taken of the young man before the notorious Wild Bunch appeared.

Cassidy never owned up to leading the Wild Bunch, though law enforcement officials of the day said he was — loudly and often.

Historians, meanwhile, have various opinions on that. 

Some suggest there’s good evidence Cassidy would have scoffed at the idea anyone could lead such a loose confederation of misfits and malcontents as the Wild Bunch, while also pointing out he couldn’t possibly have been in as many places as law enforcement was claiming. 

Others have suggested the Wild Bunch was probably Cassidy's way of getting even with Wyoming for the trumped-up horse thief charges that the cowboy outlaw always maintained were fabricated by his enemies.

Cassidy’s younger sister, Lula Betenson, meanwhile, once claimed her brother told her during a secret family reunion that if Wyoming wanted to treat him as an outlaw, then he’d show them what an outlaw really was.

The truth of that will never be known for certain. Instead, there’s this compelling photo that captures the mystery of it all in a glance. 

In it, Cassidy looks less like an outlaw posing for a mugshot and more like a patron posing for a casual portrait on a relaxing Saturday or Sunday afternoon. He wears a dark, structured suit coat and a white shirt buttoned up to his neck.

It’s his enigmatic expression that captures and holds attention, though. He offers the viewer neither smile nor frown, but his eyes seem to know something his lips aren’t about to ever tell.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Rarely Sees Light Of Day"}]

The original glass plate negative used to create Cassidy’s Territorial Prison mugshot is on a short list of treasured artifacts whose condition is frequently monitored at the Wyoming State Archives.

“I had laid my eyes on that one not too long ago, but I had to make sure it was exactly where I’d left it,” Taylor said. “I check it fairly regularly, just to make sure it’s where it’s supposed to be and hasn’t deteriorated.”

Glass is among the most non-reactive substances on the planet. But the chemicals used to create the image itself, which are laid down in a thin emulsion directly on the glass, are much more fragile.

“The image itself and the emulsion can, if the chemicals weren’t properly fixed, start to fade in odd ways,” she said. “So, we want to be able to catch that. And sometimes the emulsion gets really dry and starts flaking off the glass itself, because the image sits right on top of the glass. 

"Over time, it can delaminate and separate, so we want to make sure we are extra careful and catch that before it becomes a problem.”

Taylor frequently spot-checks other mugshots in the Territorial and Wyoming State Penitentiary collections, which include thousands of negatives of outlaws. 

Among the collection are mugshot negatives for other Cassidy contemporaries like Albert “Slick” Nard and Joseph Nutcher. 

All of the glass plate negatives are kept in acid-free sleeves inside a rigid box with additional support. That ensures the glass plate won’t accidentally break. 

Cassidy’s negative, in particular, is rarely handled. 

“We have a digital surrogate that we use instead of taking the negative out,” she said. “The less it’s handled, the less likely it is to break.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Helps Tell Territorial Prison’s Story"}]

Another place where Cassidy’s mugshot appears is the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site, where Superintendent Jessica Lira has made it a prominent part of the museum’s exhibits.

“We have a big portrait of his mugshot, his intake photo, right when you walk into the building,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “The exhibit talks about his life and how, even though he only spent 18 months and was let out early for good behavior, it was after that he starts blowing up trains and blowing up safes around Wyoming and Colorado.”

Cassidy, Lira said, is the most famous outlaw the territorial prison ever held, and his face is an instant hook into the larger story of crime and punishment on the frontier.

Lira uses high-quality prints and digital reproductions for her exhibits, keeping the originals at the Wyoming State Archives to protect them. That’s how the state balances public access with preservation.

Lira uses the mugshots to tell stories about real people, as well as to illustrate changing ideas about law enforcement in the West.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"How Experts Know"}]

There are several telling details that immediately distinguish Cassidy’s original Territorial Prison mugshot negative from the mugshot negative offered in RR Auction’s Western Americana sale of the Jochen Zeitz collection. 

“The (prison) photograph of Cassidy was taken in May 1895 by Laramie photographer Louis Heyn,” historian and Cassidy expert Mike Bell has told Cowboy State Daily. “The original shows a wider view of Cassidy, including part of his leg in striped pants. 

"The picture was then cropped to show the head and torso version, which is well-known and widely circulated.”

Bell, too, believes it is possible the auction house’s glass plate negative is a contemporary copy of the original photograph. Lots of police departments did have copies of Cassidy’s mugshot at the time.

“For example, Sheriff Louis Grant Davis of Sweetwater County got a copy,” Bell said. “He showed it to E.L. Carpenter, the manager of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company, which was held up by two men in 1897.”

Carpenter told Davis at the time that he recognized the photo of Cassidy as being one of the two men who had held him up.

Butch Cassidy negative main illustration 6 7 26

<title>Wyoming Archives Has Butch Cassidy Negative, Despite ‘Original’ Offered At Auction | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Despite an East Coast auction house advertising a glass plate negative of Butch Cassidy’s mugshot as a one-of-a-kind, the original is housed in the Wyoming State Archives. “I was certain we had it in our collection,” archivist Suzy Taylor said.

Wyoming Archives Has Butch Cassidy Negative, Despite ‘Original’ Offered At Auction

Entertainment

Rodeo champion Rusty Wright’s big comeback didn’t start with a wild bronc or record-setting ride. It began between rides, in the dust and noise of Cheyenne Frontier Days when a stranger asked him to do a quick interview for a documentary about barrel racing legend Angela Ganter. 

They wanted him to talk about something he feels strongly about — the importance of women in the rodeo world.

“I’ve got a pretty strong opinion about it, so I figured I’d go ahead and do it,” said the saddle bronc champ. “I didn’t expect it to be as big of a deal as it turned out being. I was passionate about it, and they loved that, so I think the interview went a little longer than it was supposed to.”

His off-the-cuff, passionate interview would become what Wyoming filmmaker Raen LeVell describes as the “beating heart” of his 

 a film he believes is well on its way to becoming a grassroots rodeo blockbuster.

It’s enjoyed a multi-week run as the No. 1-ranked Western documentary on IMDb and earned major praise from national outlets like Sports Illustrated. 

It’s also gained elite backing from professional rodeo leaders, who have given it prime screenings at some of the sport’s biggest venues, including the National Finals Rodeo.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Women Behind Rodeo’s Biggest Champions"}]

Ask Wright who the real heroes of rodeo are, and he’ll point first to the women — those who compete in the arena and the ones who never step inside of it.

In his Cheyenne interview, he poured his heart out about his own mother, ShaRee Wright, and all of the other rodeo moms and wives who help keep riders like himself going. 

“They asked me what my mom meant to me, and the things she’s done for me in my career,” he said. “Everybody hears how our dad helped us along. He gets lots of recognition, which he should. 

“But I don’t feel like my mom or the wives behind the scenes ever really get the recognition they deserve. Honestly, I think it should be just as much as what my dad would get.”

If there were gold buckles for “backbone of the family,” Rusty said he's convinced his mom would have several of those.

The deep respect for women behind the chutes is exactly the kind of authenticity LeVell was hoping to capture in his film, from Ganter’s story to the moms and wives behind the scenes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ganter’s ‘Red Devil’ Comeback"}]

“Outriding the Devil” focuses on the little-told comeback story of Ganter, a barrel racer whose stunning career slammed into a stage-four breast cancer diagnosis so advanced doctors told her she was unlikely to live.

But Ganter had always been a fighter and refused to give up. 

The chemotherapy that ultimately saved her has a telling nickname, though. It’s called the “red devil,” and it wreaks havoc on the human body in its quest to ultimately save it.

There were days Ganter couldn’t walk from her bedroom to the living room. After chemo like that, almost no one believed Ganter would even be able to ride a horse again, much less fight her way back to compete at an elite level. 

“That red devil chemo had road-graded her nervous system,” LeVell said. “She had lost her balance. She didn’t really know left from right. So the idea that she would get on a horse and be able to just kind of like work on a horse was a little fanciful, and the thought that she would come back to rodeo was kind of like Disney-line stuff.”

And yet, Ganter not only survived, but she returned to rodeo at the highest levels, finding a special horse named Bugs and clawing her way back to champion-caliber barrel racing. 

Lighting A Fire Under Rusty Wright’s Comeback

For Wright, who hadn’t known the full depth of Ganter's ordeal until that Cheyenne interview, her resilience ended up lighting a fire right when he needed it most.

“When I did that interview, honestly, I was kind of right in the middle of my own personal issues and stuff,” he said. “I went from, you know, top of the world — I was reserve world champion in 2018 — and then I had a bunch of personal struggles. I wasn’t even making finals one year. I wasn’t even top 50.”

Learning what Ganter had overcome helped him push the reset button.

“You start playing the ‘poor me’ game, and if you open your eyes and look around, everyone’s got something,” he said. “You sitting there crying about your problems, that isn’t going to help you get out of them. 

"A lot of people have it a lot worse off than I do, and they made it. They conquered it. So that kind of lit that fire under me to get my stuff together, and you know, set my goals, realign my priorities, and away we went.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"From NFR To Wyoming"}]

After its premiere at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas — the Super Bowl of Western sports — “Outriding the Devil” has hit the rodeo trail. That’s included premiering at major Texas events like RodeoHouston and the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo.

Now after making waves on a national stage, the film is circling back to where Rusty’s turning point began — Wyoming. The film will have an especially long runway in the Cowboy State with several free premieres ahead.

It will open the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper on June 13, making it one of the rare films to both premiere as an official event of the NFR and later open the college finals as well. 

From there, it heads to Sheridan for the WYO Rodeo kickoff on July 5 and then to Cheyenne Frontier Days, where it will premiere July 16. 

All of these shows will be free to the public thanks to Visit Casper, the Wyoming Foundation for Cancer Care, the WYO Rodeo, and the Gold Buckle Club. 

These Wyoming events will also be the last chances to see “Outriding the Devil” on the big screen, and they’ll include opportunities to quiz the director and rodeo figures after the show.

Streaming deals are being negotiated for a wider, national release, but premiere-style events will end once those begin.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"True Meaning Of Grit"}]

The Wright family is considered rodeo royalty by many, and has been an integral part of “Outriding the Devil,” LeVell said. 

During the Las Vegas premiere, the Wrights were there in force alongside country music stars and “Yellowstone" actors, including Mo Brings Plenty. 

One of those stars was Ned LeDoux, who plays a young Ganter’s uncle in the movie opposite Lily Wright, who is Stetson Wright’s sister.

In the film, Rusty’s brother, Stetson Wright, takes viewers inside the chute as he walks through his mental processes before a ride. 

Rusty, meanwhile, talks about the importance of family sticking together and why he sees rodeo as “one big family.”

Rodeo is one of America’s most dangerous and physically demanding sports. It takes a certain mindset to keep going, one that’s hard to sustain without family and friends backing it up.

“Everybody always sees our highlights and our wins on social media,” he said. “Everyone talks about our wins and yeah, that’s inspiring and everything. But to me the real inspiration, what gets me fired up, is seeing people’s struggles and what they had to go through to get there.”

Rusty said it took 50-some horses before he could stay on a bronc at all, and probably 300 horses before it finally started to click.

“I remember that moment when it finally clicked for me and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s how it’s supposed to feel,’” he said. “If people could watch how many dirt naps and how many wrecks I got in getting to where I’m at, I guarantee you, most people would be like, ‘I can’t believe he’s still riding.’”

By showing those struggles, Rusty hopes his own kids will realize that whatever they want to do in life, they can do it.

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, or what you go through,” he said. “If you work at it, buckle down, if you stay hooked, you can get your way to the top.”

That’s the larger message he sees in Ganter’s story, too, and it’s one he absorbed thanks to a random interview request at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming.

“I don’t really believe in coincidences,” he said. “I believe in faith. I was just walking by, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you want to come do this interview?’ God knew I needed that. He knew I needed to hear something, to give me that little push I needed.”

Now that push is on a much bigger stage, playing out in rodeo arenas and theaters across Wyoming and the West — an audience full of cowboys and cowgirls who know exactly what it means to get bucked off hard, dust off, and stand back up again in the arena. 

It’s no surprise that such a film would have a Wyoming director behind it, or that it would find its biggest runway in the Cowboy State, where grit has become part of the local DNA.

Outriding the Devil Angela Ganter at 2024 CFD Matt 6 7 26

<title>Wyoming-Made Rodeo Documentary ‘Outriding The Devil’ Is A National Hit | Cowboy State Daily</title>

“Outriding the Devil," the Wyoming-made film that shows the brutal side of "real" rodeo, has enjoyed a multi-week run as the No. 1-ranked Western documentary on IMDb and has earned major praise from national outlets like Sports Illustrated. 

Wyoming-Made Rodeo Documentary ‘Outriding The Devil’ Is A National Hit

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Most sheriff cruisers are designed to blend into a fleet, but the newest cruiser in the Laramie County Sheriff's Office fleet was designed to do the exact opposite.

It not only stands out, “it looks pretty badass,” said Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak.

Covered in Western artwork featuring a cowboy on horseback racing forward with purpose on a white background, the 2025 Dodge Durango LCSO SUV is pure Wyoming.

That it turns heads is exactly what Kozak said he was going for in commissioning the look of the department's new recruiting rig.

It squats low and mean with a wild-eyed horse charging across its sides, mane whipping viciously in the Cowboy State wind. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Clint Eastwood-Inspired Cruiser"}]

When it came time to create the design, Kozak called on Cheyenne mural artist Jordan Dean, whose giant wild horse mural transformed the city's towering water tanks north of town.

Dean has become one of the state's most recognizable mural artists, painting everything from large public art installations to massive water tower projects that require boom lifts, projectors and specialized industrial paint.

[{"type":"text","text":"Kozak had a simple request for Dean."}]

"I wanted a high plains drifter, Clint Eastwood kind of cowboy hard charge-in graphic,” the sheriff said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Dean delivered."}]

The result is a rolling Western mural that has already been drawing attention from residents and fellow law enforcement officers.

[{"type":"text","text":"Kozak said he keeps hearing, \"That is the coolest car we've ever seen.\""}]

The cruiser's first major public appearance in Cheyenne was Saturday during a downtown summer event, where families were able to climb inside, check out the lights and meet members of the sheriff's office.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyatt Earp On Wheels"}]

Dean said his relationship with the sheriff's office began years ago when Kozak called looking for an artist to paint murals inside the Laramie County Detention Center. 

When he was done with that, he told the sheriff, "I would love to take a crack at your vehicles. I've always just thought it would be the coolest thing to design a law enforcement vehicle." 

The artist said early discussions centered on creating something inspired by a Wyatt Earp-style lawman — part frontier sheriff, part larger-than-life Western character. 

"I wanted something that had action, had motion to it," Dean said. "I wanted the horse and rider to fit in the space but kind of take up the whole width of the car.

 "It's the Laramie County Sheriff's Office," he continued. “So, the Western theme just fit, and I love that style." 

If the art causes people to stop and take a second look at the local hero's, Dean says he's done his job. 

[{"type":"text","text":"More Than A Cool Paint Job"}]

As eye-catching as the vehicle is, the sheriff's office didn't build it simply to show off.

The cruiser is assigned to Cpl. Heather Wilson in the agency's hiring unit and is intended to function as a rolling recruiting tool.

"The whole motivation was for people to ask, 'Hey, what's with this car?'" Kozak said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Once the conversation starts, deputies can begin talking about careers."}]

The vehicle is packed with recruiting features, including a pull-out television screen that can play hiring videos during public events.

The sheriff's office will soon hook up a PlayStation loaded with a pursuit-driving game so kids can climb into the back and try it out.

"It's just a vehicle to attract attention and spark up a conversation," Kozak said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lights, Sirens, Western Swagger"}]

The cruiser also comes loaded with what Kozak described as an almost absurd amount of emergency lighting.

Then there are the novelty features. Push the right buttons and the vehicle can play the famous “Bad Boys” theme from the television show "Cops."

[{"type":"text","text":"It can also blast the national anthem."}]

The sheriff's office has only had the vehicle about a week, but it's already been getting attention beyond Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","text":"Kozak said Wilson recently drove it to a leadership training in Colorado."}]

"All the Denver law enforcement officers that went to this leadership training just thought it was the best car ever that they've seen," he said.

When Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak wanted a new design for the newest SUV in the fleet, he asked a local artist to create a "Clint Eastwood High Plains Drifter" look. "It looks pretty badass," Kozak said, noting he's received many compliments.

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