Two wrecks rock Indian Relay Races at Eastern Idaho State Fair, viral videos capture the chaos
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BLACKFOOT — Anything can happen on the track at the Indian Relay Races, and spectators at this year’s Eastern Idaho State Fair witnessed just that. On Sept. 4, chaos erupted with two dramatic wrecks captured on video by Weed Media that have since gone viral.
One incident knocked a veteran rider unconscious, and the other resulted in a horse being put down.
Fort Hall native JonMarc Skunkcap, riding for his newly formed team White Knife — named after his 9-year-old son, Korbin White Knife Atkins — was leading the race and preparing for his second exchange when calamity struck.
Skunkcap collided with fellow rider Adrien Honena, a crash that sent him hard to the ground. While Honena and the horses avoided serious injury, Skunkcap took the brunt of the fall to his head and neck. He was knocked unconscious and taken by ambulance for medical care.
“I knew I was going to get bumped, but I thought I’d be okay,” Skunkcap recalled. “The next thing I knew, I was all woozy and looking at an ambulance and didn’t even realize the race had happened.”
Skunkcap, who has been racing since age 11 under the guidance of his father, veteran horse breeder and racer James Tone, said this was his biggest wreck yet.
“I’ve been in a lot of wrecks before, but I was always able to pop back up again. This time I couldn’t,” he said.
Despite the scare, Skunkcap was cleared of any serious injuries and returned to the track to race the next day, stiff and sore with stitches across the bridge of his nose.
“I toughened up. I didn’t want to be weak,” he said. “I ride because I love it. I ride to make my family proud — for my dad, and for my grandpa and uncles who have passed away.”
That same day, 14-year-old Kayden Carmona of Pocatello was leading the Lil Chief Race when his horse stumbled and went down. Carmona suffered scrapes and bruises, but his horse was severely injured and had to be put down.
“He is bruised up a bit, but he won’t let this stop him from riding,” said Carmona’s mother, Amber Alvarez.
Kirk Weed, an Eastern Shoshone from Wyoming who now lives in Fort Hall, is a longtime racer who launched his photography and videography business, Weed Media, last year. His footage of the wrecks — along with Skunkcap’s comeback race — has since spread rapidly across Facebook and TikTok.
Weed said the video of Skunkcap’s wreck has blown up with more than 357,000 views while his comeback video has 15,500. Carmona’s crash video has drawn over 169,000. These videos and others from this year’s Eastern Idaho State Fair Indian Relay Races can be viewed on tiktok.com/@%40weedmedia208 or on Facebook.
“I’ve been around Indian Relay Races my whole life and have seen a lot of wrecks. Racing is a tradition passed down through generations. It’s dangerous, but the riders know the risks. They’re not rookies,” Weed said. “I saw JonMarc Skunkcap’s wreck happen right in front of me and saw him go flying into the dirt. It was intense.”
Weed, who is also (Kayden) Carmona’s uncle, said his young nephew is determined to keep racing and frequently comes to his home in Fort Hall to ride horseback.
“He’s an up-and-coming racer with a lot of drive. He was winning that race and would have won if the accident hadn’t happened,” Weed said.
He added that riders care deeply for their animals, even in such a high-risk sport saying, “You can have great horses and do your best for them, but sometimes things happen.”