Of the 34 rookies in the National Finals Rodeo among 118 contestants, no newcomer to the sport's biggest event will be center stage more than Troy Lerwill during the 10-day competition.

You'll see him during bull riding, but he won't have to worry about staying on for eight seconds. He just has to worry about not getting knocked on his can.

Lerwill, 39, of Payson, Utah, was selected as this year's NFR barrelman, also known as the rodeo clown.

If helping to distract a 1,600-pound bull from bucked-off cowboys in front of nearly 18,000 spectators isn't challenging enough, he has to follow in the dancing footsteps of Flint Rasmussen.

Rasmussen had performed at the NFR the six previous years before signing a near-exclusive deal a year ago to work for the Professional Bull Riders. He will appear almost every day at the NFR Cowboy Christmas at the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, but not in the NFR.

That's a tall order for Lerwill, known as "Wild Child," to follow.

"Flint has done a great job here, and that weighs a little bit on me," Lerwill said.

"Flint would probably say the same thing: I'm who I am, and he's who he is. We're totally different."

Lerwill got the bull-riding competition at the Thomas & Mack Center started Thursday night by turning the arena dirt into a motocross track as he put his Honda CR250 through a series of dirt-flinging spins.

Throughout the 1980s, he was a top-ranked motocross rider in a four-state region that included Nevada.

His two-wheel skills are as well known at rodeos as his oversized yellow hat and blue and yellow shirt.

He was selected to perform as the opening act at the NFR in 2001 and 2003 and was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association top comedy act three times.

But Lerwill never imagined he would be selected for the pinnacle of his vocation.

"This is a big night. A huge night," he said before his performance.

"I never expected to be here. It's one of those things you think you'll never get to do."

• BULL FIGHTERS -- Joe Baumgartner and Shorty Gorham, both of Red Bluff, Calif., will be the bull fighters protecting the bull riders. Gorham was picked to replace Darrell Diefenbach after he was injured late in the season.

The NFR appearance is Baumgartner's 14th.

Diefenbach was fighting bulls Oct. 30 in the World Bucking Bull Classic and World Finals Futurity at the South Point when he was thrown by a bull and landed on his head. He expects to return by February.

• RODEO LEGENDS -- Veteran team ropers Jake Barnes and Allen Bach will be honored today at The Legends of Pro Rodeo Breakfast at the South Point as PRCA members who "best exemplify extraordinary character, values, integrity, and faith."

Barnes lost the thumb of his roping hand in the fifth round of last year's NFR but has begun to compete again.

Bach will be recognized as founder of Forever Cowboys, an organization dedicated to mentoring young rodeo athletes and instilling Western values.