The Murder Maverick Steer award will honor and recognize the N C O M racer, crew member, volunteer or official who displays the spirit of NCOM with true grit, courage, inspiration and sportsmanship.

The legend has been told many a times around a campfire. Supposedly the Murder Maverick is an omen of death. It is a big steer, sometimes red, sometimes black, sometimes another color. It is branded on one side with the word MURDER ‘in letters a foot high.’ If a man or woman gets close enough to read the brand, either that person or someone close to him or her will soon be murdered. According to the legend, two ranchers, at a roundup, disputed the ownership of the steer. The dispute became a difficulty and one of the men was shot and killed. The other escaped. Cowboys who worked for the dead man roped and tied down the steer, then branded it with the word MURDER. According to the teller of the tale, the brand didn’t truly scar the hide, but killed the color-producing cells in the hair follicles, so that when the hair grew back it grew in white. The Murder Maver-ick then began following the murderer everywhere he went, until he had to leave the country entirely. It then went off into the mountains in the trans-Pecos area. It only appeared occasionally, but when it did and the brand was read, someone would be murdered shortly afterward. As you race through the hills of NCOM, be on the lookout for the Murder Maverick Steer. Look away if you see him!