On The Pegs May 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 | Page 73

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 5 - MAY 2020
73
showdown in Davis, Oklahoma. To me, that was the most memorable year because
in both cases, the last hare scramble of the year… I missed a few rounds, so I had a
very slim shot to win the championship. So it came down to the last round at Arizo-
na. We did our last round in Arizona. It was me and Justin Williamson. Came down
to the last race. Basically whoever won, won the championship. I was able to win.
So then at the shootout, the overall title was open for anybody. Anybody could win
it that year. Tony Joiner, being an Oklahoma guy. Tony was there and I’m like, crap.
Tony can win the overall hare scramble championship. He’s a great rider, Oklahoma
boy. So I ended up winning both that year. That would be probably one solid mem-
ory. Then obviously the first GNCC win, there were just so many years put into it.
Once I won that first one, it kind of sparks your… That was very memorable for me,
too.
What year did you actually retire from competitive, professional racing?
2009 was my last full year. I tell everybody this story, the reason I quit. It was one
of the last GNCC’s that year up in northern North Carolina. I was running probably
sixth or seventh in the pro class, XC1. Stew and Kailub caught me from XC2. At that
point it was like to me, the writing was on the wall. The kids are coming. That’s just
the way the sport works. You can’t beat Father Time.
Tell me about your Yamaha Demo program.
I guess the biggest part of my job is I do all the motorcycle, dirt bike, off-road
demos for Yamaha now. So I drive around to different tracks and parks and trails.
It’s all dealer-funded, so basically I have to have a dealer. If we’re going to do a
demo wherever, I need to have a dealer that’s going to be there to support it not
only financially, but also with staff. So we go wherever the dealer wants to go. The
most popular place to do a demo is a moto track. That’s where you get the biggest
numbers. We’ve done enduros over the years. Quite a few of those. It’s just hard for
a dealer. The problem that I have when we go to a national enduro, is you get so
many people that are spread out, or the local dealer wants to do an event for his
local customers. So I do roughly 100 demos between east and west events a year
doing that. Obviously this year it’s going to be a little different. For a while there,
for three years I bought another truck and I did side-by-side ATV demos as well. But
the motorcycle has always been the most successful, not only in sales. We created
it from the ground up, honestly. So when I stopped racing, I talked to Donny Luce
in racing. I said, why isn’t Yamaha doing any kind of demo program? KTM at that
point was the only other OEM doing dirt demos. Donny said, “Man, I’d love to do