Good
question... Here's the compressed version of my ATV
life:
I
am a former ATV racer who resides near Dayton, Ohio
and now ride more for fun than race. I started riding
on a 1971 ATC 90 I bought back in 1974 and have
been hooked on ATVs ever since.
Back
then there weren't any races but I spent my time
trail riding, floating across creeks and jumping
trash cans whenever possible. I grew up in a small
suburb, Beavercreek, Ohio. Back then, riding on
the streets, was still possible without too much
Police harassment.
My
whole outlook on ATC's changed when Honda released
their 250r in 1981 with full suspension and two-stroke
power. Until then, my trash cans were limited to
about four, laying on their side, before my ATC
90 would bounce me off on landings. After purchasing
my first 250R, four trash cans were nothing in the
world of full suspension, heavy duty axles and disk
brakes. What will they think of next?
I have
owned the following ATVs:
|
-
1971 Honda ATC 90* (4)
- 1981 Honda ATC 185s
- 1982 Honda
ATC 250R*
- 1982 Honda FL250 Odyssey
- 1984 Husqvarna 430 3-Wheeler
- 1984 Honda ATC 200s
- 1984 Honda ATC 250R
- 1985 Honda
FL350 Odyssey*
- 1985 Suzuki ALT-50 3-Wheeler
- 1985 Yamaha 250 Tri-Z -(MX)
- 1985 Yamaha 250 Tri-Z -(TT)
- 1987 Yamaha
Banshee -(Mod)*
- 1987 Yamaha Banshee -(Stock)
- 1987 Yamaha
Tri-Zinger*
- 1988 Yamaha Blaster
- 1988 Honda
Fourtrax 250R*
- 2000 Honda 400EX
- 2003 Polaris
Predator*
*
Currently own
|
|
I then started racing local
races and worked my way into racing Nationals and
Pro-Class events. I tried making a custom, big-bore
Husqvarna ATV to race in the nationals and even had
Team Honda's Bob Hannah tell me I was nuts for even
hopping on the thing.
Back
then, we could race against the factory teams like
Team Honda and Team Kawasaki at some of the nationals.
Jimmy White, new rider for Team Kawasaki, even had
his mechanic help me fix my Honda 250R so I could
race my event in Ashtabula, Ohio. (Team Honda was
too good to for that and even had their pit area
fenced off so nobody could get near them.) I will
never forget that about Jimmy White and he was total
class every time I met him.
Before
long, I started to realize I would no longer have
money to eat with if I kept going out of town for
weeks at a time. So, I settled down and raced mostly
local tri-state events and only raced about twice
a month instead of twice a week. After years of
racing you can burn yourself out trying to race
that often while working enough hours to keep the
house payment on time.
After
my 34th birthday, and not maintaining race conditioning,
I found that when I would land from big g-out doubles
things like my back and knees would start hurting.
Also, they seemed to take three times as long to
heal and racing lost some of it's appeal for me.
Besides, I had already thrown away or donated more
trophies than I still had and really didn't see
the need like I used to compete all summer long.
That
brings us from 1974 till today and now I work 8-12
hours a day behind a computer making trade show
and museum graphics. It doesn't seem to help my
conditioning for racing and I hardly have the time
to ride but once every two weeks but who's complaining?..
I guess I am huh?
OK,
enough bitching! I will still hit the tracks every
once and a while just to abuse my ego and hope to
race some local events this summer. I have
met some great people from having this website and
hope to meet more of you. If anyone is planning
on riding in the
Ohio / Michigan / Indiana / Kentucky area drop me
an e-mail and maybe we can all hook up for a ride.
