Background Story

I posted this on the Race Dezert forums and figured it should go here on my site too.

I got my first ATV in 1992 or 1993 when I was about 13. I grew up in a small town in Arizona so I was able to ride everyday after school. I road the wheels off that suzuki 230 until it blew up about 18 months later. We couldn't afford another one so I just focused on school and other sports. I was into trucks a little bit in high school and I remember thinking about how great it would be to be a pro desert racer. I was never able to attend any races and eventually everything off- road fell by the wayside while I was in college. I got into fast cars and drag racing cars towards the end of college and up through 2005. Drag racing was pretty boring and working on the car all the time was really boring.

My dad became friends with Larry Beshaw a local desert racer who is the head sweep rider for Whiplash Off Road Racing and his son is a pro motorcycle desert racer. My dad started planting ideas in my head about getting an ATV again and in Oct of 05 I bought a new 05 TRX450R. We went to the dunes and it was a blast. In August of 2006 I entered my first race and I loved it. I committed to racing the entire 2007 whiplash season and I ended up 2nd overall in the novice class. For 2008 I decided to start taking the racing seriously, I moved up to expert and ended up winning the class. I was getting faster every race and I was given the last second opportunity to race in the 2008 Baja 1000 for the fays3racing Kawasaki team. That story was published in ATV Insider if anyone wants the details. In 2009 I raced the baja 500 with some local guys and gals and we won the sportsmen atv class.

I love atv desert racing because it takes skill, endurance and talent. The other forms of motorsports I tried didn't take nearly as much skill, it seemed like whoever had the fattest wallet would win; there was no athleticism involved. I love the desert because it is just you versus the terrain versus yourself. MX racing is fun too but I dont like the idea of trusting 29 other aggressive, testosterone filled maniacs flying over and around me. In the desert you mostly just have to trust yourself, you don't have to worry about some guy slamming into you (mostly). Also endurance racing is a good excuse to stay in shape! At least for me my results are directly tied to how much time I put in at the gym. If my cardio is crap my results are crap.

The #1 reason is because I need a hobby and something fun to do. We all do or we'd all go crazy. If I had the money I'd do every BITD and Score desert race. The GP's are fun too but the long desert races are where it is at! Racing has been a good way to hang out with my dad, he has been my pit crew along with my friend Adam since I started.