ABOUT

In the spring of 1977, a typical day at school ended with a bumpy bus ride back to my father’s paint and body shop. As usual, I would enter my father’s office, drop off my backpack and begin helping around the shop on whatever active project my father was working on. This particular day, when I entered the office, my life was forever changed. A shiny, lightly used 1974 Honda MR50 (Baby Elsinore) was parked in an open area in the shop. At first glance, you wouldn’t be able to tell it didn’t run. It took what seemed to be months to finally get it repaired. This little bike changed the direction of my life. After a few years of riding and a few different bikes, my dad bought me a 1980 Yamaha YZ80, the motor seized twenty-five yards into the first ride.

I started racing motocross shortly after my dad traded the 80 YZ80 in for a 1982 Yamaha YZ80. The mechanical lessons began after I cross rutted a jump and landed one foot on peg and the other on the shifter. This required a three-hour haul to a dealership in Oklahoma City and a couple hundred dollars in labor all to change a twenty-dollar part. After picking up the bike, my dad told me; “If you’re going to ride them you better learn how to work on them.”

The Internet hadn’t hit the big time in 1982, so I was left to a shop manual and some good ol’ trial and error. When I was only twelve years old, I completed my first complete top end. At that point, I wasn’t sure which I loved more; working on the bikes or ringing them out. Those first years have stuck with me and the passion I have for the mechanics and breathing life back into any motorcycle or ATV continues to be my driving force.