to ask you the same question.”
WHAT APPEALED TO YOU
ABOUT JOINING CHAD’S
PRIVATEER 22 MOTORSPORTS
HONDA TEAM? I did not have
anybody standing over me. I did not
have to go to a shop every day. I just
had to get the work done. I was not
at the shop back in the days when we
were driving to the races in box vans,
because we had good people in the
shop doing their jobs. So, I was able
to keep that concept going. I ended
up moving to Idaho. I was flying to
the races on the weekends, doing
what I was contracted to do and not
spending a bunch of time in the shop
during the week. I am old school. I go
to the semi at the track and do all my
work, then fly home and get a few
days off before I go back to it.
During the off-season, there is no
way around not being in the shop,
because you are testing and building
stuff all the time.
MOVING TO IDAHO WAS
A DARING MOVE FOR A
MECHANIC. Yes, but I knew it
was going to bite me in the end. The
manufacturers want everybody in the
shop. You go to the races, then you fly
home and you are in the shop until it’s
time to go again. It’s almost a seven-
days-a-week job, but I think my career
has lasted so long because I had the
freedom not to be in the shop.
BUT CHAD CLOSED DOWN HIS
TEAM AND LEFT YOU OUT IN
THE COLD AGAIN. During the 2014
Nationals, Chad closed down the
team. I was out of a job and thinking,
“I did this to myself. I moved to Idaho,
and I am not going to get an opportunity to work in the industry again.”
In December Chad called and said,
“I am going to sign with Yamaha.
Would you like to be my mechanic
I said, “Of course.” I have always
wanted to work for Yamaha. I used
to work at a Yamaha dealership when
I was a teenager. So, Yamaha called
and asked me if I wanted to work full-time, and I said, “No, I am not willing
to move back to California. I would
love to do Supercross only with Chad.”
They agreed to that, and I thought, it
does not get much better than this,
working six months out of the year
and being able to do my own thing
in Idaho.
WITH CHAD GONE FROM
TEAM YAMAHA, WHAT ARE
YOUR PLANS FOR 2018? Chad
and I will be back together again
with him on a Husqvarna. It is inter-
esting working for Chad, because he
is really into it, and you really learn
a lot working for him because he is
always changing things and always
has ideas. His drive for racing moti-
vates you, because when a guy really
wants to hang it out, you want to be
a part of it. ❏
