August 31, 2025 • 55 mins
If you are enjoying our content, please subscribe on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/rexyfortyfive Host: Rexy Fortyfive Follow on IG https://www.instagram.com/rexyfortyfive/ Follow on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@rexyfortyfive Our Sponsors: https://www.freedomcyclenh.com Mention B4evaKool for a discount!Visit https://www.workbenchtech.com Shop https://www.b4evakool.com/hampden-yard-storehttps://www.shakesislive.com Mention B4evaKool for a discount for all your photography needs!Learn more about us: https://www.b4evakool.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/b4evakool/ #bike #bikelife #motorcycle #motorcyclelife #motorcycleracing #raceamotorcycle #race #racing #fast #gofast #aimhy #b4evakool
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to another edition of the Be Forever Cool podcast.
My name is Rex 45 and this evening we got Mike in the
building. How's it going today, Mike?
That's. Bad.
How are? You pretty good, man, Pretty
good. Glad to get you on on the show
and hopefully, you know, get youget to tell us all about how you
got into writing and stuff like that.
(00:21):
So I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and
stuff like that. So, but let's jump into it and
and you know, and let us know how you got into riding.
What was it like for you? You know, were you fortunate to
be on a bike at a very young ageor you did something that you
decided to get into later in life?
Or you know how. What was your What made you
(00:42):
decide to get a jump on a bike? I always, I always wanted one.
I always wanted a bike and and my father always told me I would
never be allowed to own a motorcycle in his house when I
lived there. Never.
And when I turned around the time I turned 21, he was like,
yeah, I'm going to get my motorcycle license.
You want to go? I'm like, absolutely.
So I didn't start riding until Iwas 21.
(01:04):
Got you. That's that's interesting.
So you know, he he said not in your house.
And then did he ride before or he does at the time when you
turned 21, he also decided, you know, he wanted to ride too.
Yep. That's just, he just kind of one
day said I'm, I'm going to go get a, get my license, get a
bike and, you know, asked me andmy brother if we wanted to go
(01:25):
take the MSF course with him. So we did.
OK, that's what's up. Wow.
So what was that like one that yeah, you know, your dad, you
said, OK, let's go do it. Or you were you a little bit
shocked by that? And then what was what was the
course like? And and doing it with your dad
and your brother. Yeah, I was shocked and beyond
(01:45):
shocked, but I was more than happy to go do it.
Course was great. I, I thought, I thought the like
I said, I hadn't spent a lot of time on on a, you know, friends
that have like small dirt bikes,you know, whatever, ride those
around a little bit, but never anything more than a few minutes
here there. So to take that and then from at
(02:05):
the end of the weekend, have a license and be not proficient.
But you know what, I'd go and ride around on the road and you
know, survive was good. And that was actually that.
I remember the instructor for the course showing pictures.
He was, I don't know what organization he used to coach
for some tractor organization and he had a picture of himself
(02:26):
giving a A2 up ride to go out onACBR.
So like my first weekend automotive was like, really I
learned about. Racing.
Yeah. That that's pretty cool.
And and so, you know, taking thecourse were were you nervous?
I assume you rode a bicycle but nothing but an engine?
(02:48):
Or was it the the just, you know, being with your brother
and your dad just kind of made it more it's, you know, like, I
don't know if you're camping, but kind of like going camping
and just we figured out as we went along.
Yeah, no, I wasn't, wasn't too nervous.
Was pretty, pretty confident. My ability to do it, even though
it never had, you know, like I said, from this small amount of
time I'd actually spent on anything with a motor wasn't
(03:09):
like overly difficult, you know.Brother and father picked it up
real quick. Yeah, that it was.
We we all took to it pretty quickly.
My brother still rides. He's got a Ducat.
He doesn't ride it very often. Every once in a while he'll come
to the track. My father sold his bike a few
years ago. I'm the only one who took it to
the degree that I did. So OK, so you you got you guys
(03:33):
got the license and and did the course.
What did mom say? Not that she loves it.
OK, he loves it. I've even I you know, I my first
bike was ACBR 600 2006 and I took her for a ride on her a
couple times and you know she she likes it even though even
(03:56):
she's even been up to the track a few times.
You know, she's she's coming watching everything.
It's cool, obviously, Obviously nervous, scared any mother would
be, but. Yeah, so.
So you got ACBR. What did your brother get?
What did your dad get? Brother also got ACBR 600 and my
father got a Honda Shadow 750. And, and did you guys like ride
(04:18):
together to different places or you kind of just started to kind
of just doing your own thing? Maybe every once in a while we
we'd ride together, go do whatever.
Me and my brother, a couple of my friends, a few of my friends
at that point had had bikes. So like, you know, I'd spend
more time going out riding with them And, you know, I would
actually commute to work on it at that point, which I just
(04:39):
don't want to do now. Just doesn't really make sense.
But yeah, we, we would, we wouldride and my and my father just
kind of slowly, he would, you know, a little bit here and
there on the weekends. And that was really it.
He never really got too into it.Got you.
It's, it's, it's, it's interesting because you know,
(05:00):
people can start things togetherand certain people it sticks
with it and other people it kindof fade off.
So you got a, you got a, a, a, aCVR your brother did you got,
you know, your dad got the shadow.
How long before you started going to the track?
And you know, did you did you were already kind of researching
that stuff since the instructor kind of said, you know, hey,
(05:21):
here's, you know, you can also go to the track.
No, that that route, the instructor didn't really have
anything to do with it. When I, I got my I got a job
with the previous company that Iwas at, you know, and that was I
started there in 2007 February O7 never really said anything
about it. I just, I showed up to work one
(05:42):
day on my bike and the guy I wasworking for, he was like, you
have to go to the Penguin RacingSchool and, and try this and do
whatever. And come to find out he used to
race, you know, maybe 10 years before I met him.
And I was like, OK, fine. So I did my first track day in
O7 not not long after I got the the bike.
(06:03):
Yeah. And then it was, you know, once
a year from there, one or two a year.
And yeah. And.
And then so like, you know, how,how green were you going to the
track? I mean, did you already like I,
you had your race suit, you had boots, gloves, everything
trailer like, you know, because I was living out of my, I wasn't
living out of when I was at the track.
(06:23):
I was living out of my Audi wagon and a U-Haul trailer.
I well, I borrowed a trailer andI was only like I was only going
to doing Penguin one day and then coming home and I'm you
know, I live an hour, an hour, 15 minutes from loud.
So that that wasn't terrible. Rented suit, rented boots did
(06:44):
did the whole thing, but was instantly very comfortable on on
track. Yeah, and, and I remember the
the instructor who I didn't realize that the, you know, when
I bought the bike, but it was the same, the coach was the same
guy who sold me my, my CBR. He recognized me.
He's like, you know, we talked alittle bit after during one of
(07:05):
the following leader sessions. He's like, just come with me.
And we were just, you know, he was like just following me.
We're going to go by a bunch of people and which is very
comfortable with it, you know, just kind of just kind of took
to it. Right.
And did your brother or dad do track days or that was just on
you? No, that that's not there that
my, my brother does now he'll come up every once in a while
(07:26):
and like maybe one a year he'll come up.
And but you know, if, if I didn't have two bikes fully
built ready to go and an extra gear and access to all this
stuff, I, I don't know if he would or not, but he likes it
when he comes up. So, you know, no pressure.
He's not, he's never going to goracing, which is fine.
You know it's cool. Got you.
(07:49):
And and so you did the Penguin acouple of times, Yeah.
Did you do the classroom or backthen, was it just you just
signed up and you just did the track?
When I did it the first time, the only there was no track
experience group like there is now with the C&D group.
It was just license certificate as far as I remember, which is
license certification and then, you know, maybe the advanced
(08:11):
class because I remember leavingwith a a certificate that I
could get a race license if I wanted to within the year.
I didn't, I love that, that I didn't start racing until 2016.
I want a while. Right, right.
So, OK, so a couple of years going a few times a year, did
(08:31):
you bump up the track day to going more often or you just
kind of kept it a couple of times a year until you and and
and I guess when did you decide to start racing?
No, I just, I just kept it to a couple of one or two times a
year. And when I bought my Pentagali,
I just said no, keep the CBR anduse that on the track and
whatever because I don't want tocrash the the Ducati.
(08:51):
And then I mean from 2010, 2009,2010 to probably 2018, nineteen
where I was playing football, still organized better football,
tackle football. But when that was starting to
(09:12):
end, I was when I I got hurt a bunch of times.
So when that was starting ahead,I started going more towards
track days and everything. And I was a little older and I
was more financially secure to be able to go do something like
that. You know what I mean?
So yeah, September 2016 is for my first race weekend.
Oh wow. And what was what was that like?
(09:33):
I mean, and so when you were doing the track days and going
up where you you weren't sticking around to watch the
races or anything like that. So.
Nope. No, I was going up coming home.
I was and I the only other thingI remember from my first track
day was I some guy over by the center garage as I was talking
to him and he just looked at me,he's like, you're going to start
(09:54):
racing. And I had no idea like anything
like. And he he was right.
It was just going to be way farther down the road because I
really at that point wasn't, didn't have too much interest in
doing that. But yeah, it's, I mean,
eventually. So was there like any catalyst
that said, OK, 2016, I'm going or just really just all right, I
(10:16):
needed something else to do because football ended and you
know, you just because were you watching like, you know, Moto
America, Moto GP or anything like that at that time?
Started to watch Moto GP around 20/11/2012.
So I've been watching it for a few years and, you know,
football was ending and I was like, you know, again, like
started to have some money savedwhere I could whatever again.
(10:39):
So let's let's go do this. Let's see how.
Let's see what happens. Was your was your first race
weekend like Saturday like? So actually you said my first I
I got my I did my license for the I got my license class was
the two day 2 day school in June.
I didn't end up racing until September, but crashed that
(11:01):
weekend. That was that was my first track
crash was just before I started.I showed up with my CBR and
again, I don't know anybody who's really doing this right.
Like it's just I'm like, I'm just going to go race.
I showed up with my CBR still had St. plastics, no case
covers, no nothing like nothing.It was just Oh my God, what?
(11:22):
I'm just going to go race and the guys in 11 and 12 N the guys
that were in that garage were like, come here, like we're
going to help you. And they did and they took me in
and they they helped me big timeand got me through that weekend.
And it was, yeah, that that was kind of it from there.
(11:43):
Yeah, so you were hooked from there?
Yeah, yeah, it was. Well, I, I do remember going in
my first race after my rookie race, going into Turn 3 and
somebody in front of me basically went over the
handlebars. Gone real banged and I was only
maybe 10 feet off this tire. I wasn't that far off and I had
to stop like at the wall and whatever and I I just kind of
(12:04):
stopped was like what am I doinghere?
Why am I doing this? Yeah, yeah, I, I had that moment
in the probably like the first session of the of the of getting
the license class when they takeyou out, I'm like, I have no
idea what they were talking about.
And it's the same thing. It's just like, you sure you
want to do this? But by the end of the day I I
(12:26):
was hooked. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. What?
You know what you know, right. Like you, I'm sure you now, now
talk to people who doing their first track days, second track
days, whatever. And you talk to them and you're
like, yeah, you're not going anywhere.
It's you can tell. Yeah.
It's, it's very interesting. So, so you, you know, you, you,
you, you know, I guess we could talk about this now like, you
(12:47):
know, how cool the race community is that, you know, you
show up as a stranger and, and people take time out of their
day to help you get set up. And you know, it's not a matter
of just changing plastics. You probably had to drill
safety, safety wire holes and stuff like that for the bike and
all this stuff. So, you know, they probably
spending a few hours of the timeand, and you know, did you know
(13:11):
the community was, was that awesome and you know, back then
and, or was it like your first glimpse into it when, when that
happened? No, that that was that was the
first, first glimpse of it. That was because it it wasn't
even like it was just a real quick, like, Hey, you got to do
this, this and this. It was throughout the entire
weekend. And then I came back for
October, the October round, and it was the whole time, every
(13:33):
time I was there, you know, it was and it was little things.
It was so from where we are in the north garage, you can see
turn three and four and somebodyand you know, they made second
call, third call, whatever. And I'm ready to go.
And the guys like stop, wait, you'll see people when they
finally start to come around this corner, then you go right.
And it was just everything from from start to finish.
(13:55):
They help me with every little bit along the way.
And I'm, I'm still in there. I'm I'm still with some of those
guys in that garage. So yeah, it's a unbelievable
group of people and really in any, in any, you know, any pit,
any garage, whatever, anywhere you go, people are always
willing to help. So.
Yeah, yeah. And I I agree in anywhere you
(14:18):
go, you know, there's people willing to help.
So you OK, so you're racing the you're racing the the CBR600.
You're in the middle weight class.
Somebody, you know, goes out in front of you and and you know,
do you? Do you do you know, did you
notice in that moment or maybe afterwards how you reacted
(14:38):
versus like people who have beenthere for a while and seeing
these things? Because for, you know, for me, I
was looking around like it like shook and you know, there were a
lot there was like people are just calm.
It's just part of it. You, you know, they know medic
is there and stuff like that. But I, I definitely was just
like, Oh my goodness, you know, this is crazy.
I didn't notice anybody at the time.
(14:59):
No, I think that was, I had kindof that same reaction just like
this is this is wild, but why? Why?
What am I doing? I don't even really think.
I don't remember bringing it up to anybody, to be honest.
I just got pulled back on, got back on the track and kept
going. And that was that was pretty
much it. But yeah, you know, you notice
(15:19):
after a while, you know, newer people get a little worried when
there's a crash and people that have been around a while, just
like, no, they're up there fine,all right, We're good.
If you see, if you see somebody who's been around for a while
start running like then yeah, you know, something's happened.
You know, that's the, that's thesign because most of us go, shit
(15:40):
happens. And and keep it moving.
So what was your writing like? I mean, you had a, you had a a
good amount of time, maybe not alot of on time track, but you
had like, you know, six years ofdoing track days and stuff.
So like when you first started racing in 2016, you know, what
(16:00):
was like, what was your body position like?
What was your, your, your, your starting?
I mean, at that point I'm looking at a race in mind yet,
but starting to do, you know, figure that out.
So how are you the 1st that thatfirst weekend of racing?
All right, I guess I mean, I don't really have anything to
any way to compare it judge it to.
(16:22):
I mean, I can't even you can't even find the track times, the
the the lab times, the results on online anymore.
That was all on track and tell them it's gone.
Won my rookie race. I know that other than that,
like I, I don't really I know I bought my body tissue was
terrible. I didn't didn't understand and I
(16:43):
didn't really understand or learn how to learn how to go
fast for years for a couple years after that.
You know what I mean? Like it was just kind of out
there just hoping my way throughit, you know, no real plan of
attack. I know nothing.
So it was just, it was, it was for fun at 1st and then it kind
(17:05):
of got serious at a certain point.
Right, right. So, yeah, let's talk about the,
the fun and, and the one that got serious.
And you know, were you, did you try to do every round in in 2016
or did you decide to do that in 2017?
Like, you know, what was, I mean, you're having fun.
But like, you know, for me, I, it was like what I mean, I
(17:25):
started in 2013 and in 2015 I, Iwas trying to go, I was going to
every 2015. I started going every round, you
know, So like, what was that like?
So I, I started in September. So I only did September, October
of 2016 came out and did was it May, April and May of 2017?
(17:50):
The so in April of 2017 or May, I'm sorry, May got bumped up to
amateur at that point. And then that I was that was one
of my last years playing football.
So I still, I was, you know, games were on Saturday.
So I couldn't, you know, go raceand all whatever conflicts.
(18:11):
I one day did try and race and then drive home and play
football. And that did not end well.
I was, I did a, did a, a GT and then another race and then just,
you know, pack all my stuff, went home and went and played a
football game a couple hours later and was, but yeah, it was
I, I didn't get to, I didn't do every round in 2017.
(18:33):
And then in 2018, I was like, all right, I'm going to go going
to go do this this year. OK, so we like, yeah, let's talk
about 2018, your amateur and at this point you've only been to
Loudon or did you start to go toother tracks?
No, it was only Loudon for a long time.
That's the only place I've ridden until 2019.
I think that that was the only place I had gone.
(18:54):
Yeah, same here. Same here.
So, yeah. So, you know, 2018, the amateur,
I think I remember that a littlebit.
There's a lot of people in the paddock around that time too,
man. So what was it like?
You know, you said you you won the rookie race, now you got
bumped up to an amateur, did you?
Where you at? At in the middle of the back of
(19:14):
the pack for a little bit. What was you know?
I was in the back. I was in the back for a long
time. I was in the back and that was
some of my favorite races. Like some of my most fun races
that I've had were back of the pack racing Tom Hines to not be
last amateur like like that was that was it.
I had actually had a ton of fun doing that, you know, get get
(19:37):
in, get into the front tonight and all that.
But just having a a good like clean race and and actually
racing people was a lot of fun. And there was a lot of that
going on in 2018, as far as I remember.
Yeah, yeah, there definitely wasa lot.
I, I'm trying to think how many I think I might have been doing.
Well, yeah. I mean, I wasn't there as much
(19:57):
in 2018, 'cause I jacked myself up in 2017.
I wasn't really there towards the end.
So it's kind of, yeah, it was kind of rough for me in 2017 and
18. Now that I think about, you
know, yeah, 'cause yeah, I mean,yeah.
So August. I'd, you know, I'd frack broke a
(20:19):
gun into a car accident on the streets and, you know, lacerated
my spleen and fractured my hand and stuff like that.
So I was, I was I, I missed pretty much from August on and
and part of 2019. So a little ridiculous, but you
know, a A at what point did you start to like, OK, I'm I'm
starting to figure this out. My body position is is is
(20:40):
starting to get better I'm I'm figuring out certain corners or
even just like starting to thinkabout racing in a different way,
right, Not just going out there and having fun, but you know
looking at it in a way that you're trying to get better now
that. That was summer mid 2018 that,
that all kind of started to cometogether.
I don't remember why or when exactly or, or what happened,
(21:02):
but I just towards the end of that year, I was like, well,
this now it's how do I get faster and what am I doing?
And then, you know, Fast forwardto the beginning of 2019.
I crashed the CBR and turn 8 scented flying through the
gravel at 9 and 15 feet up in the air and then destroyed it.
(21:23):
So it was time for at that pointI was like, well, going to buy a
new bike. It's all in.
And that's what it was from the time I bought the, the ZXX in in
May, I think I June, yeah, June or July, I got picked it up.
That was it from then on, that that's what I was, that's what I
(21:44):
was doing it. Was and, and yeah, refresh my
memory. Did you buy it already built or
did you buy it and build it? Yeah, so over over the
offseason, from 18 to 19, I was going back and forth with Leroy
all the time. You know, that was a that was a
lot of fun. Something was said about me
getting a new bike or doing whatever.
(22:04):
And, and Scott Mullen had had commented on the post that, you
know, I have AZX 6, it's alreadybuilt that he had been, he had
been, you know, it had been because that was the 2019 was
the first year the new, new body, new fairings, new body
stuff. So they used all those fairings
and armor bodies, the, the bike that Scott had, they sent those
(22:25):
fairings to armor bodies. And you know, Woodcraft was
using it for R&D and whatever. So he just happened to have this
bike and then after I crashed, I, I sent a message like, do you
still have it? And he's like, Yep, I do.
And that was it. I, I bought it fully, fully
built, took it off the showroom floor and two days later brought
it to, to Palmer to test it out.That was it.
(22:49):
But it was like fully built, ready to go bike.
So that was that was, that was not really the cheapest way to
do it, but that was, you know, Ithink that.
Yeah. I mean, I think in the, in the
hopefully in the long run it's cheaper, but you got to put all
that that cash up front where ifyou have to build it yourself,
you can kind of, you know, pieceit together is based on how you
(23:09):
feel like and stuff like that. Yeah, it's, it's not what he was
doing too, you know, I mean, like I got AI, got a bike from
somebody who knew what they weredoing.
Yeah. I mean, like it was all set.
I didn't have to worry about anything.
And when the and I mean it was apretty immediate the difference.
I mean, obviously it's ones a Honda, ones a Cowie.
(23:31):
But as far as like suspension and just power and stuff like,
well, you know, we want to talk about power because again, a
little different. Did you notice the difference
right away? Immediately I got on, I got on
that they hit Palmer. I, one of the guys that I was in
the garage with Loudon happened to be at Palma and I was like, I
could do and at that time my best was like, you know, high
(23:51):
nineteens and I was like, I could do eighteens on this bike.
And then the following weekend Idid, you know what I mean?
Like I, I knew instantly it justwas way better.
And that's I, I still love this,you guys.
I thought it was great. I just didn't fit on it very
well. It was, it was really cramped.
Yeah, it's it's interesting how,you know, we got all these
different manufacturers and and,you know, certain bikes fit
(24:11):
certain people. It's it's such a weird thing.
So you so you got to you got to build bike.
You know how how much of that the bike or your confidence.
I mean, I assume you got you went into 2019 like you know,
ready to fight in the middle to upfront.
Yeah, that was, it was starting to get, starting to get to that
(24:34):
point where yeah, that, that that's kind of where I was at
was up there, you know, top 10s in the dash.
I think I got A at one point I did on the on the ZX6 at one
point, I think I got third in the dash as in in 2019.
So yeah, that was, that was all.Like I said, as soon as I got
(24:55):
the that ZX6, it all just kind of changed.
Like it was all, it just suited me better.
And yeah, and everything just kind of kind of came together,
which, you know, once that happens, now you're you're going
back, you're in what, when once you started having a little bit
of success, like you're going towalk away from that.
(25:17):
Not, not at all. I mean, that's, that's that's
the crazy part about it. You know, you just you, you're
trying to you start thinking about because I think for for
20/19 was the first time I went to Homestead.
So that's the first time anotheranother track for me and, and
just, you know, seeing that. So, you know, you mentioned
going to Palmer and stuff like that after going to Loudon, did
(25:40):
did that change anything for yougoing to a different track, just
seeing a different layout? I.
Remember thinking it was pretty easy, Yeah, like just something
about it just because it just didn't have, you know, the turn
3 and I and I and I haven't, I haven't been there.
I haven't been there since. So, I mean, I've only been there
one, one time. I so I just don't remember being
(26:02):
a very difficult like, I mean, there are walls and stuff
everywhere, right? Like you can never race Almer,
but I just yeah, I I don't remember being as as difficult
as loud as it was still fun, though.
I I had a blast. It was totally kind of and I
think it's kind of like, you know, New York, you know, you go
to New York and you can do, you know, 8590% and still have a
(26:26):
really good time. You know, you don't, you don't
have to go 100% and risk anything out.
You don't want to do that out there, in my opinion.
But you know, you can go ahead and just ride there at 85, nine
percent and have a blast. And I think that's kind of what
Palmer was from what I remember.Yeah, I I've only been there
once myself. It might have been around the
(26:46):
same time if, if, if memory served, it might have been a one
and one and done. So you know, you got the, you
got the, the new built bike, you're getting quicker and stuff
like that. You know, are you, are you doing
any kind of training outside of track day and just going to the
track or you know, did you, did you do maybe like the advanced
(27:08):
Penguin School or anything like that?
I did the advanced school a couple times and you know, each
time I did it, I got faster. Have you, have you done it?
Have you, you've taken a class like there's more information
than anybody can process in a day in that class.
Like Eric will spend and out, ifyou give him three hours, he'll
(27:30):
spend 3 hours talking about turn1, you know what I mean?
And it, it pays off, it's 100% worth it.
But it's just, it's so much information that you have to
take it multiple times in order to, to, to get everything out of
it. So I did that a little bit, did
that a couple times, you know, drop a little little bit of time
each each time. And I think when I get the end
of 2019, maybe in the dash or something, I did a 79.
(27:57):
So that that's kind of how I finished off, finished off that
year. It was it was a pretty good it
was a huge jump for me anyway for for one year to go from
yeah, this is this is fun. This is what I'm doing.
I like doing it to Now it's herewe go, you.
Know, here we go. Yeah.
So, you know, 2020 we come around.
I I assume you had big plans andthe world had a little different
(28:18):
plan for us because we had the pandemic and stuff like that.
What was that like? And and then, you know, I, I
assume you must have done the first round that Loudon like the
rest of us when we could and we had to keep our distances and
stuff like that. Nope, I couldn't do any of that.
November of 2019, I got home, mybrother got married in Aruba.
(28:41):
I got home from the wedding. Three days later, I was out
playing flag football and ruptured my patellar tendon in
my right knee, Which when after you have that surgery, your leg
is locked straight in a brace for six weeks.
I went back to work after a couple weeks just because I was
foreman on that job. I could do it, whatever.
(29:01):
And couple, so maybe two or three weeks after I got to
unlock the brace, I tore the ACLon my left knee walking into
work. Yeah.
So 2020 I, you know, because of COVID and everything, I couldn't
get my surgery and doctors weren't doing ACLS.
(29:24):
The only reason I got it done isbecause the way my meniscus tore
it made it an emergency necessary surgery.
So I got that done in like Aprilor May 2020.
Couldn't you know, it takes, youknow, a couple, couple months to
kind of get back, you know, comfortable with and you know,
your full range of motion and you strengthen your quads or
(29:46):
whatever. So probably maybe July,
September, July or August, I went out.
I was like, I'll go do a, a practice day, see how I feel.
I went into Turn 6 and I went totry and get my foot back from
shifting back onto the, my toes back onto the pegs and I
(30:08):
couldn't, I couldn't do it. I lost all they used my
hamstring for a graft. So I didn't have any hamstring
strength. I couldn't get my leg back at
night. I was so I like parked it and
one of the experts almost hit meand I felt horrible my I, I
couldn't do it so I didn't get to ride at all 2020.
It was wow, wow. Yeah.
(30:28):
So, you know, as I mentioned earlier, my injuries and stuff
like that, you got racing on thebrain.
There's a pandemic happen and, and you got to recover like, you
know, so like what was recovery like for you?
And especially having a season like 2019, getting your fastest
time and now you're sitting out all of 2020.
(30:51):
You know how you know, you know,how motivated were you?
And it because you know, for me,I, you know, from being around
racing and stuff like that, you get hurt, you go recover, you go
do everything you need to do. And that's just kind of how I
approached it, you know, I, it, for me, I all of what, 20 when I
(31:13):
came back in 2019, I probably shouldn't have been riding until
my hand healed because by the end of 2019, my body position
was all jacked up because I was compensating for my wrist
hurting and stuff like that. And I really had to, you'll go
in and, and, and deal with that in the sense that like, OK, I
went to, I got the RC390 just tofix body position, go slow
(31:33):
because then and, and I'm still strengthening my hand.
So you know what, what was, you know, recovery like for you?
And just the mental part of thatbecause it's, you know, it's a
process. The, the recovery, recovery
wasn't terrible as far as far aslike, you know, actually being
able to function and go do my, my day-to-day stuff.
(31:55):
Not long after the ACL surgery, I was, I was riding my bicycle
and doing stuff and, and, you know, all that stuff was fine
because of the hamstring part. Riding was really difficult
mentally was awful to the point where like my mother and my
girlfriend have all said to me that, you know, it, it's
dangerous. And yeah, like, we don't love
(32:17):
the fact that you do this, but we'll never ask you to stop
because of how miserable I was to be around in 2020.
Like, I, I, I watched, I, I was like, you know, different
weekends. I'd be, you know, because now I
have weekends, you know, more weekends to go do stuff, be on
the boat, my friend's boats and whatever out of the lake.
And I'm watching live timing andI'm watching all the guys that I
(32:41):
was, you know, up at the front with get way faster and I'll
bump up the expert that year. And I can't race.
And I was miserable. I was a horrible person to be
around. So yeah, that was that was
tough. That's that sucks.
To have it have it taken from you is the worst.
It's one thing if you decide to give it up.
If it's taken from you, that's terrible.
(33:01):
Got you. So and, and so you know, OK, so
you got through 2020, I assume you came back in 21 and you
know, what was that like coming back?
And you know, did you, you know,did you did, were you working
out and stuff like that just to strength, strengthen your body
to prepare to go racing? Yeah, I was doing everything,
(33:23):
everything I could to to just totry and get back in whatever way
I could, you know, whatever I could do to modify the bike
ergonomics and stuff like that. You know, like at one point if
you went and looked at my bike, I had three pieces of sea foam
stacked on there, so. Remember that?
Yeah. Yeah, to change the yeah to so I
could actually have enough leg room to move my foot around and
(33:45):
do all that stuff right. And I guess for for the viewers,
how tall are you? 61 OK.
Are you not a small guy? No, it's, it's a little cramped,
but yeah, it was whatever, whatever I could do.
You know, I got, I got things tolower my foot pegs and raise my
(34:07):
seat and, and just do anything Icould to, to make it fit, you
know, make it work. You know, when you had your
wrist thing, like you say, you, you do whatever you can to, to
make it work and, and figure outhow to, how to get around it.
Because if it doesn't get any better, you still got to figure
out something, right. Like.
Oh, yeah, and you know, for me, like, you know, I had to get
(34:28):
help getting the getting the glove off my hand and sometimes
getting it on because my, my, mywrist was on fire.
Still still got back out there, though.
Yeah, we're. Not smart like we're we're still
going to go out, we're still going to go race.
We're not smart. But yeah, I never got to go do
it. Yeah, that's that's that's the
(34:49):
craziest part about that. So in 2021, by the end of 21,
did did you feel you were as fast as you were at the end of
2019 or did you like, OK, 22, I'll get there.
It was, yeah, I was starting. I was starting to get there
again. I was starting to get there.
(35:09):
I had this, this thing where I'dbeen an amateur for so long at
that point that like, you know, in the, in the, in the Facebook
group and stuff, like there werepeople going back and forth
about who's going to win what orwhatever.
And I've been there for so long that people were like, Oh yeah,
I'm going to, people would say Iwas going to be up at the front
for middle weight Grand Prix. And then, you know, people like
(35:32):
Mike Lee came around and, you know, I think it was 2122 and
going fast and you know, like there's always somebody coming
up. So it's like I was still up
towards the front, but I was never like winning all the races
like that or anything, but stillracing against up up there with
a bunch of guys that were going pretty good.
So yeah, like, like somebody. Coming along to to, you know,
(35:56):
make you go faster. That's why I got that two O 6 in
Daytona. So it was just like, I got to
get this guy. Well, yeah, that's, yeah, that
somebody, somebody passing you or doing whatever will will make
you do things that you never thought you'd be able to do,
right. Yeah, for sure.
The red mist, you're like, I'm I'm doing it now.
(36:17):
Going to winter crash, but yeah,we go.
Yeah, no, I agree. It's, it's such a, you know, you
know, for me in 21, I started going to other tracks, you know,
outside aloud and I racing the other tracks outside aloud.
And I guess in 2019 I did homestead, but I didn't do
anything really in 20. Towards the end of 2020, I did
(36:40):
homestead again. In 2021 is when I started going
up and down the East Coast doingAzra and CCS and you know, being
around gym and, and Sergio, those guys, you know, you know,
really got me to, to perform at a different level.
Because you know when, when you first get out there, you know,
(37:00):
you know, if it's, if it might rain, I'm not racing.
You know, if, if I didn't plug my tire warmer with enough time
on for the tire to get warm up, I wasn't racing.
You know, all these things that,you know, if it wasn't right, I,
I wasn't racing and, and, and then just seeing them getting
over adversity of, of things breaking and they still got the
race suit on and, and, and they're still trying to get back
(37:23):
out there and race and they'll get out there race and get on
the podium. So did racing do anything like
that for you? Like, you know, have your view
of like overcoming adversity. I mean, you played football, so
I assume in football you probably already saw that
anyway, playing on teams and stuff like that.
But what is it like, you know, dealing, you know, I think one
time we talked about like, you know, rain ties, racing in the
(37:44):
rain and stuff like that. And you know, I finally started
doing it in 21 and I've been racing for like 7 years and
didn't race in the rain at all. Yeah, Well, that that was, you
know, down at Pitt, right. You were like, I don't know,
it's going to round. I don't know if I'm going to do
it. Yeah, you got to Yeah, I know
it's it's a different it's a it's a different thing than than
(38:05):
you know, I've I've played team sports my whole life.
It's there's still always team sports is still always you can
lose and you could have done everything and still another guy
that maybe didn't do their job or do well, whatever.
Racing is up to you, man. Like it's it's it's it's you got
to you're having a bad weekend. You got to find a way to turn it
(38:25):
around. You have a bad year.
You got to find a way to turn around and it's it's up to you
completely. And you have to have the, the
mental strength and ability to be able to do that, you know,
and, and I'm just, you know, andconfidence really like the whole
thing, just being confident. And if you don't have that, you
just, you're not going to be able to do it, not well anyway.
(38:45):
You'll be able to go out there and turn laps, but you're not
going to be at your best. Right.
Yeah. And, and it's such A, and it's
such a confidence is such a tricky thing because you know,
it, it's, you know, sometimes it's, it's as simple as, you
know, a, a mechanic saying they changed something on your bike
that was wrong. And, and regardless if that was
(39:07):
true or not, that's a whole different story.
But just somebody saying something to it gives you more
confident to just take a little bit more risk that that's out of
your comfort zone and and that makes the difference and, and it
changes your world. Yeah, it, it, it does.
It doesn't even have to be anything major.
It, you know, it's, it's all little things that you have to
put together. So now, now I'm coaching
(39:29):
Penguin. That's one of the things trying
to, you know, it's not huge leaps and bounds that you, that
you're trying to get people to, to do.
You know, every, every session you go ahead, work on this
little thing in this corner thistime, you know, try for a
couple, a couple laps and and then from there, build on that.
You know, it's, it's never just a huge thing.
And still, you know, coaching. I still got to tell myself that
(39:54):
all the time. Go ahead.
Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit more.
You had gotten bumped up to expert and stuff and and so
like, you know, what made you decide to get into coaching and
and how's it been, you know, to to help people out and, and get
them a little faster? And is that also making you look
(40:16):
at yourself a little differentlywhen you race?
Yeah. So we got the the get bumped up
the extra thing. I, I that year 2022, there was
six of us in middle weight that got bumped up that year or
(40:36):
something like that. Like that whole group was really
good and that pushed all of us to just go faster, right.
It was a, it was a pretty good group.
They're all, we're all still, still racing right now, which,
you know, doesn't really happen very often.
You know, people come and go andwhatever, but that, that whole
group is, still, is still going,which is pretty cool.
(40:57):
The, the coaster thing. So I coached Pop Warner, I
coached high school football andstuff.
And really at work, I'm really big on teaching apprentices.
Like I, I like doing that for, you know, whatever I can do to
help them or whatever. So when it kind of came came to
that point, Tom Hines for a longtime was trying to get me in in,
(41:19):
in in coach with Penguin. So when the opportunity came
along, I was like, yeah, absolutely love to.
It's it's been really good and it's cool not to, you know, not
to talk bad about anybody. There's some people you talk to
like they don't get it, they're not going to get it.
And and that's fine. You want to go out there and,
and, you know, spend laps and, and have fun that that's cool.
(41:43):
But when you, you're dealing with somebody and you're
coaching them and like, they getit and you, you know, you go out
and you follow them for a couplelaps and they're doing
everything right. And like, you come back and talk
to them and they're super excited and like they know they
get it. That's awesome.
That's that's fun. Yeah, it, it, it, you know, I
can tell from a, a spectator standpoint and, you know, just
(42:04):
even or having just people, you know, race racers come up and
talk to me. It's like it, it changes your
day, it changes your ride home. It, it, it's, it's like another
tool in the, in the toolbox thatyou have of information that
that, that helps you in the future.
So, you know, helping people outis, is really good.
And, and, and you know, and you know, you guys, you know, don't
(42:26):
have to do it, right. It's not, I mean, I know you
enjoy coaching and stuff like that, but you don't have to give
back your time. You could just want to be at the
racetrack and just focus on yourself.
So, you know, taking that time out to give other people and to
help them and, and, and, and, you know, and yeah, the ones
that are open, it's easy, but you still have to, could try to
(42:47):
talk to the, the, the ones that you know, don't, don't want to
hear the truth. They want to hear their truth.
Yeah, Yeah. The total different thing, yeah,
that's there are some of those there.
There are definitely some of those out there.
So, you know, that's a huge deal.
And, and, and So what is it like, you know, working with
(43:09):
Penguin School, being part of that, being around, you know,
all these guys. I mean, I don't know how long
Eric's been racing, but he's probably been racing well over
30 plus years. Yeah, he, yeah, like 30 years
and he really like, just genuinely wants nothing more
than than to keep the sport going and, and to, you know,
(43:31):
help it grow and, and all that. And and that's really what what
the coaches are out there doing too, right?
Like it is we are telling peoplewhat we're coaching them.
They're they're improving and, you know, say, hey, like I
noticed you did this, this and this, right.
Like awesome, that's going to keep people coming back too, you
know what I mean? And not even from like a
business standpoint of we want to, you know, the school, it's
(43:54):
just it keeps the sport going. And that's that's kind of a huge
thing. There's a there's a lot of good
guys that that coach and girls that coach for Penguin.
You know, there's a lot of talented people, just a lot of
good people, you know, people that that you like working with
and and being on track with and,you know, get in the classroom,
you know, every now and again with with Jeff and then go out
(44:16):
there and race against them Saturday, Sunday and it's
awesome. You know, it's a lot of fun.
Try and do whatever we can to toto help all the students and try
and get them to come raise them.Ultimately is is kind of the
goal. Yeah, that's all I mean.
And you know, I, I remember Erictalking about this years ago and
(44:37):
you know, before some of the, the, the young folks we see
that's come out of the Penguin School in or in Motor America.
And, and to see that now years later, it's, it's pretty
incredible. It's easy to, to sit here and
say, Hey, this is what we want to do.
But then years later, you can actually see that the sport is
actually coming back. We see the attendance in in
(45:00):
what's going on in Motor Americanow and stuff like that.
Are we seeing what Moto GP wantsto do with giving the US 24 hour
the access to Moto GP and stuff like that?
So does the so it is really getting better.
Do you see that as well, you know?
Oh. Yeah, yeah, the you know what,
(45:22):
the Super street Class A bit a bit NEMA, right past two rounds
there's been like 20 something entrance.
Wow. And, and for the Super street
class, which is great, you know what I mean, It's it's like that
perfect stepping stone to to getpeople on, on the racetrack on a
Saturday and in that environment.
Yeah. Can you, can you just talk a
little bit more about this, the Super Street class?
(45:44):
Because unless you're at Loudon,I don't know if you know what
that is. So it's just kind of an in
between. It's a stepping stone from track
days to to racing on. So for, for Loudon, what they do
is on Saturday, they'll do a heat race to kind of set grids
for the next. I think don't they do two or
three more races throughout Saturday.
(46:06):
Sunday, I think it's 3. So they'll do the heat race to
set their grades. And then they, they get to go
and race with basically a trap day prep bike.
You know, they don't have to do the full race bike like like we
all have. And it's, it's good like they
get to go out there. They do, you know, lights, you
know, full start and it gets it gets it's a perfect transition
(46:28):
that gets people to go from thatto racing without all the
commitment upfront. You know, you don't have to go
buy a 10,012 thousand dollar race bike, you know, fully
bought, ready to go. You don't have to go do all that
work yourself if you're not comfortable doing that.
It's just it's a good, it's a good intermediate stuff there
and I so I'm going down to jersey this weekend and Azra has
(46:52):
a time trials thing they're doing this weekend, which I I
haven't seen before. I don't know if that's a new
thing, but it's, I believe if I remember correctly that I read
that track day guys can do it too.
So the racers and I think advanced their expert track day
riders go out and do this time trial thing and when you know,
(47:13):
whatever you win for fastest laptimes or top three or however
they do it. So it seems to be a thing where
they're they're trending towardshaving more of this this
stepping stone into racing, which is good.
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense because you know that the
commitment is real upfront 1 youknow, you don't know what you
need. So and then you're kind of, you
(47:34):
know, you're, you've already signed up for the class, you
probably already have a suit or you have a bike.
And then when you get there, youknow, there's a whole list of
things that you still need. So and that's not even signing
up for races. So to, to, for them to do that
and then for the, the public to react the way they're reacting
in the sense of more people are coming out and, and trying.
(47:55):
So it is definitely working. Let's, let's talk a little bit
about going to different tracks.You mentioned going to Jersey
after being at Loudon for so long.
I knew it was like for me when Ifirst got to Homestead, I went
to a different track. One of the things I learned is
that I suck at going right? So I, I had to work on that.
(48:15):
But like, you know, I know you've gone through a few tracks
now you know, what was your likeyour first impression?
Going to a new track other than Loudon and then just going to
different tracks over the years?The first time I went to a
different track, I don't remember if it was the homestead
or it might have been Pitt when we went down to Pitt race to the
(48:36):
Penguin day down there after Moto America.
It's it's a lot to, to try and learn a new track and, and kind
of I just, you have to start from zero with everything and,
and, you know, gearing quick. You're going to be in each
corner where all your reference points are and, and, and
(48:56):
everything. And it's a skill to be able to
learn a track and race it in a weekend like that to and be
competitive. You know what I mean?
That's a that's a, that's a skill that some of you have to
practice do and you can't not doit for a while until you're
going to turn up to a track and just just go fast, you know,
(49:17):
and, you know, be able to go on a track walk and understand what
you're looking at, right? Like, but maybe you took the
scooters around for, for a lap or two, right?
And just like you have to be able to do that and see what
you're, and know what you're looking at because otherwise
you, you're going, you're blind,you're trying to walk the track
at, you know, whatever speed you're going at each corner.
(49:39):
It just, it doesn't work that well.
You got to have a plan of attack.
Yeah, I I found that, you know, in the beginning it was really
hard because like I said, in 21,I think I did too in in 21, I
did 21 rounds, I believe. And and I think yeah, and I
think six of them weren't loud. And so at least I knew that
track. But Roeblin was new for the
(50:00):
first time. NC bike CMP jersey, you know,
these are Daytona, these tracks are all all new.
And what I found, I mean, it's, it's like it's, it's once you
Start learning new tracks, it becomes a little easier because
not yet using your brain in a different way.
(50:21):
But like the first few tracks was, was really hard to like,
you know, get a grasp on. But then like, after a while I
was just like, oh, I'm picking this up.
You know, you, you, you kind of just get used to it.
I don't know if it was the same for you as you're starting to go
to new tracks. It's just, you know, just
learning in the tracks. It's just, you know, the
process. It doesn't, it's not taking as
long as it used to. Granted, I'm not breaking lap
lap records or getting close to the lap record of the of a
(50:43):
middle weight bike or anything like that, but I found that as
the more I was getting to new tracks, it's it's just became a
little bit easier for me to to learn them.
Yeah, you learn how to learn basically, you know what I mean,
to kind of simplify this, you just, you learned how to pick
all these things, you know how to how to learn a track, how to
pick up what different corners are and you know all that stuff.
(51:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's a valuable skill.
And I know like, that's, that's one of the things when when you
do the advanced times with Eric,you know, he tells you he's
like, but what I'm telling you is not how to go fast out loud.
And I'm telling you how to go fast everywhere.
You can take this information and apply it to every track and
break every one of them down andyou know, every kind of corner
and, and what's, you know, what's important, what isn't?
(51:29):
That's that's an important thingto know if you're going to go
actually try and race in anothertrack, you know, you're trying
to track days. You still want to know that
stuff. It's not nearly as important
though. You know, it's just to to go
race somewhere else. There's a lot of work involved
in doing that part of it. Yeah, it, it, it is.
And let, and before we get out of here, let's talk a little bit
(51:50):
about your race prep. Well, I guess we heard of your
race prep then what is your raceprep now for the weekend?
You know, when do you start to prepare, you know, whether to go
to the track, but also mentally to go to the track.
Like do you, do you have a process for yourself that you
that you kind of lean on more these days?
(52:11):
No, at this point I just kind of, you know, it's, it's, it's
race week, you know, and it's kind of in that mode at work.
Like it's race week. I'm not going to be here Friday.
So, you know, whatever. So, so you already start
prepping from like Monday because.
It's like, yeah, it's. Kind of it's race week.
You're already kind of triggering like, you know, I got
to remember these things. I got to make sure I have this.
Yeah. Well, so I mean, it's now after
(52:34):
the first and it and it, but it's like every down to backing
my trailer into its spot, right.So once you get a couple of
rounds into the season, it's just it's easy.
You've done it a couple times, like you're back in that groove.
So it's like race prep, getting all the stuff basically, once my
garage is empty, I know I have everything, you know, like
that's that that's how I I know I'm good to go.
(53:00):
But yeah, it's it's you know, dolaundry a couple days before
make sure I have all my stuff ready to go And and truck is
trailers hooked up to the truck on on Wednesday night.
Yeah, I got a work. I have a separate work truck
company truck. So when I get home Thursday I
just parked company truck, get in my truck and I go to the
track. And nice, nice.
(53:21):
Do you have any any superstitions, any rituals?
I tend to drink a Red Bull in the morning on Saturday and
Sunday, and I'll have a Foster'sbeer at the end of the day.
Superstitions, no rituals. There's a couple different
things, you know, a couple things we do in the garage, you
(53:42):
know, things like lots to try, lots of different bourbon.
Somebody always brings somethingand we always try, you know,
bring something new. And that's kind of a just a one
of the things, you know. Yeah.
Other than that, no, no real superstitions or anything.
It's just, it's all kind of the,the same after a while, you
(54:03):
know, like you, you just, you dowhat you do.
I'm just, well, I'm saying like I always have Red Bull in my
cooler, but not necessarily likehave to have one before a
certain race or anything. Yeah.
No, it's, it's, it's all kind ofthe same.
We just get there. As long as I get there Thursday
night, like I like, I like to, it's all kind of, yeah, all just
(54:24):
kind of flows and happens. I didn't really think about it.
So I couldn't tell you what any of those, any of those
superstitions or any of that really is.
Right. Yeah, no, I, I hate that.
I don't, I don't have any of thesuperstition, just a couple of
rituals and that's about it. But you know, the biggest thing
is, you know, getting to the track early.
Like I've, I've tried getting inthe morning of the, the, the
race weekend or, or late night before.
(54:47):
None of that works. You really have to get there to
where you can set up, do everything you need to do, have
a good night's rest. Yeah, that's, that's the
biggest, the biggest thing is, is you know, don't, you can't
wake up in a panic Friday morning, you know, like rush to
get everything done. It's it's not going to work,
especially now because coaching spend so much time on track.
(55:08):
Like we don't have a bunch of time to, to spend throughout the
day working on our own stuff. I mean, we can if we have to,
like something breaks, whatever.But you know, you're there to
coach and help. So you want to be on track as
much as we can. So the yeah, the key is get
there, get there early and get set up and and just be able to
relax. Nice.
(55:28):
Yeah, That's that's some good advice.
And Mike, I want to thank you for coming on the show, man.
I really appreciate and you sharing your story with us.
It's it's pretty cool. And I'm I'm sure I'll see you on
a racetrack soon. My name is Rex 45.
We have Mike in the building. Peace.
Yeah.
Welcome back to another edition of the Be Forever Cool podcast.
My name is Rex 45 and this evening we got Mike in the
building. How's it going today, Mike?
That's. Bad.
How are? You pretty good, man, Pretty
good. Glad to get you on on the show
and hopefully, you know, get youget to tell us all about how you
got into writing and stuff like that.
(00:21):
So I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and
stuff like that. So, but let's jump into it and
and you know, and let us know how you got into riding.
What was it like for you? You know, were you fortunate to
be on a bike at a very young ageor you did something that you
decided to get into later in life?
Or you know how. What was your What made you
(00:42):
decide to get a jump on a bike? I always, I always wanted one.
I always wanted a bike and and my father always told me I would
never be allowed to own a motorcycle in his house when I
lived there. Never.
And when I turned around the time I turned 21, he was like,
yeah, I'm going to get my motorcycle license.
You want to go? I'm like, absolutely.
So I didn't start riding until Iwas 21.
(01:04):
Got you. That's that's interesting.
So you know, he he said not in your house.
And then did he ride before or he does at the time when you
turned 21, he also decided, you know, he wanted to ride too.
Yep. That's just, he just kind of one
day said I'm, I'm going to go get a, get my license, get a
bike and, you know, asked me andmy brother if we wanted to go
(01:25):
take the MSF course with him. So we did.
OK, that's what's up. Wow.
So what was that like one that yeah, you know, your dad, you
said, OK, let's go do it. Or you were you a little bit
shocked by that? And then what was what was the
course like? And and doing it with your dad
and your brother. Yeah, I was shocked and beyond
(01:45):
shocked, but I was more than happy to go do it.
Course was great. I, I thought, I thought the like
I said, I hadn't spent a lot of time on on a, you know, friends
that have like small dirt bikes,you know, whatever, ride those
around a little bit, but never anything more than a few minutes
here there. So to take that and then from at
(02:05):
the end of the weekend, have a license and be not proficient.
But you know what, I'd go and ride around on the road and you
know, survive was good. And that was actually that.
I remember the instructor for the course showing pictures.
He was, I don't know what organization he used to coach
for some tractor organization and he had a picture of himself
(02:26):
giving a A2 up ride to go out onACBR.
So like my first weekend automotive was like, really I
learned about. Racing.
Yeah. That that's pretty cool.
And and so, you know, taking thecourse were were you nervous?
I assume you rode a bicycle but nothing but an engine?
(02:48):
Or was it the the just, you know, being with your brother
and your dad just kind of made it more it's, you know, like, I
don't know if you're camping, but kind of like going camping
and just we figured out as we went along.
Yeah, no, I wasn't, wasn't too nervous.
Was pretty, pretty confident. My ability to do it, even though
it never had, you know, like I said, from this small amount of
time I'd actually spent on anything with a motor wasn't
(03:09):
like overly difficult, you know.Brother and father picked it up
real quick. Yeah, that it was.
We we all took to it pretty quickly.
My brother still rides. He's got a Ducat.
He doesn't ride it very often. Every once in a while he'll come
to the track. My father sold his bike a few
years ago. I'm the only one who took it to
the degree that I did. So OK, so you you got you guys
(03:33):
got the license and and did the course.
What did mom say? Not that she loves it.
OK, he loves it. I've even I you know, I my first
bike was ACBR 600 2006 and I took her for a ride on her a
couple times and you know she she likes it even though even
(03:56):
she's even been up to the track a few times.
You know, she's she's coming watching everything.
It's cool, obviously, Obviously nervous, scared any mother would
be, but. Yeah, so.
So you got ACBR. What did your brother get?
What did your dad get? Brother also got ACBR 600 and my
father got a Honda Shadow 750. And, and did you guys like ride
(04:18):
together to different places or you kind of just started to kind
of just doing your own thing? Maybe every once in a while we
we'd ride together, go do whatever.
Me and my brother, a couple of my friends, a few of my friends
at that point had had bikes. So like, you know, I'd spend
more time going out riding with them And, you know, I would
actually commute to work on it at that point, which I just
(04:39):
don't want to do now. Just doesn't really make sense.
But yeah, we, we would, we wouldride and my and my father just
kind of slowly, he would, you know, a little bit here and
there on the weekends. And that was really it.
He never really got too into it.Got you.
It's, it's, it's, it's interesting because you know,
(05:00):
people can start things togetherand certain people it sticks
with it and other people it kindof fade off.
So you got a, you got a, a, a, aCVR your brother did you got,
you know, your dad got the shadow.
How long before you started going to the track?
And you know, did you did you were already kind of researching
that stuff since the instructor kind of said, you know, hey,
(05:21):
here's, you know, you can also go to the track.
No, that that route, the instructor didn't really have
anything to do with it. When I, I got my I got a job
with the previous company that Iwas at, you know, and that was I
started there in 2007 February O7 never really said anything
about it. I just, I showed up to work one
(05:42):
day on my bike and the guy I wasworking for, he was like, you
have to go to the Penguin RacingSchool and, and try this and do
whatever. And come to find out he used to
race, you know, maybe 10 years before I met him.
And I was like, OK, fine. So I did my first track day in
O7 not not long after I got the the bike.
(06:03):
Yeah. And then it was, you know, once
a year from there, one or two a year.
And yeah. And.
And then so like, you know, how,how green were you going to the
track? I mean, did you already like I,
you had your race suit, you had boots, gloves, everything
trailer like, you know, because I was living out of my, I wasn't
living out of when I was at the track.
(06:23):
I was living out of my Audi wagon and a U-Haul trailer.
I well, I borrowed a trailer andI was only like I was only going
to doing Penguin one day and then coming home and I'm you
know, I live an hour, an hour, 15 minutes from loud.
So that that wasn't terrible. Rented suit, rented boots did
(06:44):
did the whole thing, but was instantly very comfortable on on
track. Yeah, and, and I remember the
the instructor who I didn't realize that the, you know, when
I bought the bike, but it was the same, the coach was the same
guy who sold me my, my CBR. He recognized me.
He's like, you know, we talked alittle bit after during one of
(07:05):
the following leader sessions. He's like, just come with me.
And we were just, you know, he was like just following me.
We're going to go by a bunch of people and which is very
comfortable with it, you know, just kind of just kind of took
to it. Right.
And did your brother or dad do track days or that was just on
you? No, that that's not there that
my, my brother does now he'll come up every once in a while
(07:26):
and like maybe one a year he'll come up.
And but you know, if, if I didn't have two bikes fully
built ready to go and an extra gear and access to all this
stuff, I, I don't know if he would or not, but he likes it
when he comes up. So, you know, no pressure.
He's not, he's never going to goracing, which is fine.
You know it's cool. Got you.
(07:49):
And and so you did the Penguin acouple of times, Yeah.
Did you do the classroom or backthen, was it just you just
signed up and you just did the track?
When I did it the first time, the only there was no track
experience group like there is now with the C&D group.
It was just license certificate as far as I remember, which is
license certification and then, you know, maybe the advanced
(08:11):
class because I remember leavingwith a a certificate that I
could get a race license if I wanted to within the year.
I didn't, I love that, that I didn't start racing until 2016.
I want a while. Right, right.
So, OK, so a couple of years going a few times a year, did
(08:31):
you bump up the track day to going more often or you just
kind of kept it a couple of times a year until you and and
and I guess when did you decide to start racing?
No, I just, I just kept it to a couple of one or two times a
year. And when I bought my Pentagali,
I just said no, keep the CBR anduse that on the track and
whatever because I don't want tocrash the the Ducati.
(08:51):
And then I mean from 2010, 2009,2010 to probably 2018, nineteen
where I was playing football, still organized better football,
tackle football. But when that was starting to
(09:12):
end, I was when I I got hurt a bunch of times.
So when that was starting ahead,I started going more towards
track days and everything. And I was a little older and I
was more financially secure to be able to go do something like
that. You know what I mean?
So yeah, September 2016 is for my first race weekend.
Oh wow. And what was what was that like?
(09:33):
I mean, and so when you were doing the track days and going
up where you you weren't sticking around to watch the
races or anything like that. So.
Nope. No, I was going up coming home.
I was and I the only other thingI remember from my first track
day was I some guy over by the center garage as I was talking
to him and he just looked at me,he's like, you're going to start
(09:54):
racing. And I had no idea like anything
like. And he he was right.
It was just going to be way farther down the road because I
really at that point wasn't, didn't have too much interest in
doing that. But yeah, it's, I mean,
eventually. So was there like any catalyst
that said, OK, 2016, I'm going or just really just all right, I
(10:16):
needed something else to do because football ended and you
know, you just because were you watching like, you know, Moto
America, Moto GP or anything like that at that time?
Started to watch Moto GP around 20/11/2012.
So I've been watching it for a few years and, you know,
football was ending and I was like, you know, again, like
started to have some money savedwhere I could whatever again.
(10:39):
So let's let's go do this. Let's see how.
Let's see what happens. Was your was your first race
weekend like Saturday like? So actually you said my first I
I got my I did my license for the I got my license class was
the two day 2 day school in June.
I didn't end up racing until September, but crashed that
(11:01):
weekend. That was that was my first track
crash was just before I started.I showed up with my CBR and
again, I don't know anybody who's really doing this right.
Like it's just I'm like, I'm just going to go race.
I showed up with my CBR still had St. plastics, no case
covers, no nothing like nothing.It was just Oh my God, what?
(11:22):
I'm just going to go race and the guys in 11 and 12 N the guys
that were in that garage were like, come here, like we're
going to help you. And they did and they took me in
and they they helped me big timeand got me through that weekend.
And it was, yeah, that that was kind of it from there.
(11:43):
Yeah, so you were hooked from there?
Yeah, yeah, it was. Well, I, I do remember going in
my first race after my rookie race, going into Turn 3 and
somebody in front of me basically went over the
handlebars. Gone real banged and I was only
maybe 10 feet off this tire. I wasn't that far off and I had
to stop like at the wall and whatever and I I just kind of
(12:04):
stopped was like what am I doinghere?
Why am I doing this? Yeah, yeah, I, I had that moment
in the probably like the first session of the of the of getting
the license class when they takeyou out, I'm like, I have no
idea what they were talking about.
And it's the same thing. It's just like, you sure you
want to do this? But by the end of the day I I
(12:26):
was hooked. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. What?
You know what you know, right. Like you, I'm sure you now, now
talk to people who doing their first track days, second track
days, whatever. And you talk to them and you're
like, yeah, you're not going anywhere.
It's you can tell. Yeah.
It's, it's very interesting. So, so you, you know, you, you,
you, you know, I guess we could talk about this now like, you
(12:47):
know, how cool the race community is that, you know, you
show up as a stranger and, and people take time out of their
day to help you get set up. And you know, it's not a matter
of just changing plastics. You probably had to drill
safety, safety wire holes and stuff like that for the bike and
all this stuff. So, you know, they probably
spending a few hours of the timeand, and you know, did you know
(13:11):
the community was, was that awesome and you know, back then
and, or was it like your first glimpse into it when, when that
happened? No, that that was that was the
first, first glimpse of it. That was because it it wasn't
even like it was just a real quick, like, Hey, you got to do
this, this and this. It was throughout the entire
weekend. And then I came back for
October, the October round, and it was the whole time, every
(13:33):
time I was there, you know, it was and it was little things.
It was so from where we are in the north garage, you can see
turn three and four and somebodyand you know, they made second
call, third call, whatever. And I'm ready to go.
And the guys like stop, wait, you'll see people when they
finally start to come around this corner, then you go right.
And it was just everything from from start to finish.
(13:55):
They help me with every little bit along the way.
And I'm, I'm still in there. I'm I'm still with some of those
guys in that garage. So yeah, it's a unbelievable
group of people and really in any, in any, you know, any pit,
any garage, whatever, anywhere you go, people are always
willing to help. So.
Yeah, yeah. And I I agree in anywhere you
(14:18):
go, you know, there's people willing to help.
So you OK, so you're racing the you're racing the the CBR600.
You're in the middle weight class.
Somebody, you know, goes out in front of you and and you know,
do you? Do you do you know, did you
notice in that moment or maybe afterwards how you reacted
(14:38):
versus like people who have beenthere for a while and seeing
these things? Because for, you know, for me, I
was looking around like it like shook and you know, there were a
lot there was like people are just calm.
It's just part of it. You, you know, they know medic
is there and stuff like that. But I, I definitely was just
like, Oh my goodness, you know, this is crazy.
I didn't notice anybody at the time.
(14:59):
No, I think that was, I had kindof that same reaction just like
this is this is wild, but why? Why?
What am I doing? I don't even really think.
I don't remember bringing it up to anybody, to be honest.
I just got pulled back on, got back on the track and kept
going. And that was that was pretty
much it. But yeah, you know, you notice
(15:19):
after a while, you know, newer people get a little worried when
there's a crash and people that have been around a while, just
like, no, they're up there fine,all right, We're good.
If you see, if you see somebody who's been around for a while
start running like then yeah, you know, something's happened.
You know, that's the, that's thesign because most of us go, shit
(15:40):
happens. And and keep it moving.
So what was your writing like? I mean, you had a, you had a a
good amount of time, maybe not alot of on time track, but you
had like, you know, six years ofdoing track days and stuff.
So like when you first started racing in 2016, you know, what
(16:00):
was like, what was your body position like?
What was your, your, your, your starting?
I mean, at that point I'm looking at a race in mind yet,
but starting to do, you know, figure that out.
So how are you the 1st that thatfirst weekend of racing?
All right, I guess I mean, I don't really have anything to
any way to compare it judge it to.
(16:22):
I mean, I can't even you can't even find the track times, the
the the lab times, the results on online anymore.
That was all on track and tell them it's gone.
Won my rookie race. I know that other than that,
like I, I don't really I know I bought my body tissue was
terrible. I didn't didn't understand and I
(16:43):
didn't really understand or learn how to learn how to go
fast for years for a couple years after that.
You know what I mean? Like it was just kind of out
there just hoping my way throughit, you know, no real plan of
attack. I know nothing.
So it was just, it was, it was for fun at 1st and then it kind
(17:05):
of got serious at a certain point.
Right, right. So, yeah, let's talk about the,
the fun and, and the one that got serious.
And you know, were you, did you try to do every round in in 2016
or did you decide to do that in 2017?
Like, you know, what was, I mean, you're having fun.
But like, you know, for me, I, it was like what I mean, I
(17:25):
started in 2013 and in 2015 I, Iwas trying to go, I was going to
every 2015. I started going every round, you
know, So like, what was that like?
So I, I started in September. So I only did September, October
of 2016 came out and did was it May, April and May of 2017?
(17:50):
The so in April of 2017 or May, I'm sorry, May got bumped up to
amateur at that point. And then that I was that was one
of my last years playing football.
So I still, I was, you know, games were on Saturday.
So I couldn't, you know, go raceand all whatever conflicts.
(18:11):
I one day did try and race and then drive home and play
football. And that did not end well.
I was, I did a, did a, a GT and then another race and then just,
you know, pack all my stuff, went home and went and played a
football game a couple hours later and was, but yeah, it was
I, I didn't get to, I didn't do every round in 2017.
(18:33):
And then in 2018, I was like, all right, I'm going to go going
to go do this this year. OK, so we like, yeah, let's talk
about 2018, your amateur and at this point you've only been to
Loudon or did you start to go toother tracks?
No, it was only Loudon for a long time.
That's the only place I've ridden until 2019.
I think that that was the only place I had gone.
(18:54):
Yeah, same here. Same here.
So, yeah. So, you know, 2018, the amateur,
I think I remember that a littlebit.
There's a lot of people in the paddock around that time too,
man. So what was it like?
You know, you said you you won the rookie race, now you got
bumped up to an amateur, did you?
Where you at? At in the middle of the back of
(19:14):
the pack for a little bit. What was you know?
I was in the back. I was in the back for a long
time. I was in the back and that was
some of my favorite races. Like some of my most fun races
that I've had were back of the pack racing Tom Hines to not be
last amateur like like that was that was it.
I had actually had a ton of fun doing that, you know, get get
(19:37):
in, get into the front tonight and all that.
But just having a a good like clean race and and actually
racing people was a lot of fun. And there was a lot of that
going on in 2018, as far as I remember.
Yeah, yeah, there definitely wasa lot.
I, I'm trying to think how many I think I might have been doing.
Well, yeah. I mean, I wasn't there as much
(19:57):
in 2018, 'cause I jacked myself up in 2017.
I wasn't really there towards the end.
So it's kind of, yeah, it was kind of rough for me in 2017 and
18. Now that I think about, you
know, yeah, 'cause yeah, I mean,yeah.
So August. I'd, you know, I'd frack broke a
(20:19):
gun into a car accident on the streets and, you know, lacerated
my spleen and fractured my hand and stuff like that.
So I was, I was I, I missed pretty much from August on and
and part of 2019. So a little ridiculous, but you
know, a A at what point did you start to like, OK, I'm I'm
starting to figure this out. My body position is is is
(20:40):
starting to get better I'm I'm figuring out certain corners or
even just like starting to thinkabout racing in a different way,
right, Not just going out there and having fun, but you know
looking at it in a way that you're trying to get better now
that. That was summer mid 2018 that,
that all kind of started to cometogether.
I don't remember why or when exactly or, or what happened,
(21:02):
but I just towards the end of that year, I was like, well,
this now it's how do I get faster and what am I doing?
And then, you know, Fast forwardto the beginning of 2019.
I crashed the CBR and turn 8 scented flying through the
gravel at 9 and 15 feet up in the air and then destroyed it.
(21:23):
So it was time for at that pointI was like, well, going to buy a
new bike. It's all in.
And that's what it was from the time I bought the, the ZXX in in
May, I think I June, yeah, June or July, I got picked it up.
That was it from then on, that that's what I was, that's what I
(21:44):
was doing it. Was and, and yeah, refresh my
memory. Did you buy it already built or
did you buy it and build it? Yeah, so over over the
offseason, from 18 to 19, I was going back and forth with Leroy
all the time. You know, that was a that was a
lot of fun. Something was said about me
getting a new bike or doing whatever.
(22:04):
And, and Scott Mullen had had commented on the post that, you
know, I have AZX 6, it's alreadybuilt that he had been, he had
been, you know, it had been because that was the 2019 was
the first year the new, new body, new fairings, new body
stuff. So they used all those fairings
and armor bodies, the, the bike that Scott had, they sent those
(22:25):
fairings to armor bodies. And you know, Woodcraft was
using it for R&D and whatever. So he just happened to have this
bike and then after I crashed, I, I sent a message like, do you
still have it? And he's like, Yep, I do.
And that was it. I, I bought it fully, fully
built, took it off the showroom floor and two days later brought
it to, to Palmer to test it out.That was it.
(22:49):
But it was like fully built, ready to go bike.
So that was that was, that was not really the cheapest way to
do it, but that was, you know, Ithink that.
Yeah. I mean, I think in the, in the
hopefully in the long run it's cheaper, but you got to put all
that that cash up front where ifyou have to build it yourself,
you can kind of, you know, pieceit together is based on how you
(23:09):
feel like and stuff like that. Yeah, it's, it's not what he was
doing too, you know, I mean, like I got AI, got a bike from
somebody who knew what they weredoing.
Yeah. I mean, like it was all set.
I didn't have to worry about anything.
And when the and I mean it was apretty immediate the difference.
I mean, obviously it's ones a Honda, ones a Cowie.
(23:31):
But as far as like suspension and just power and stuff like,
well, you know, we want to talk about power because again, a
little different. Did you notice the difference
right away? Immediately I got on, I got on
that they hit Palmer. I, one of the guys that I was in
the garage with Loudon happened to be at Palma and I was like, I
could do and at that time my best was like, you know, high
(23:51):
nineteens and I was like, I could do eighteens on this bike.
And then the following weekend Idid, you know what I mean?
Like I, I knew instantly it justwas way better.
And that's I, I still love this,you guys.
I thought it was great. I just didn't fit on it very
well. It was, it was really cramped.
Yeah, it's it's interesting how,you know, we got all these
different manufacturers and and,you know, certain bikes fit
(24:11):
certain people. It's it's such a weird thing.
So you so you got to you got to build bike.
You know how how much of that the bike or your confidence.
I mean, I assume you got you went into 2019 like you know,
ready to fight in the middle to upfront.
Yeah, that was, it was starting to get, starting to get to that
(24:34):
point where yeah, that, that that's kind of where I was at
was up there, you know, top 10s in the dash.
I think I got A at one point I did on the on the ZX6 at one
point, I think I got third in the dash as in in 2019.
So yeah, that was, that was all.Like I said, as soon as I got
(24:55):
the that ZX6, it all just kind of changed.
Like it was all, it just suited me better.
And yeah, and everything just kind of kind of came together,
which, you know, once that happens, now you're you're going
back, you're in what, when once you started having a little bit
of success, like you're going towalk away from that.
(25:17):
Not, not at all. I mean, that's, that's that's
the crazy part about it. You know, you just you, you're
trying to you start thinking about because I think for for
20/19 was the first time I went to Homestead.
So that's the first time anotheranother track for me and, and
just, you know, seeing that. So, you know, you mentioned
going to Palmer and stuff like that after going to Loudon, did
(25:40):
did that change anything for yougoing to a different track, just
seeing a different layout? I.
Remember thinking it was pretty easy, Yeah, like just something
about it just because it just didn't have, you know, the turn
3 and I and I and I haven't, I haven't been there.
I haven't been there since. So, I mean, I've only been there
one, one time. I so I just don't remember being
(26:02):
a very difficult like, I mean, there are walls and stuff
everywhere, right? Like you can never race Almer,
but I just yeah, I I don't remember being as as difficult
as loud as it was still fun, though.
I I had a blast. It was totally kind of and I
think it's kind of like, you know, New York, you know, you go
to New York and you can do, you know, 8590% and still have a
(26:26):
really good time. You know, you don't, you don't
have to go 100% and risk anything out.
You don't want to do that out there, in my opinion.
But you know, you can go ahead and just ride there at 85, nine
percent and have a blast. And I think that's kind of what
Palmer was from what I remember.Yeah, I I've only been there
once myself. It might have been around the
(26:46):
same time if, if, if memory served, it might have been a one
and one and done. So you know, you got the, you
got the, the new built bike, you're getting quicker and stuff
like that. You know, are you, are you doing
any kind of training outside of track day and just going to the
track or you know, did you, did you do maybe like the advanced
(27:08):
Penguin School or anything like that?
I did the advanced school a couple times and you know, each
time I did it, I got faster. Have you, have you done it?
Have you, you've taken a class like there's more information
than anybody can process in a day in that class.
Like Eric will spend and out, ifyou give him three hours, he'll
(27:30):
spend 3 hours talking about turn1, you know what I mean?
And it, it pays off, it's 100% worth it.
But it's just, it's so much information that you have to
take it multiple times in order to, to, to get everything out of
it. So I did that a little bit, did
that a couple times, you know, drop a little little bit of time
each each time. And I think when I get the end
of 2019, maybe in the dash or something, I did a 79.
(27:57):
So that that's kind of how I finished off, finished off that
year. It was it was a pretty good it
was a huge jump for me anyway for for one year to go from
yeah, this is this is fun. This is what I'm doing.
I like doing it to Now it's herewe go, you.
Know, here we go. Yeah.
So, you know, 2020 we come around.
I I assume you had big plans andthe world had a little different
(28:18):
plan for us because we had the pandemic and stuff like that.
What was that like? And and then, you know, I, I
assume you must have done the first round that Loudon like the
rest of us when we could and we had to keep our distances and
stuff like that. Nope, I couldn't do any of that.
November of 2019, I got home, mybrother got married in Aruba.
(28:41):
I got home from the wedding. Three days later, I was out
playing flag football and ruptured my patellar tendon in
my right knee, Which when after you have that surgery, your leg
is locked straight in a brace for six weeks.
I went back to work after a couple weeks just because I was
foreman on that job. I could do it, whatever.
(29:01):
And couple, so maybe two or three weeks after I got to
unlock the brace, I tore the ACLon my left knee walking into
work. Yeah.
So 2020 I, you know, because of COVID and everything, I couldn't
get my surgery and doctors weren't doing ACLS.
(29:24):
The only reason I got it done isbecause the way my meniscus tore
it made it an emergency necessary surgery.
So I got that done in like Aprilor May 2020.
Couldn't you know, it takes, youknow, a couple, couple months to
kind of get back, you know, comfortable with and you know,
your full range of motion and you strengthen your quads or
(29:46):
whatever. So probably maybe July,
September, July or August, I went out.
I was like, I'll go do a, a practice day, see how I feel.
I went into Turn 6 and I went totry and get my foot back from
shifting back onto the, my toes back onto the pegs and I
(30:08):
couldn't, I couldn't do it. I lost all they used my
hamstring for a graft. So I didn't have any hamstring
strength. I couldn't get my leg back at
night. I was so I like parked it and
one of the experts almost hit meand I felt horrible my I, I
couldn't do it so I didn't get to ride at all 2020.
It was wow, wow. Yeah.
(30:28):
So, you know, as I mentioned earlier, my injuries and stuff
like that, you got racing on thebrain.
There's a pandemic happen and, and you got to recover like, you
know, so like what was recovery like for you?
And especially having a season like 2019, getting your fastest
time and now you're sitting out all of 2020.
(30:51):
You know how you know, you know,how motivated were you?
And it because you know, for me,I, you know, from being around
racing and stuff like that, you get hurt, you go recover, you go
do everything you need to do. And that's just kind of how I
approached it, you know, I, it, for me, I all of what, 20 when I
(31:13):
came back in 2019, I probably shouldn't have been riding until
my hand healed because by the end of 2019, my body position
was all jacked up because I was compensating for my wrist
hurting and stuff like that. And I really had to, you'll go
in and, and, and deal with that in the sense that like, OK, I
went to, I got the RC390 just tofix body position, go slow
(31:33):
because then and, and I'm still strengthening my hand.
So you know what, what was, you know, recovery like for you?
And just the mental part of thatbecause it's, you know, it's a
process. The, the recovery, recovery
wasn't terrible as far as far aslike, you know, actually being
able to function and go do my, my day-to-day stuff.
(31:55):
Not long after the ACL surgery, I was, I was riding my bicycle
and doing stuff and, and, you know, all that stuff was fine
because of the hamstring part. Riding was really difficult
mentally was awful to the point where like my mother and my
girlfriend have all said to me that, you know, it, it's
dangerous. And yeah, like, we don't love
(32:17):
the fact that you do this, but we'll never ask you to stop
because of how miserable I was to be around in 2020.
Like, I, I, I watched, I, I was like, you know, different
weekends. I'd be, you know, because now I
have weekends, you know, more weekends to go do stuff, be on
the boat, my friend's boats and whatever out of the lake.
And I'm watching live timing andI'm watching all the guys that I
(32:41):
was, you know, up at the front with get way faster and I'll
bump up the expert that year. And I can't race.
And I was miserable. I was a horrible person to be
around. So yeah, that was that was
tough. That's that sucks.
To have it have it taken from you is the worst.
It's one thing if you decide to give it up.
If it's taken from you, that's terrible.
(33:01):
Got you. So and, and so you know, OK, so
you got through 2020, I assume you came back in 21 and you
know, what was that like coming back?
And you know, did you, you know,did you did, were you working
out and stuff like that just to strength, strengthen your body
to prepare to go racing? Yeah, I was doing everything,
(33:23):
everything I could to to just totry and get back in whatever way
I could, you know, whatever I could do to modify the bike
ergonomics and stuff like that. You know, like at one point if
you went and looked at my bike, I had three pieces of sea foam
stacked on there, so. Remember that?
Yeah. Yeah, to change the yeah to so I
could actually have enough leg room to move my foot around and
(33:45):
do all that stuff right. And I guess for for the viewers,
how tall are you? 61 OK.
Are you not a small guy? No, it's, it's a little cramped,
but yeah, it was whatever, whatever I could do.
You know, I got, I got things tolower my foot pegs and raise my
(34:07):
seat and, and just do anything Icould to, to make it fit, you
know, make it work. You know, when you had your
wrist thing, like you say, you, you do whatever you can to, to
make it work and, and figure outhow to, how to get around it.
Because if it doesn't get any better, you still got to figure
out something, right. Like.
Oh, yeah, and you know, for me, like, you know, I had to get
(34:28):
help getting the getting the glove off my hand and sometimes
getting it on because my, my, mywrist was on fire.
Still still got back out there, though.
Yeah, we're. Not smart like we're we're still
going to go out, we're still going to go race.
We're not smart. But yeah, I never got to go do
it. Yeah, that's that's that's the
(34:49):
craziest part about that. So in 2021, by the end of 21,
did did you feel you were as fast as you were at the end of
2019 or did you like, OK, 22, I'll get there.
It was, yeah, I was starting. I was starting to get there
again. I was starting to get there.
(35:09):
I had this, this thing where I'dbeen an amateur for so long at
that point that like, you know, in the, in the, in the Facebook
group and stuff, like there werepeople going back and forth
about who's going to win what orwhatever.
And I've been there for so long that people were like, Oh yeah,
I'm going to, people would say Iwas going to be up at the front
for middle weight Grand Prix. And then, you know, people like
(35:32):
Mike Lee came around and, you know, I think it was 2122 and
going fast and you know, like there's always somebody coming
up. So it's like I was still up
towards the front, but I was never like winning all the races
like that or anything, but stillracing against up up there with
a bunch of guys that were going pretty good.
So yeah, like, like somebody. Coming along to to, you know,
(35:56):
make you go faster. That's why I got that two O 6 in
Daytona. So it was just like, I got to
get this guy. Well, yeah, that's, yeah, that
somebody, somebody passing you or doing whatever will will make
you do things that you never thought you'd be able to do,
right. Yeah, for sure.
The red mist, you're like, I'm I'm doing it now.
(36:17):
Going to winter crash, but yeah,we go.
Yeah, no, I agree. It's, it's such a, you know, you
know, for me in 21, I started going to other tracks, you know,
outside aloud and I racing the other tracks outside aloud.
And I guess in 2019 I did homestead, but I didn't do
anything really in 20. Towards the end of 2020, I did
(36:40):
homestead again. In 2021 is when I started going
up and down the East Coast doingAzra and CCS and you know, being
around gym and, and Sergio, those guys, you know, you know,
really got me to, to perform at a different level.
Because you know when, when you first get out there, you know,
(37:00):
you know, if it's, if it might rain, I'm not racing.
You know, if, if I didn't plug my tire warmer with enough time
on for the tire to get warm up, I wasn't racing.
You know, all these things that,you know, if it wasn't right, I,
I wasn't racing and, and, and then just seeing them getting
over adversity of, of things breaking and they still got the
race suit on and, and, and they're still trying to get back
(37:23):
out there and race and they'll get out there race and get on
the podium. So did racing do anything like
that for you? Like, you know, have your view
of like overcoming adversity. I mean, you played football, so
I assume in football you probably already saw that
anyway, playing on teams and stuff like that.
But what is it like, you know, dealing, you know, I think one
time we talked about like, you know, rain ties, racing in the
(37:44):
rain and stuff like that. And you know, I finally started
doing it in 21 and I've been racing for like 7 years and
didn't race in the rain at all. Yeah, Well, that that was, you
know, down at Pitt, right. You were like, I don't know,
it's going to round. I don't know if I'm going to do
it. Yeah, you got to Yeah, I know
it's it's a different it's a it's a different thing than than
(38:05):
you know, I've I've played team sports my whole life.
It's there's still always team sports is still always you can
lose and you could have done everything and still another guy
that maybe didn't do their job or do well, whatever.
Racing is up to you, man. Like it's it's it's it's you got
to you're having a bad weekend. You got to find a way to turn it
(38:25):
around. You have a bad year.
You got to find a way to turn around and it's it's up to you
completely. And you have to have the, the
mental strength and ability to be able to do that, you know,
and, and I'm just, you know, andconfidence really like the whole
thing, just being confident. And if you don't have that, you
just, you're not going to be able to do it, not well anyway.
(38:45):
You'll be able to go out there and turn laps, but you're not
going to be at your best. Right.
Yeah. And, and it's such A, and it's
such a confidence is such a tricky thing because you know,
it, it's, you know, sometimes it's, it's as simple as, you
know, a, a mechanic saying they changed something on your bike
that was wrong. And, and regardless if that was
(39:07):
true or not, that's a whole different story.
But just somebody saying something to it gives you more
confident to just take a little bit more risk that that's out of
your comfort zone and and that makes the difference and, and it
changes your world. Yeah, it, it, it does.
It doesn't even have to be anything major.
It, you know, it's, it's all little things that you have to
put together. So now, now I'm coaching
(39:29):
Penguin. That's one of the things trying
to, you know, it's not huge leaps and bounds that you, that
you're trying to get people to, to do.
You know, every, every session you go ahead, work on this
little thing in this corner thistime, you know, try for a
couple, a couple laps and and then from there, build on that.
You know, it's, it's never just a huge thing.
And still, you know, coaching. I still got to tell myself that
(39:54):
all the time. Go ahead.
Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit more.
You had gotten bumped up to expert and stuff and and so
like, you know, what made you decide to get into coaching and
and how's it been, you know, to to help people out and, and get
them a little faster? And is that also making you look
(40:16):
at yourself a little differentlywhen you race?
Yeah. So we got the the get bumped up
the extra thing. I, I that year 2022, there was
six of us in middle weight that got bumped up that year or
(40:36):
something like that. Like that whole group was really
good and that pushed all of us to just go faster, right.
It was a, it was a pretty good group.
They're all, we're all still, still racing right now, which,
you know, doesn't really happen very often.
You know, people come and go andwhatever, but that, that whole
group is, still, is still going,which is pretty cool.
(40:57):
The, the coaster thing. So I coached Pop Warner, I
coached high school football andstuff.
And really at work, I'm really big on teaching apprentices.
Like I, I like doing that for, you know, whatever I can do to
help them or whatever. So when it kind of came came to
that point, Tom Hines for a longtime was trying to get me in in,
(41:19):
in in coach with Penguin. So when the opportunity came
along, I was like, yeah, absolutely love to.
It's it's been really good and it's cool not to, you know, not
to talk bad about anybody. There's some people you talk to
like they don't get it, they're not going to get it.
And and that's fine. You want to go out there and,
and, you know, spend laps and, and have fun that that's cool.
(41:43):
But when you, you're dealing with somebody and you're
coaching them and like, they getit and you, you know, you go out
and you follow them for a couplelaps and they're doing
everything right. And like, you come back and talk
to them and they're super excited and like they know they
get it. That's awesome.
That's that's fun. Yeah, it, it, it, you know, I
can tell from a, a spectator standpoint and, you know, just
(42:04):
even or having just people, you know, race racers come up and
talk to me. It's like it, it changes your
day, it changes your ride home. It, it, it's, it's like another
tool in the, in the toolbox thatyou have of information that
that, that helps you in the future.
So, you know, helping people outis, is really good.
And, and, and you know, and you know, you guys, you know, don't
(42:26):
have to do it, right. It's not, I mean, I know you
enjoy coaching and stuff like that, but you don't have to give
back your time. You could just want to be at the
racetrack and just focus on yourself.
So, you know, taking that time out to give other people and to
help them and, and, and, and, you know, and yeah, the ones
that are open, it's easy, but you still have to, could try to
(42:47):
talk to the, the, the ones that you know, don't, don't want to
hear the truth. They want to hear their truth.
Yeah, Yeah. The total different thing, yeah,
that's there are some of those there.
There are definitely some of those out there.
So, you know, that's a huge deal.
And, and, and So what is it like, you know, working with
(43:09):
Penguin School, being part of that, being around, you know,
all these guys. I mean, I don't know how long
Eric's been racing, but he's probably been racing well over
30 plus years. Yeah, he, yeah, like 30 years
and he really like, just genuinely wants nothing more
than than to keep the sport going and, and to, you know,
(43:31):
help it grow and, and all that. And and that's really what what
the coaches are out there doing too, right?
Like it is we are telling peoplewhat we're coaching them.
They're they're improving and, you know, say, hey, like I
noticed you did this, this and this, right.
Like awesome, that's going to keep people coming back too, you
know what I mean? And not even from like a
business standpoint of we want to, you know, the school, it's
(43:54):
just it keeps the sport going. And that's that's kind of a huge
thing. There's a there's a lot of good
guys that that coach and girls that coach for Penguin.
You know, there's a lot of talented people, just a lot of
good people, you know, people that that you like working with
and and being on track with and,you know, get in the classroom,
you know, every now and again with with Jeff and then go out
(44:16):
there and race against them Saturday, Sunday and it's
awesome. You know, it's a lot of fun.
Try and do whatever we can to toto help all the students and try
and get them to come raise them.Ultimately is is kind of the
goal. Yeah, that's all I mean.
And you know, I, I remember Erictalking about this years ago and
(44:37):
you know, before some of the, the, the young folks we see
that's come out of the Penguin School in or in Motor America.
And, and to see that now years later, it's, it's pretty
incredible. It's easy to, to sit here and
say, Hey, this is what we want to do.
But then years later, you can actually see that the sport is
actually coming back. We see the attendance in in
(45:00):
what's going on in Motor Americanow and stuff like that.
Are we seeing what Moto GP wantsto do with giving the US 24 hour
the access to Moto GP and stuff like that?
So does the so it is really getting better.
Do you see that as well, you know?
Oh. Yeah, yeah, the you know what,
(45:22):
the Super street Class A bit a bit NEMA, right past two rounds
there's been like 20 something entrance.
Wow. And, and for the Super street
class, which is great, you know what I mean, It's it's like that
perfect stepping stone to to getpeople on, on the racetrack on a
Saturday and in that environment.
Yeah. Can you, can you just talk a
little bit more about this, the Super Street class?
(45:44):
Because unless you're at Loudon,I don't know if you know what
that is. So it's just kind of an in
between. It's a stepping stone from track
days to to racing on. So for, for Loudon, what they do
is on Saturday, they'll do a heat race to kind of set grids
for the next. I think don't they do two or
three more races throughout Saturday.
(46:06):
Sunday, I think it's 3. So they'll do the heat race to
set their grades. And then they, they get to go
and race with basically a trap day prep bike.
You know, they don't have to do the full race bike like like we
all have. And it's, it's good like they
get to go out there. They do, you know, lights, you
know, full start and it gets it gets it's a perfect transition
(46:28):
that gets people to go from thatto racing without all the
commitment upfront. You know, you don't have to go
buy a 10,012 thousand dollar race bike, you know, fully
bought, ready to go. You don't have to go do all that
work yourself if you're not comfortable doing that.
It's just it's a good, it's a good intermediate stuff there
and I so I'm going down to jersey this weekend and Azra has
(46:52):
a time trials thing they're doing this weekend, which I I
haven't seen before. I don't know if that's a new
thing, but it's, I believe if I remember correctly that I read
that track day guys can do it too.
So the racers and I think advanced their expert track day
riders go out and do this time trial thing and when you know,
(47:13):
whatever you win for fastest laptimes or top three or however
they do it. So it seems to be a thing where
they're they're trending towardshaving more of this this
stepping stone into racing, which is good.
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense because you know that the
commitment is real upfront 1 youknow, you don't know what you
need. So and then you're kind of, you
(47:34):
know, you're, you've already signed up for the class, you
probably already have a suit or you have a bike.
And then when you get there, youknow, there's a whole list of
things that you still need. So and that's not even signing
up for races. So to, to, for them to do that
and then for the, the public to react the way they're reacting
in the sense of more people are coming out and, and trying.
(47:55):
So it is definitely working. Let's, let's talk a little bit
about going to different tracks.You mentioned going to Jersey
after being at Loudon for so long.
I knew it was like for me when Ifirst got to Homestead, I went
to a different track. One of the things I learned is
that I suck at going right? So I, I had to work on that.
(48:15):
But like, you know, I know you've gone through a few tracks
now you know, what was your likeyour first impression?
Going to a new track other than Loudon and then just going to
different tracks over the years?The first time I went to a
different track, I don't remember if it was the homestead
or it might have been Pitt when we went down to Pitt race to the
(48:36):
Penguin day down there after Moto America.
It's it's a lot to, to try and learn a new track and, and kind
of I just, you have to start from zero with everything and,
and, you know, gearing quick. You're going to be in each
corner where all your reference points are and, and, and
(48:56):
everything. And it's a skill to be able to
learn a track and race it in a weekend like that to and be
competitive. You know what I mean?
That's a that's a, that's a skill that some of you have to
practice do and you can't not doit for a while until you're
going to turn up to a track and just just go fast, you know,
(49:17):
and, you know, be able to go on a track walk and understand what
you're looking at, right? Like, but maybe you took the
scooters around for, for a lap or two, right?
And just like you have to be able to do that and see what
you're, and know what you're looking at because otherwise
you, you're going, you're blind,you're trying to walk the track
at, you know, whatever speed you're going at each corner.
(49:39):
It just, it doesn't work that well.
You got to have a plan of attack.
Yeah, I I found that, you know, in the beginning it was really
hard because like I said, in 21,I think I did too in in 21, I
did 21 rounds, I believe. And and I think yeah, and I
think six of them weren't loud. And so at least I knew that
track. But Roeblin was new for the
(50:00):
first time. NC bike CMP jersey, you know,
these are Daytona, these tracks are all all new.
And what I found, I mean, it's, it's like it's, it's once you
Start learning new tracks, it becomes a little easier because
not yet using your brain in a different way.
(50:21):
But like the first few tracks was, was really hard to like,
you know, get a grasp on. But then like, after a while I
was just like, oh, I'm picking this up.
You know, you, you, you kind of just get used to it.
I don't know if it was the same for you as you're starting to go
to new tracks. It's just, you know, just
learning in the tracks. It's just, you know, the
process. It doesn't, it's not taking as
long as it used to. Granted, I'm not breaking lap
lap records or getting close to the lap record of the of a
(50:43):
middle weight bike or anything like that, but I found that as
the more I was getting to new tracks, it's it's just became a
little bit easier for me to to learn them.
Yeah, you learn how to learn basically, you know what I mean,
to kind of simplify this, you just, you learned how to pick
all these things, you know how to how to learn a track, how to
pick up what different corners are and you know all that stuff.
(51:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's a valuable skill.
And I know like, that's, that's one of the things when when you
do the advanced times with Eric,you know, he tells you he's
like, but what I'm telling you is not how to go fast out loud.
And I'm telling you how to go fast everywhere.
You can take this information and apply it to every track and
break every one of them down andyou know, every kind of corner
and, and what's, you know, what's important, what isn't?
(51:29):
That's that's an important thingto know if you're going to go
actually try and race in anothertrack, you know, you're trying
to track days. You still want to know that
stuff. It's not nearly as important
though. You know, it's just to to go
race somewhere else. There's a lot of work involved
in doing that part of it. Yeah, it, it, it is.
And let, and before we get out of here, let's talk a little bit
(51:50):
about your race prep. Well, I guess we heard of your
race prep then what is your raceprep now for the weekend?
You know, when do you start to prepare, you know, whether to go
to the track, but also mentally to go to the track.
Like do you, do you have a process for yourself that you
that you kind of lean on more these days?
(52:11):
No, at this point I just kind of, you know, it's, it's, it's
race week, you know, and it's kind of in that mode at work.
Like it's race week. I'm not going to be here Friday.
So, you know, whatever. So, so you already start
prepping from like Monday because.
It's like, yeah, it's. Kind of it's race week.
You're already kind of triggering like, you know, I got
to remember these things. I got to make sure I have this.
Yeah. Well, so I mean, it's now after
(52:34):
the first and it and it, but it's like every down to backing
my trailer into its spot, right.So once you get a couple of
rounds into the season, it's just it's easy.
You've done it a couple times, like you're back in that groove.
So it's like race prep, getting all the stuff basically, once my
garage is empty, I know I have everything, you know, like
that's that that's how I I know I'm good to go.
(53:00):
But yeah, it's it's you know, dolaundry a couple days before
make sure I have all my stuff ready to go And and truck is
trailers hooked up to the truck on on Wednesday night.
Yeah, I got a work. I have a separate work truck
company truck. So when I get home Thursday I
just parked company truck, get in my truck and I go to the
track. And nice, nice.
(53:21):
Do you have any any superstitions, any rituals?
I tend to drink a Red Bull in the morning on Saturday and
Sunday, and I'll have a Foster'sbeer at the end of the day.
Superstitions, no rituals. There's a couple different
things, you know, a couple things we do in the garage, you
(53:42):
know, things like lots to try, lots of different bourbon.
Somebody always brings somethingand we always try, you know,
bring something new. And that's kind of a just a one
of the things, you know. Yeah.
Other than that, no, no real superstitions or anything.
It's just, it's all kind of the,the same after a while, you
(54:03):
know, like you, you just, you dowhat you do.
I'm just, well, I'm saying like I always have Red Bull in my
cooler, but not necessarily likehave to have one before a
certain race or anything. Yeah.
No, it's, it's, it's all kind ofthe same.
We just get there. As long as I get there Thursday
night, like I like, I like to, it's all kind of, yeah, all just
(54:24):
kind of flows and happens. I didn't really think about it.
So I couldn't tell you what any of those, any of those
superstitions or any of that really is.
Right. Yeah, no, I, I hate that.
I don't, I don't have any of thesuperstition, just a couple of
rituals and that's about it. But you know, the biggest thing
is, you know, getting to the track early.
Like I've, I've tried getting inthe morning of the, the, the
race weekend or, or late night before.
(54:47):
None of that works. You really have to get there to
where you can set up, do everything you need to do, have
a good night's rest. Yeah, that's, that's the
biggest, the biggest thing is, is you know, don't, you can't
wake up in a panic Friday morning, you know, like rush to
get everything done. It's it's not going to work,
especially now because coaching spend so much time on track.
(55:08):
Like we don't have a bunch of time to, to spend throughout the
day working on our own stuff. I mean, we can if we have to,
like something breaks, whatever.But you know, you're there to
coach and help. So you want to be on track as
much as we can. So the yeah, the key is get
there, get there early and get set up and and just be able to
relax. Nice.
(55:28):
Yeah, That's that's some good advice.
And Mike, I want to thank you for coming on the show, man.
I really appreciate and you sharing your story with us.
It's it's pretty cool. And I'm I'm sure I'll see you on
a racetrack soon. My name is Rex 45.
We have Mike in the building. Peace.
Yeah.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com