Growing up my father and his friends had dirtbikes and atv’s. I was 8 years old when my father surprised me with a PW 80. I think my story is similar to most young kids who start riding. I attempted to ride it across the yard and crashed hard and was scared of it. Thankfully the “We’re going to sell this if you aren’t going to ride it” conversation happened so I tried again and next thing you know you i’m hooked.

My parent’s close friends owned a small KTM dealership in town. You have to remember this was the 90’s, pre Dungey/Decoster Redbull KTM Championships. KTM wasn’t a popular brand in the US yet. I’ll never forget looking at the new bikes, spare plastics and parts on the walls, the graphics on the new bikes, the “Authorized” Thor, Fox, Moose etc signs hanging through out the small shop. I remember sitting up on a pumpkin orange colored KTM bar stool to reach the parts counter and flipping through the recent catalogs with different images of guys like Jeremy McGrath and Mike LaRocco.

When I was 15 I helped the shop owners Rick & Tina move into a new dealership it was exciting. They were building a brand new dealership on the other side of town and would now offer Yamaha motorcycle, dirt bikes, atvs, and side by sides as well. I still have a lot of the old authorized dealer signs that I have hung up in my office.

Summer weekends were spent riding on my Yamaha PW80 and later a Suzuki RM85 in areas of central Illinois or camp/riding trips with my dad’s friends and their sons at an off road state park in Missouri called St. Joe State Park. St. Joe is 2,000 acres of abandoned mine tailings and “Georgia red clay” rocky trails.