What’s your official title? And tell us how you got the gig again?
I’m the Yoshimura ATV brand Manager / Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki ATV team manager. The person that made it happen for me was Wayne Hinson. Without Wayne I would probably be working construction again. He has been a big part in my racing in the past and now in my career. When I first started racing the GNCs as a pro at 16 Wayne was there helping me with anything I needed. Over the years he has given me great advice on what I was doing wrong. In January of 2007 I called Wayne when I found out that Yamaha wouldn’t be able to continue my contract. I told him I was about to start flipping burgers so if he had any ideas to help me stay in the ATV industry, I was all ears. He got together with Brant Russell at Yoshimura and they came up with a job for me. I was hired to help out with anything ATV related at Yoshimura. This then grew into being the team manager by the next year and I couldn’t be happier.
What kind of responsibilities do you have there?
At Yoshimura I deal with the ATV pro riders, their contracts, help to develop new products for ATVs, give my input on anything ATV related and manage the ATV promotional budget. As far as the Rockstar Makita Suzuki race team, I deal with about 90% of the team contracts, order most of the parts, schedule testing days, make travel arrangements, carefully watch the budget and make sure things get done so the team is successful.
Sounds overwhelming…
It’s all part of the job. I guess if you didn’t enjoy what you do it would seem overwhelming.
It sounds like you’re still having a blast in this sport.
I really can’t think of anything else that I would rather be doing. I'm very thankful for Wayne and Brant for hooking me up with this dream job. I’m really lucky to have it.
So what's next?
Win some more championship as a team manager, what else!
Are you going to make some time for that truck this year?
Yes I’m going to finish restoring it this year for sure. I need something to cruse around in on the weekends that I have off.