The Dirt Life
The Dirt Life
Johnny Campbell - 11x Baja Champion - Bella's Corner
What makes a legendary racer tick? Baja legend Johnny Campbell joins us for an unforgettable milestone on Episode 9 of the Dirt Life Show. With 11 Baja 1000 wins and five Baja 500 victories under his belt, Johnny shares his journey from racing icon to mentor, reflecting on his storied career with Honda and his own team, JCR Honda. This episode is packed with tales from the iconic "Dust to Glory" film, alongside personal anecdotes that highlight Johnny's enduring impact on the off-road racing world.
Our episode dives into the heartwarming story of a multi-day trail ride event that has raised over $2 million for a school and orphanage in Baja, Mexico, with this year's efforts contributing $300,000. Experience the collective passion and camaraderie of the off-road community as we discuss the event’s meaningful impact and the joy of connecting with the children it supports. Johnny and our hosts also engage in a candid conversation about the mental toughness required in off-road racing, comparing the stark differences between the focus needed for motorcycle races and the unique challenges faced in high-speed four-wheel driving.
Hear Johnny recount his most memorable race, the Baja 2000, and explore the evolution of off-road racing technology from his days of minimal support to today's high-tech environment. We celebrate the rising stars of the sport and reflect on the mentorship dynamics that shape future champions. As we wrap up, Johnny emphasizes the importance of enjoying the journey, maintaining perspective, and the irreplaceable value of camaraderie and family in the racing community. Get ready for an episode filled with inspiration, nostalgia, and insightful discussions on the future of off-road racing.
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Welcome to the Dirt Life Show with your host, George Hamel. Now Do it.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the Dirt Life Show, everybody. My name is Bella Brouchard, your host. This is my co-host, George Hamel. Hi guys, and we are filming Episode 9 of Bella's Corner.
Speaker 1:Dude, I still can't believe it's Episode 9. That's pretty cool, man. I know, and then you got your sign and what's?
Speaker 2:we got playing in the background oh we, got the most amazing film of all time, dust to Glory, playing in the background. I'm sure Johnny will tell us a little bit about that, but let's get rolling right into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's get an intro on who we're going to interview tonight, and then we'll start thanking the sponsors and then we'll get them on.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we are interviewing the baja legend, johnny campbell. He was born and raised in southern california, 11 time winner of the baja 1000, five time winner of the baja 500. He has many years of experience in moto and off-road driving and navigating so check this out too.
Speaker 1:Do you know what number he is? It's the 11, 11 x 11 time like that. That's pretty cool Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. So let's get the, let's pay the bills. Get that out of the way real quick. We'd like to thank everybody that helps out the show, especially you guys that are watching the show. It's amazing that you guys all do this. Um, you guys can watch us and listen to us anytime iTunes, uh, spotify, all of the audio networks check us out on, uh any of the uh video networks facebook, youtube and obviously, here on instagram. Uh, what sponsors do we share? Bell?
Speaker 2:we share kmc wheels um head down to your local, four wheel parts to get hooked up um motul and evolution power sports yeah.
Speaker 1:So the motul guys um man, they just always offer really great products. And then the evolution Powersports guys. We're actually going to be testing some cool stuff with them doing some live streaming stuff at Vegas Arena. That's going to be really cool Watch out Coming up.
Speaker 1:Hang out with Jacob and Todd Zacon. That's going to be pretty cool. They're going to have two cars out there. Thanks to the guys at Maxxis Tires Check out the freshie white turret that I got today. Maxxis tires Check out the freshie white turret that I got today. Thanks to boys, maxxis actually just released some new mountain bike tires. So if any of you dirt life guys want to get out there and check it out, go check out their mountain bike selection and always, obviously, outfitter UTV with the Rock Zolas or some of the Razor tires as well. Thanks to the guys over at Shock Therapy, those guys have been just crushing it lately. If you need any suspension upgrades, hit them up. Thanks to the guys at JL Audio Zone Racing Products Guys over at Vision Canopies They've been doing a lot to help off-roaders lately. So if you guys need any marketing stuff tents, banners, any of that stuff please talk to those guys like Kyle over at Vision Canopy, because those guys are badass. Support the guys that support us. Alright, belle, do you want to invite Johnny on right now?
Speaker 1:Yes, I do All right, let me get him going.
Speaker 2:Let's talk to the man himself.
Speaker 1:There he is. What the heck? Okay, cool, all right, so we'll get Johnny on here.
Speaker 2:See Dust of Glory, greatest movie ever made.
Speaker 1:Dude, I'm missing out. You guys need to teach me this Dust of Glory stuff.
Speaker 2:And there's a Dust 2 Glory.
Speaker 1:Oh Dust of.
Speaker 2:Glory 2?
Speaker 1:Yes, Alright, let's see if we can get Johnny on here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got a lot of questions for him.
Speaker 1:There's Jackson. What's up, Jackson?
Speaker 2:Hi Jackson.
Speaker 1:Mad Sea Images said that he likes Dust of Glory huh.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Let's see who else Eva. What's up, Eva? Mm-hmm, let's see who else? Eva. What's up, Eva? A bunch of people logging on already. Some of these people I was wondering about. How Instagram does this? People just log on and then bail out. Yeah, oh, here we go. Let's see Request to join. I hit accept, Johnny. We had issues last time, though, didn't we?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little bit, instagram was playing with us.
Speaker 1:So we'll have to see if it actually works out. I'm pretty sure that this has unable to join. Oh no, so let's ask Johnny. Johnny, see if you can, if you're watching us, see if you can update the app on your phone, and then you want to do the same bell. Should we do that too and check it out and come right back?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or do you want to wait and see if it works with Johnny?
Speaker 2:Let me try it one more time.
Speaker 1:Okay. So let's let Johnny see if he can update his Instagram app. So let's get a little bit more backstory on Johnny, why he uh, why he tries that. So I heard about Johnny Drew's brother, jamie, and, uh, both of them, uh, support each other. They are both longtime Honda fans and associates. Uh, they've do tons and tons of two wheel and four wheel racing.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. Not only that, but just navigating too and being a part of a huge pit crew and helping other people race, and stuff like that. He has his own.
Speaker 1:I don't want to talk too much about it, but he has his own racing team that he kind of built jcr honda yep yeah and you know it's really kicking off, so super cool for him, but yeah I just love the fact that these guys put so much time and effort into their passions, right? Like we talk about this all the time on the dirt life show and you share that same passion, too, for racing and you know Baja and all of these American races and stuff like that, and these guys devote every single minute of their day to it Well, other than their family, but like they just love it so much right.
Speaker 1:And to be a well 11 time plus Baja winner like that takes so much dedication, love and effort and support yeah, for sure he said updated okay, all right, johnny. So let's see. Uh, we'll ask you to join again, and if it can't, then I'll have to update ours over here, and we'll just start over real quick. Let's try it, though.
Speaker 2:There we go hey guys, hi, johnny, yes, hi, johnny, yes, hey.
Speaker 1:What's up, Johnny? I'm George, Nice to meet you bud.
Speaker 3:Hey George. Yeah, thanks for the hot tip on updating the app there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no worries, dude.
Speaker 3:I got the new phone. I got you know. But you know I'm still lagging a little bit behind here at 53 years old. You got it, we're on.
Speaker 2:you know I'm still lagging a little bit behind here at 53 years old. You got it, we're on.
Speaker 1:We're ready to roll, hey, but, like as we talk about lagging behind, I think we would be the ones lagging behind if we were trying to follow you and catch you through the desert in Baja.
Speaker 3:Yeah, baja has been a great ride. Yeah, you know, it was really good to me. And you know, and it's fun to watch what's going on down there now, and especially in the bike scene. There's a lot of new up-and-comers coming in and a lot of energy going back into the moto side, so it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you still stay pretty clicked into that scene, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, I frequent Baja and I try to go down to the races when I have time and stuff, and then I actually just got back from Baja and I try to go down to the races, you know, when I have time and stuff, and then I actually just got back from Baja. We myself, cameron Steele, mark Moss and a couple others Every July we do what we call the Baja Beach Bash and it's a charity ride for the Rancho Santa Marta School and Orphanage in San Vicente. So we take about 50, 60 riders on a trail ride for a few days and we also request and reach out to off-road industry, folks and friends, family, and we, you know, gather up pledges and stuff for that awesome school and um and orphanage and um we came out with about 300 grand this year for for them.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, there's uh the, the directors that run it, uh, rod and Tina. They have been running it for about 14 years. Uh, we've actually been doing the beach bash for 16 now, wow, and we've raised. We've been able to help contribute and raise over $2 million toward that effort.
Speaker 1:So in 16 years, that actually helps so much, though People don't understand Just your little 50 bucks here, 50 bucks there kind of thing just helps. So much to those efforts. I can say too we got the opportunity the one of the Honda off-road trucks down there uh last year, um, not to the same Baja beach bash, but it was to, uh, you know, rancho, santa Marta, and we gave away some tires to all the kids from Maxis on their bicycles and a bunch of stuff. It's, it's amazing to see when you actually get to go, participate and be with the kids and do all that stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's great and the impact, you know it's internal because the challenges that a lot of the kids there have is, you know, they have disabilities or they're slow learners and things like that and where a lot of times their family in Mexico they have families. They might not be orphans, but they don't want them or they can't have, they don't have the means to take care of them and so the facility there takes them in. I mean, there's been, there's been people there that have lived there for a long time and been in this care and and they also have a regular school system there that goes from kindergarten all the way through high school and it's a very well-desired facility. Now they bus in about 250 kids a day now when they're in school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you should pat yourself on the back for being so involved with that man, because we always talk about this on the dirt life show that racing and the uh collaborative efforts from so many passionate people really, really makes a big influence, not just on their lives, but on your life, your family's life, everybody all together. So kudos to you for doing that.
Speaker 3:We really appreciate it yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a big effort by all and I'm just a small part of it, but uh, it's great, to great to be involved and and we love Baja and love to enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, you got some questions about Baja, don't you Bill?
Speaker 2:I got a lot of questions about Baja, mostly because we I've never been to Baja yet, but I will soon be racing down there. I know crazy, but we're going to try to make the effort to go down there either sometime this year or next year for racing or pitting, helping other teams out or bringing our own team down there, but to be able to talk to someone like you, to get advice and, you know, kind of hear your experience, because 11 time Baja 1000 winner is a crazy record. Not many people could say so. I definitely have a lot of questions, but I got a question for him real quick.
Speaker 1:What did you like better? Um, I guess in the middle of your racing career did you like two wheels or four wheels?
Speaker 3:Um well, primarily, you know, I've been two wheels.
Speaker 3:Uh, you know I've been two wheels you know, and I started uh doing some four wheel stuff later, kind of after my racing career. Uh, motorcycle racing career had uh subsided, so, um, both are absolutely incredibly exciting. Uh, you know, with a bike there's a lot of self-preservation and you have to be super hyper-focused, as you do in a car as well. But you have a layer of like I don't know some sort of security, you know, because you're strapped in. You got the roll cage. But I tell you I think I've been more scared and racing a four-wheel vehicle than I have been racing a motorcycle. Yeah, even even back in my days in baja was super raw where there was racing on the highways and we were splitting cars and doing crazy stuff, you know. But but you know, riding along in a trophy truck going6, 140 mile an hour on a dry lake bed, yeah, there's not much out there, but it feels like you're about to levitate, you're not really connected with the ground and it's a pretty hairball feeling. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ross DePosta, thanks for the nice comment. Yeah, and you know what's crazy is like. I would like to hear your opinion on this too, cause I come from a two wheel background and then the four wheels as well. And, uh, on the dirt bike, like it's, you get to a point where you're comfortable on it and you feel like you can disconnect. It's lightweight and you're like one within gelling and stuff with it, right. But then when you're in a four wheel vehicle to me at least, um, you feel like there's like, if you're going 130 miles an hour, there's no coming back from one little mistake, right, like you can't like just jump off or jump out, like it's just a different way.
Speaker 3:It definitely is. And you hit the nail on the head as a you know, on the bike you're so yourself and your body is so active with the machine and you have to be one and you know you counterweight this way or counterweight that way to you know, keep the bike going in a straight line and, but in the cars or a truck it's like you're, you know, you're strapped in and you're doing the best you can to you know, as that machine is an extension of yourself, but coming from a bike, because you are so much input from body English that it gives you a little bit of insecurity in a four-wheel vehicle. You know, from my perspective, Well, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:I'm curious to know. Sorry, George, no please mind, like mental voice in the back of your head, going through this entire like long race, because I know my mental voice is my co-driver. But on a bike you don't really, you know, have anyone constantly physically there with you telling you, you know, keeping your motivation up or pick your head up, or you're going the wrong way, you know. So what do you kind of do? To stay out there alone?
Speaker 3:Um, well it's. You know the mental aspect of racing off road, like Baja, long distances, is a very it's a very big self-discipline. I mean you have to acclimate yourself and you have to want to do this, you have to want to win. And with that situation is like you go down and you pre-run and you put in the miles, you put in your dues and you know you break down the sections. You know, I used to break down. You know you go. How do you remember? You know a 500 mile section or a 100 mile section? How do you remember all that? Well, you do as you're going through it and you start breaking it down into little sections. You do as you're going through it and you start breaking it down into little sections. You know it might be from pit one to this wash or this wash, you know up this mountain, and you kind of break that down. And so when you get to those sections you go oh yeah, there's an off camber here, there's a rock in the right position.
Speaker 3:It's easy to get your mind wandering in those long sections and what happens is then, if you're not focused and you're not concentrating, it's easy to overcook a corner or go off a cliff or something of that nature. You really have to train yourself to be mentally fit, mentally tough. I put a lot more weight on that aspect than the physical aspect. Yes, you have to be an athlete, you have to do all your stuff on your cross-training and riding a long time, but you really have to train yourself mentally. It's like how bad do you want this? You're going through a lot of pain. You know you're suffering. You go pound up. You know you pound from uh up to El Chinero and San Felipe and it's like there's a lot of pain there. Yeah, you're back and holding on and on and fighting the bike and stuff. So the mental aspect is very important and so that's one thing like transferring to a four-wheel vehicle off a bike. It's like I don't even really need a co-driver, because if I'm going to go race, I'm going to go pre-run.
Speaker 1:I'm going to know where everything is.
Speaker 3:So for a co-driver that talking to me is is yeah, it's, it's nice to know somebody's there, Uh, but, and especially if you make a mistake and flat yourself or whatever. But realistically, like I don't have, I would say I haven't developed a rate, a four wheel race experience where I I fully rely on the navigator. You know the, the co-driver, because I'm just, I've always done it. And you ask guys like, uh, larry rossler, you know the, the absolute king of baja. It's like this guy had a phenomenal you know motorcycle career and then transferred to four wheel and had a phenomenal four wheel career. He is the same way. It's like I know like Justin Morgan, a bike guy who's ridden, co-ridden with Larry recently. And you know, Larry, he's like you need, you know, he's like Justin's like you need to know anything. He's like nope, I got it, you know. So, bike guys, you're just so used to being out there by yourself so you don't need to chat back and forth so much. It's like just let me focus, Let me race, I know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:It's kind of crazy because what he's saying. So Max Eddie is a good friend of mine. He said the same basic thing he goes, man. It was really hard for me to get used to having somebody sit in the passenger seat and telling me what to do, because he was like at first I just wanted to be like. No, I don't like no, I got it. But on the other hand, like, if you, if you haven't raced two wheels, it's completely different.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've relied on my co-driver for a lot of different things, not just driving in the track, but also my health too, because he's pretty got pretty much got me covered on that.
Speaker 1:Actually so, johnny, like when you have that opportunity to have a co-driver giving you statistics, like, yeah, the car is this hot, or stuff like that, that probably actually is a huge benefit for you, because you're like, oh shit, I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, totally, and that's just being like a rookie four-wheel guy is like you, not not.
Speaker 3:You know, having a co-driver is is is really advantageous because you have all the other things going on in a four-wheel vehicle, not just you on the motorcycle going straight through the desert, and so that's where you know it comes in. And I've actually spent quite a few top, quite a few miles in the navigation seat in the Dakar rally with Robbie Gordon, at the ball 500, with Cameron steel, you know so, I, I know a little bit about that, but it's like I'm, I'm actually, you know, in Dakar, in the rally stuff, you're really, really engaged because you're having to navigate. There is no course markings, there is no pre-run right, you're really engaged. But even like in the, in the trophy truck, it's like I was like how, what am I supposed to say to this guy? It's like I wouldn't want any, I wouldn't want anybody to talk to me, I just want to race, you know so. So I'm sure, like when I ride with Cameron, he's like dude, you all right, you over there, hello Mute.
Speaker 2:That's funny. Yeah, no, I got a couple more questions, but I've been wondering what on your take, because I know a lot of other people have different perspectives. But if you were to kind of narrow it down into a couple of sentences, what does the Baja terrain consist of?
Speaker 3:Yeah, uh, baja terrain consists of a lot of hard pack, very rugged, rocky, mountainous trails. You know, of course it's like you can, you could break all those areas down because you have, you know, the low desert. Where it's it's faster, it's higher speed. You have open desert and open line selection. Or you know you have more like going going up over mics, where it's like, oh, it's one line and it's rocky and it's technical and so it's it's hard to break down Vaughn and describe it like in one sentence, but you know it's uh yeah, you really need like an entire book man like if
Speaker 1:uh and for Bella, like I remember the first time that I got to pre-run, like, uh, like, let's just say the 500 mile or 1000, like every single thing that you see during that day is different than the day before. Yeah, like it's just so crazy how all that stuff happens. Hey, uh, jamie, we had a. Or uh, johnny, we had a comment. Come in. I was saying jamie, because I he actually I got a good question for you.
Speaker 1:Um the pro eagle guy said age and physical capability aside, would you prefer to be back on a bike yourself or being a team owner and help coach new champions?
Speaker 3:oh wow. Well, that that's a very difficult, complex question, you know, because they're saying, yeah, if you take age aside, that's the thing is like is because the body's broken down, it's had injuries and now it's feeling it and you don't have the mental capacity to hang it out as tough as like a 25 year old, you know Right, like a 25 year old, you know Right. So at the point of the height of of my racing career, I mean I felt like I was doing what I was meant to, uh, what I was meant to be on on this earth was racing a motorcycle in Baja. This is what I know, this is what I do, what I'm good at, and but in my shoes today, I much rather be off the bike, coaching and sharing my knowledge. You know, I still, obviously I enjoy riding and that's that's actually all I want to do. You know, since I was a kid was just go ride my motorcycle. But obviously we have life that goes along with that.
Speaker 1:It's kind of cool that you say that, though, because that's the evolution right and that's actually what builds our sport in our industry is because you were once doing that same thing. That you're teaching kids and other people how to do now is become champions. So I think it goes both ways actually, like you want to do both right, like you're actually doing both of the things that you love.
Speaker 3:I do and I'm a product of that. It's like I've always been good at listening and slow to speak and listen to all sorts of advice, whether it was from a guy that wasn't well-respected, all the way to my mentor, bruce Ogilvie, um, and Chuck Miller and those guys that had lots of experience racing. But I like to learn from everybody and that's one thing that I think helped me. Progress was that I wouldn't. I wasn't so opinionated that I wouldn't listen to just some other guy or whatever you know. So it was like it was really important for me growing up, like I lost my father when I was 16. So having like a male influence of like a mentor was really helped me and helped catapult my career and being able to listen to that and then invest in me, and so I came from that I'm a product of a mentorship and so me being able to give back to the next generation, that's what we're supposed to do.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's that's why we're on this. One reason we're in the position we are in this planet is you get to a certain age and you need to train the youth. You need to train the, the up and comers, because how are they going to know? You know, as long as they're willing to listen to you. How are they going to know from this experience? Where do they learn from you know, and they might be a know-it-all or a hotshot, but still you have to have respect for that, for the guys that became before you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the racers came before you and it's the same thing in life.
Speaker 1:Same thing in life beside racing it's kind of crazy bell because we talk about this all the time on the dirt life show and people always ask us you know, how do we get sponsors, how do we get faster, how do like?
Speaker 3:every racer question that you get to johnny is like you listen, you're open-minded and you learn yeah because the minute, the minute that you think you know you've lost it yeah, and, and there's characters out there, uh, you know there's racer characters out there. You have to be aggressive, you have to be confident in yourself to go out and do what we do and hang it out and you're on the edge and you're going fast and you have to have that confidence. But on the flip side, you have to have respect and you have to listen to.
Speaker 1:You know those people that you know, that have that knowledge right and that's that's how you become, you know, a better racer and a better person, better human well, speaking of the knowledge we just had a comment come in from, uh, mr nellis 872 the knowledge that you probably are one of the only people to have what is harder to ride the 650 or the 450?
Speaker 3:um, well, I think uh, once again it can be a really deep, complex answer, but they both have their high points and their low points. As far as you know, the 650 was unbelievably stable, like a semi-truck going through the desert. But where it started suffering was when you had, you know, big whoops and big holes. And so you're dealing with like a 310 pound motorcycle rolling to the line versus a 275 pound bike rolling the line. So that the high points of the 450 were it accelerated faster, you can brake faster, you can take different lines, you can maneuver the bike, and so, as a race machine, the 450X was a much better racing machine. Where the 650R was, it was a very good race machine, it was comfortable, it was stable, stable, Um. But when it came down to it, you were going to get beat. If you you were going up against you know equal, equal bases. You're going to get beat from that four, 50.
Speaker 1:Yeah and I will say this too, like he's being humble that six, 50 will teach you to be a man real quick.
Speaker 3:Yeah, those you know, those big bikes like uh, you know, you know I I came through the air-cooled xr600 era into the 650 era. And the one thing with the, the big bikes, is you have to respect them, but you have to kind of let them do the work and don't override it. Because you try to override it like a, a two-stroke or or a lighter, that's when it's going to bite you. So you take it and you ride it where it's good and you slow down where it's not so good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, mike Gellis also said that.
Speaker 2:Same thing with the car too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's very true. Mike Gellis said Johnny Campbell is such a.
Speaker 2:He's so great. It was an honor to work for him a few years in baja. A wonderful guy, family, family and team mike's great.
Speaker 3:he uh, he comes from uh the hilltoppers motorcycle club that uh has pitted uh honda for decades and uh, they were. They were instrumental in actually myself getting a ride with American Honda back when I was 21 because I knew some of the hilltoppers and they put in a good word for me and then yeah, so they were very helpful and Mike was one of the guys that came along as one of the younger hilltoppers in the later years.
Speaker 2:He's one of the younger Hilltoppers in the later years, Bdub930, said Steve Henge told me the 650 was like a Cadillac but the 450X was like a Ferrari.
Speaker 3:That's a good one. Henge knows he was my partner for a lot of years and we won a lot of stinking races. Henge was great because he was so solid. I didn't. When you have a race partner like that, it's like you don't worry about him crashing or getting the bike to you or whatever. It's like you just have complete confidence. Yeah, and and that was Steve for me and I think myself for him is like we were such a formidable team because we had so much respect for each other and we just were confident in the other riders. So that's what really helped, one of the things that helped catapult us amongst being under the tutelage of the late, great Bruce Ogilvie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, you guys have so many stories. We could have like story time with Johnny anytime. Bill Stevie Wright said I was lucky enough to fly the helicopter for Johnny Campbell. Amazing guy Learned a lot. Yeah, that's probably pretty cool getting chased by a helicopter when you're riding a dirt bike right, because you can see him pretty easily.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, you know, and that's what I transferred into. That's what I transferred into. Uh, stevie um had just started flying um for us when I kind of transferred off the bike into the helicopter, as a matter of fact. So I spent a lot of time flying with stevie and we won a lot of great races together yeah, that's pretty cool. I kind of want to go back and stevie wright is a former honda factory atC racer.
Speaker 2:Oh, dang, dude, Bella, you should see, he showed me some pictures.
Speaker 1:It's so gnarly what they used to do on three-wheelers Like. Would you do that stuff, johnny Like? Because they're wild dude. No.
Speaker 3:I would never do that.
Speaker 1:Those guys get crazy. I don't know, One of these days we're going to have to have you and Stevie and a whole bunch of guys on the show and Bella, you can see some of the gnarly stuff they used to do it was sick.
Speaker 2:I need to hear these stories that no one else knows about.
Speaker 3:Well, we have plenty of them.
Speaker 1:Should we ask the story that his brother sent in Jamie?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, he actually sent in two stories. We'll get to the first one as a quick answer. Ask Johnny, who was faster?
Speaker 3:back in the day, him or I? Well, yeah, jamie was always. He was my little brother, he was four years younger and so he was always the tag-along brother. He had to fight because my friends and I were not, we not fair to him, we weren't fun to him, but he hung out with us and he, you know, we made him tough.
Speaker 1:we made jamie, we made you tough yeah, dude, I like it, but but brotherly love to that jamie had a period during his racing career where he was very fast.
Speaker 3:He was very fast.
Speaker 1:And then he also said one specific story. Ask him about the 1992 San Felipe 250 riding privateer Honda CR250. Dave Donatoni, myself and him winning our class and third overall. That was the start of him getting uh called by bruce ogle. Uh, ogle v, uh is I uh?
Speaker 3:and then to race for honda, yeah yeah, uh, when, you know, jamie was only 16 when, when we raced, it's like I, it was me myself uh, sorry, myself, jamie and our friend Dave Donatoni that we raced SRA with Grand Prixs, and uh, we had raced a few races the year before and this was like 91.
Speaker 3:So 92. So we, we started the two 50 class and uh, you know, we were just pitting out of the back of the truck and a pickup truck and stuff, no real support, and uh, but we, you know, we all wanted to race for honda and stuff, and uh, so what happened was, uh, yeah, we had the year before, right before that, the ball 1000. We had a really good run, but we ended up getting third in 250 class. I think we were still top 10 on bikes, but we thought for sure we were going to win that. But anyway, we came back to Felipe and we just had a kick-ass run and the only two bikes that beat us were the factory Kawasaki KX500s and I think we won the 250 class by at least 10 to 20 minutes. It was a margin, but the bike, the bike was in shambles when it finished there was.
Speaker 3:The rims were so smoked you could see air through them and we were running uh, moose tubes, thankfully and and uh, there was stuff hanging off that thing. That thing was just a rattle box on its last leg but uh, yeah, but Jamie rode the center section, maybe even over the mini summit, and, man, he did a great job. And then, yeah, later that month, bruce had called Dave and I to go ride and they wouldn't. At the time Jamie was a minor, so they were reluctant to give him a factory ride at that point and we really didn't have a factory ride at that point. It was just kind of like, hey, we can give you some parts for your bikes and maybe we'll have a race bike for you at the 500. And for sure, the 1,000, we'll do a factory effort.
Speaker 3:So it was kind of like, at that point in time, the american honda off-road team was like it was very, very small, it was just like a backdoor grassroots uh team and bruce was trying to kind of rekindle it and reef and and get it going and he had two main riders, which was, uh, chuck miller and dan ashcraft, and they were. They were struggling cause they were trying to build too much power out of the big XR and, uh, it kept breaking on them. But so so after that, san Felipe, we won, um Bruce called us cause they he wanted to get some young blood put on the team and so that's where we started with American Honda was like May of 92.
Speaker 1:Dude, it probably trips you out to think about some of that stuff too because, like just me thinking in in my head, like, uh about that is like it was such a different time back then, like you had to max everything out, like you said, on the bike, like the bike just couldn't go anymore. Basically, when you were done, you know like, and nowadays it's just uh, I don't know. It almost feels like it's given because everything is so good. You know, honda makes such an amazing motorcycle. Now it's like you know, cameron can ride his all the way down the Baja Peninsula and still have fun and ride it the next day when he gets back. Like it's just insane.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the technology is definitely advanced on the bikes and I'm proud to say that I've been able to be a part of that in the last couple of decades. So you know, the kids and the guys riding the bikes now is like they didn't know, like how bad they were back then. But even take it a step worse our bikes were great compared to the guys in the seventies, you know. So there's a there's it's just evolution and and the bikes are very, very good now. And you know it shows because it's like you don't have so many DNFs unless somebody does something stupid.
Speaker 1:Dude, it's wild and I don't know any of the like the rules and stuff like that, but we're even starting to put Starlink. They have a little tiny star link out now we're gonna put one on one of the 9x pre-runners, uh, to like just check it out and see, like, if we can offer some safety and do live streaming and you know, live stream from a motorcycle and stuff.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's just the, the technology and anything nowadays is just so crazy cool yeah, our, our sport is changing and it's uh, and it's, it's some of it's a lot. It's very hard for me to swallow um, compared to how it was back in the day and and stuff and. But you know we have to. Now that we have technology, we have to use that technology for safety and stuff. You know, it's like when I was going down there there was no cell phones, there was no internet, there was no. You know, you leave your chase truck, you go. Okay, I'm going to meet you, I'm leaving Ensenada and I'll meet you down at El Crucero in six hours.
Speaker 2:And you were just on your own On your own.
Speaker 3:You had no contact, no, nothing. And until you got down there and you hoped your truck was there and they hoped you got there, you know, yeah, it was a very cowboyish world. Yeah, you know, and the way it was ran, and like the generation, like Bella's generation, she'll never know that or understand it. It's like she's never had a life without a cell phone. No, literally know that or understand it. It's like she's never had a life without a cell phone. So it's, it's quite in in with all the, you know, safety tracking devices and stuff like that. It's like and now Starlink, which is evolving and and I I assume pretty soon we'll have phones with that technology and 2025.
Speaker 3:Yeah It'll. It'll be a lot easier to track what we're doing and where we're going and stuff. But it has evolved the sport into a much different environment now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, what's crazy is to even backtrack on that a little bit. So Bob Bauer, he was integral in getting the BFG stuff set up in Baja and all of those different things set up in Baja and all of those different things, and he showed me one of the original maps. That was like that they provided before they had, you know right, when they first originally started the maps. Cause, like before, like some of the stuff that Johnny's talking about, you just got a, a point to start and a point to finish and however you got there was up to you. Yeah, like there was no GPS or nothing, there was no track. And so Bob showed me, like some of the course maps and he's like you just had to be kind of close.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No it's pretty crazy. I think there's definitely like ups and downs to the evolution of the industry, because I'd say like yes, I'm very grateful for the safety that like we have now. You know, if you were in a situation that's scary now, compared to then, people will be able to get faster to you and like know what's going on.
Speaker 1:But or one of the helicopters or something yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:But then too, I think, is also kind of fun, because it's a little more thrilling and you know, you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know, you're not in contact with these people, you don't know if they're going to make it past the finish line.
Speaker 1:These guys used to stop and get food at other people's places.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:That's wild. You want to ask that question, Bill.
Speaker 2:Repo man Steve said, Johnny, what's the most memorable race of your life?
Speaker 3:Oh man, I've had some really great ones, but I've got to say for me in my career, gosh, like I said, there's a couple toppers, but the Baja 2000 in the year 2000 was probably the most pinnacle race of my career, amongst winning my 11th Baja 1000. Oh wait.
Speaker 1:We found these new buttons on this little audio thing, oh cool. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, that race was awesome. We had four riders, we finished in just under 31 hours and to do a race like start to finish and take that long, and I know it took obviously the other teams and and vehicles longer. But just to put that together, which was super fun for me when went down and we did, you know, a week long pre-run of milaging the course and and I'll tell you back then when, when there was no gps like that, there were sections when, like sal fish would go. Well, we're going to go here and we think we can get through this section and get down to here and we think it's this many miles and so it really didn't have a complete accurate miles and they called it fish miles and so we would actually have to go down and do our own milaging to make sure that we had our pits in the right places. Wow, and that's one thing the new generation takes complete granted for, because some teams are still going down and doing their course mileage and setting up pits and looking at it. But it's so accurate.
Speaker 3:Now, with the GPS and the information the organization gives you, it's like you could plan out your program pretty easily, only going to have to check a couple spots when back then it's like you know what? We're going to ride 2,000 miles this week and we're going to find where our pits are going to be and find all the access roads out there, because it didn't exist. Yeah, bf Goodrich would go do it and there are a few other teams that would go do it, but but that was such a fun thing for me to do with Bruce and and I'll. It's super memorable and I'll never forget that time. And then coming coming down and executing the race and our team's getting first and second overall and just a pinnacle of uh off the hall for racing.
Speaker 1:I feel like that question is very, uh, very focused, right Cause he said what was your favorite race, but like there was probably, like who knows, even more favorite times, just spending time with people and doing the pre-running and all of these different types of things and activities that you get to do yeah, it's not just racing, it's everything that comes with it.
Speaker 1:It's kind of crazy and like one of the things that you said, too, was like nowadays, all of it's so good. Like I remember maybe it was last year or the year before uh, brandon sims just showed up at the race.
Speaker 3:He didn't even pre-run at all, he just showed up like a few hours before the race started, got in the car and went yeah, like that was it like he was ready to go because I mean you have a navigator, you got a track log, let's go you got a chip, you put it in the gps, download it, it's there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly yeah, like there's. You know you're not going to know everything, but you could pretty much go and traverse the whole course. But that's why pre-running was so important back in the days, because there was sometimes there wasn't any course markers for miles. You know, 10, 20, 30 miles there's no course markers. You go well, I hope we're going the right way I feel lucky just keep your fingers crossed.
Speaker 3:There's times, there's times where I used to, I used to carry, like the course notes and I'd carry them in my fanny pack and I'd be pre-running to go, was it? I think I'm supposed to turn left here, but I don't know. I have to stop and check your notes because there's no, there's no digital electronics.
Speaker 2:You're not relying on a screen.
Speaker 3:No, no screen.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool though.
Speaker 1:Just imagine Bella, like he doesn't need the GPS and he could still find you all the trails if you guys were going down there to race.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:What was that comment that we got there?
Speaker 2:B-dub 930 said hey, JC, they have dust to glory playing in the background. Have you ever considered soloing the 1000?
Speaker 3:Actually, no, I've never really considered it. Um, just, you know, in in my, my career and stuff, I had such a, a phenomenal career and we were at the top and we won races and we had an awesome program and um, so, I never really. You know, once I was kind of done, I was done, I I didn't want to, I didn't feel like I had to go prove anything else and do it solo for the experience or anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. But you went on and, you know, created this whole other team, JCR, which is really successful, you know, doing all the races that you did and stuff. So how's that going so far?
Speaker 3:Well, we've been. Jcr took over in 2008. And we continued racing ball for a long time and then some other opportunities came along and we went back east to gncc and we pursued that for five years. We won one 250 championship or uh, I guess they call that xc2 and uh, you know, stayed back there. And then uh ended up coming back west and uh doing some other racing back out here, like grand prixs and national heron hounds. And you know, now we're uh focusing some, some events on uh like vegas torino will be our next event. Um, I'm gonna run uh ricky brabeck and skylar howells on a hrc rally bike, the same one they race in dakar, and then my second team will be preston campbell and uh, we're sharing uh the slr, uh team member justin morgan uh on the 450x. So, um, those would be my two teams for vegas torino you're gonna have your hands full man man.
Speaker 2:Sounds dialed.
Speaker 3:Well, it's very difficult logistics, because I got one bike that pits three times during the race and then one bike that pits 12 times during the race. Yeah, that's wild. So I got like two sets of chase teams and it's difficult to intermix because that race goes so fast in the chasings. Yeah, you got to stay on point, exactly.
Speaker 1:We have a question asked twice. Let's see here I don't know how you say it by Roval.
Speaker 3:Johnny, are you racing Los Ancianos this year? Yeah, I always plan to race the Takati Enduro. That's the Los Ancianos Motorcycle Club that puts that on. Enduro that's the Los Ancianos Motorcycle Club that puts that on. It's just down south the border, in Tecate, at Rancho, santa Veronica, and it's around a hundred mile like true enduro, like single track trails, super gnarly technical, and it really kicks your butt and I really enjoy it. The speeds are low, it's tight, technical, you're going through trees and stuff and so, um, I enjoy, I enjoyed the challenge of that. So I don't, I don't call what I do now racing. I I go riding. So, uh, but yeah, I'll go do it. Should be fun that'll be, really cool.
Speaker 3:Usually rains, so the dirt's good.
Speaker 1:What do you think about some of the new? Like the speed of some of these new kids? I just got off the phone with Austin Eddy and Connor Eddy and the 9X guys. They're my connection. I've obviously talked with the Husqvarna guys and everything. It's just so cool To me. I like seeing the change of the guard, like all these fast kids right, and then, like, since they're my friends, I get to see how excited they are about it and what they're going to do for training and all this stuff. Like you got to feel pretty good about the, the way that the motorcycle industry and the desert racing industry is right now yeah, it's going.
Speaker 3:It's going well and I gotta say there's been, you know, we went through a a? L time for a while but there's been a lot of guys putting a lot of effort into it. You know, like Andy Kirker helping SCORE volunteer in his time to really, I mean he's really putting in a lot of life into the motorcycle side, as well as Scott Harden. We partner up on a few events a year. Um, we partner up on a few events a year and, uh, so it's, it's really cool to see you know what's happening now, um, and it's it's flourishing.
Speaker 3:And now, like you said, the eddie brothers are the second set of eddie brothers, or eddie cousins, I should say yeah, exactly are coming in and uh, and racing along with, uh, you know, preston, my, my son, there's megla and carter klein and um kieran everybody jane logan kieran. You know there's, there's a group of uh oh, tyler lynn on slr, it's like there's a group of like younger guys coming in. It's like a changing of the guard and these, these kids want to race, they want to win and so they're putting in the effort and it's exciting to see a whole new generation of desert racing coming come together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Actually, we've got the. Just got the question from Jolly Green, Giant 67. Does Johnny have a XR 650R in his garage? But I think we should take it up a notch and say what bikes have you saved?
Speaker 3:Well, I do have. If I was in my shop I could show you guys around, but I'm not. But yeah, I do have my Baja 2000 winning XR650R, you know. And then I have my 1997, the first score race I won in 97, the Ball 500. I have that XR6 628. So I have those two, and then I have a couple Dakar rally bikes.
Speaker 2:I feel like those are kind of the trophies themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's why I asked him, like how many he kept.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So I have a few that I've kept around that have some pretty strong meaning. So yeah, did you wash them.
Speaker 2:Nope.
Speaker 3:He left the dirt on there. It's a part of the trophy. They're wild. I have the actually 2013 Baja winning bike too that we won. That was actually for JCR. That was the last ball 1000 that we actually had a full, full effort there before we went to uh uh Colton and Mark when they did the uh ox program.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:That's cool.
Speaker 2:It's really cool how you kind of have your foot in everything, like you know, going from certain, ending certain like eras of your racing career to start a new one yeah, and what I do now is uh is a lot.
Speaker 3:So I have one aspect of is running jcr race team in which we participate in several different events a year uh, vegas, torino, california, 300, mint, 400, national heron hound racing. And then the other kind of half of my program is like I focused on the monster energy honda team, the hrc rally team that races dakar, and so I do a lot of testing and development for that, the, the durability testing. We help coordinate that, along with the riders, help develop the bike, the machine with the Japanese engineers. I go to Dakar in January to help support the team. So I work, you know, in and out of the year with those guys as well. And then I help Honda with production uh, production bikes and production settings testing, um, you know. So you know we, we get to ride some of the bikes that uh, you'll see in a couple of years on the showroom floor. So that's, that's super fun and engaging for me and um, things that I was taught how to do during uh you, you know my tenure and under my mentor and stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I feel like that's all, like it comes with, uh, I don't know the knowledge and experience that you gained, right, because there's so many things that you just said that were so different and so, uh, far from each other, but they kind of all come together to be able to build the, obviously the production bikes, but to be able to like, because, how do I say, this desert and Dakar used to be a lot different and now they're shrinking. The gap is shrinking right, like the, the bikes are closer than what they ever have been.
Speaker 3:They're still close, but there's but there's still a quite, a, quite a distance between a bar race winning bike and a Dakar race winning bike. You know, you know what, what? Also, one of the highlights, what I say, a couple of the big highlights off the bike that I've had, um is helping to develop that that motorcycle that took Ricky Bray back to winning the, being the first American to win Dakar rally in 2020. And then he was. He just backed it up this year on another motorcycle that I had a hand in in 24. And you know, being able to help Ricky through this process the last eight years has been super fun, mature as a racer and just give him opportunities and just supported him, walked alongside him in in tough times and good times and just so watching. You know, being able to be part of that is, you know, that's that really makes my career, you know, special with being able to mentor the guys like him. You know it's fun to watch.
Speaker 1:And Bella, it's kind of like what you said before too, like he probably doesn't even realize it's happening so much, but he's, you know. Let's just say that you're a fly on the wall and you're sitting there listening to him talk to Ricky at a test session or something. He's probably saying so many things that he's learned over the years and just spewing all that information out to Ricky, like Ricky is a lucky son of a gun that he gets to learn all that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure we all are, you know, having legends and stuff like that, being able to like share their knowledge because, you're right, that's what we're all here for to learn and then pass it on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Ask this question right here from Mr Nola. Ask this question right here from Mr.
Speaker 2:Nola, this one. Yeah, okay, johnny, how did you get into the Dakar Rally and how different is that compared to American Desert? That's a good question.
Speaker 3:It's a big question. I was introduced to rally racing in the early 90s. One of the big plastic sponsors at Churby's, a guy named Franco at Chirby's, came over and teamed with Casey Folks and they built what they called the Nevada Rally. In the early 90s I had the opportunity to go race that and learned how to get beat, how to get lost and then how to navigate. So that stirred my interest in rally racing, in which I really didn't take advantage of until Franco brought me to the Paris-Dakar in 2001. And then I got a full Paris to Dakar all the way through Europe, through Africa, all the way to Dakar, senegal, through Africa, all the way to Dakar, senegal. You know we're talking like 10,000 mile race. It was 21 days that year. And so I you know I was I've been fortunate to just be in the right position for to be able to participate. And then I didn't really pursue rally racing because I was so locked into Baja racing and American Honda and so rally racing didn't really come back to me.
Speaker 3:Till after my racing career was over on a bike and HRC, which is Honda Racing Corp, they contacted me and said, hey, we want to go back to Dakar. They hadn't been there since the eighties. They go go. We want to go back to Dakar. We need your help, and so I was. I was in a position to have all this experience of testing, development, some knowledge of rally racing, and help them get get moving with a bike project and racer projects. You know, this was 2012 when this all started and then I've been really fortunate enough to be involved with that from 12 to now, so a dozen years now. Um, and and watch how that program has has, you know, advanced. So I think just being in the right position and and making the right relationships is how I've been able to, you know, focus on rally racing and make that part of my, my lifestyle yeah, well, and it's it.
Speaker 1:You can't be any slouch either. Right, like the, the austrians, like they'll, they're gonna be a, a formidable competitor the whole time. So it's, it's cool that you were able to do it. But like you have stiff competition and I know that you're being humble, but like it's a, it's a chore to go through all of those things and be able to be competitive and you come home with, uh, the first american to ever win, like dude, that's got to feel so good yeah, that was, that was special.
Speaker 3:It makes makes me cry even now. But it, it, uh. But yeah, those guys, the austrians, they own that race.
Speaker 1:That's what I mean.
Speaker 3:Doing it so long and so many wins and stuff. It's kind of like we were in Baja and stuff. But they had the system, they still have the system, and we had to come up to their level and then try to surpass it in some areas. And we did that and but once you get there, then it's like, oh okay, now they're gonna fight back, you know. But but competition, uh, you know, it breeds excellence and that's what we're doing to each other is like you know we win and you know we did good in our testing and development, and then all of a sudden they'll fight back and get it. And then we got to fight back. And that's what makes it fun, you know, without competition it's not really that fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, having good competition, but keeping good sportsmanship too.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Everybody there in the Dakar, you know there's there's a lot of it's so highly elevated with how much it costs to do those races and the efforts and stuff that are there by the factories and the riders and stuff. But you know, it's like Baja, it's like when you're out there you're on your own, you know. So it's like you have to have respect, you fight against those guys, but if somebody goes down you have to stop and you have to help them because you're the first responder In all desert racing. That has to be the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. What kind of other questions you got, Bill?
Speaker 2:I do got a good one. Baja is a huge battle. What's the biggest lesson you've learned in the first few years of racing? Score?
Speaker 3:in the first few years of racing score. Well, I think that comes down to planning and preparation. You know, it's like you can be a fast racer but without a good team behind you, without the right equipment and the right proper planning so that people are in the right places, and without having that, then that's, that's the whole deal, right there? Yeah, you know, yeah, you gotta have proper planning preparation team effort, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you have anything to add to that?
Speaker 1:no, I think he's right, though too, and I mean from layman terms. You have to have balls of steel, like to race a motorcycle down there, like it's just one of those things. But you can't have one without the other. You have to have, you have to have both.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it takes years to do that too. I was also wondering that is Baja something that you kind of got right off the bat, or was it like years and years and years of learning and learning to?
Speaker 3:finally like perfect something.
Speaker 1:I'm still learning, but that's a good answer right, because he was talking about he's just, he's been a sponge his whole life. Yeah, like he's just a good listener right like no matter what happens, he's never gonna quit. It's always gonna get better yeah.
Speaker 3:So you have to. You know, it's like, yeah, we, we, we learned to a level and then we were able to take that level and and make a run where we were winning all the time and and we knew what to do at that point. And we matured, matured as racers, matured as a team um, you know with with your pit crews and your and everybody, so, um, that that is important and you gotta, you gotta, put in your dues. I mean, you can go sometimes, you can go and win one, you know you can get lucky or whatever, but to back that up and then to do it again and again, there has to be a something special there. So you know, there has to be a recipe, um, for success.
Speaker 1:Did you ever get burnt out?
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure, there's times where it's like you're, you're in it every single day. You know it's like you're working in the shop, you're testing, you're going to a race, you're traveling, you're running, you're, you're doing all the stuff. Um, you know, all year long and for sure, if you get burned out, it's like there's a lot of you know. You need to step back and remember.
Speaker 3:Remember what life's about, and you know the one thing is is it's hard work, but it's not rocket science. We're out there racing a dirt bike, we're racing an off-road car, we're not here trying to save the world, and so don't make it work, make it fun. Try to keep that perspective and have a sense of humor in yourself. And when I say these things, things, I'm talking to myself in the mirror, because I'm I'm the one of the last people that have not been super serious about all this. Right, this has been my life and how to win, and you know and stuff, and so that was, uh, but I don't know. You got to look in the mirror and laugh at yourself because we're all.
Speaker 1:We're all a bunch of dorks yeah, it does take a little like you got to have both of those uh, I don't know mentalities and you got to take a weekend and go to the lake and just like, get your mind off of it right, like it's just totally it gets crazy and I can only imagine some of the stuff that you guys have done, because you know being I don't want to say because you said there was generations before you too, but like, let's just say on the forefront, as for a lack of a better term is you guys were paving the way for a lot of the things that happen now. Right, like you didn't know when you were making these decisions on the fly, like was it stressful for you, like during those times?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we had heavy stress. I mean, like when Steve and I were winning and and stuff and and then you know the competitions on you. It's like we had every stress Cause. It's like we were, we were there to win, we were paid to win, we were, you know, and and there was super, we were super serious, I was stressed. You know, I had hard high stress, I'm sure Steve and did too. So it's like we had the, the whole, we're shouldering the whole, you know American Honda and our effort, and it's like we wanted to win, we needed to win to keep our budget coming in and so we can keep doing having this lifestyle, you know.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's a pressure, but it's also a good pressure too.
Speaker 3:It's a great pressure. It makes you and it makes you sharp yeah.
Speaker 2:Makes you. Yeah, I definitely agree. I'd say that's pretty good advice, because I definitely want to take racing the long route. I want to go and do as much as I can and open as many doors as I can.
Speaker 1:So well, you've done a lot so far, Bill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm getting there.
Speaker 1:Well look you have your own show.
Speaker 3:Got your own show. You get to race. It's going pretty good, looks like to me.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 1:So we had a comment come in right now, Johnny too, that said, and I want to ask this because it's funny, right, but in your opinion, who do you think is the best up-and-coming desert rider? I think it starts with a P, but I mean.
Speaker 3:There's. You know it's hard to say because there's a handful right now that's really good. Of course. Preston is one of them. You got Carter Klein, you got the Eddie Cousins, you got Dalton Shirey he's really good. There's several, there's a handful that are really sharp, so I'm not going to hang my hat on one. We'll see who kind of rises to the top in the next couple years, but we'll see who's the dominant force.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with that statement too, and I'll take it one step further too and I'll say I will almost guarantee it's going to be one of the kids that listens the most it could be. You know you got to have the whole package yeah, I definitely agree you got a lot of questions on here, bill, who was one of your role models, growing up and kind of starting your racing career.
Speaker 3:Well, early on, before I really knew off-road racing that much, I watched motocross and all that. And so guys like Johnny O'Meara, ricky Johnson, david Bailey, jeff Ward, these guys were my heroes. You know, jeff ward, these guys were my heroes. And then, uh, and then once I started kind of following into, learned about baja, learned about off-road racing and stuff, and then it was like the bruce ogilvie's, chuck millers, you know, these guys were, um, they were honda guys. I I just, you know, love the brand and stuff, and so they were. I was a big fan of them and and and I was a big fan of their grit and, uh, guys like in in rossler too, I mean just, they're just so gritty because they were tough and they knew how to overcome things and and go fast and win races yeah, and those are special traits and you got to be pretty intuitive to actually figure that out.
Speaker 1:so for him to understand that, and like I don't want to say, I know he's a racer too, so he was probably diagnosing it. How can I be that great, like, how can?
Speaker 2:I do it.
Speaker 1:As you've come through the years. Bella has a great question on here. We talk about camaraderie and friendships and different things like that, and family and all that stuff, cause that's why the show is called the dirt life, right? Um, she mentioned, uh has a question on here saying what are some of the most or longest or lifelong friendships that you've had during all of this tenure? You know, playing in the dirt oh, wow, we've.
Speaker 3:we've built tons of relationships, you know, um there, um there's uh gosh, I, I can't even. I can't even say one, my mind's going crazy on how many you know. But uh, yeah, I think, like uh, chuck Miller, you know he's still around, he, he retired out of Honda and and uh and so he still comes around and he helps me weekly and stuff and he's always kind of a voice of reason for me and a good mentor. So I mean, the Miller family has been awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:And you know it's like. It's one of those things, bill, like I guarantee every week Johnny's sitting there, he's in the shop or he's in the house, he gets a phone call or whatever, and he's like shop or he's in the house, he gets a phone call or whatever and he's like no way I haven't talked to you in forever.
Speaker 1:what's going on, dude? Like that's just the way it goes right, because the way that our industry is and the way that the the racing community is, you just get to love and be with so many people all the time and they're in such either high stress or low stress situations that you get all that fluctuation, so they just become lifelong friends like Bella's question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And being able to experience a sport with them that you love just as much and have just as much passion for is also super cool. I think you can do that with any other, any other sport too, but racing I feel like it's a little more special.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it definitely is I in special. So, yeah, it definitely is I in in our racing, and our sport of off-road racing is much different than other forms of motorsports as well. It's, you know, we're a different breed or a different type of of community and so, um, you know that's I think that that's a good point is just, uh, we're, we're an off-road family, you know, and and you gotta love it and love all the, all the hurdles Cause, cause it's a big adventure and that's what we love. We're adventure seekers.
Speaker 2:Speaking of other aspects of racing, um, did you ever have the desire to compete in motocross or supercross, or was all your energy focused on desert?
Speaker 3:I think early on when I was a teenager, yeah, I wanted to race motocross and stuff and I was introduced to it. But it was difficult my position at that point when I was a kid and I lost my dad and stuff and so it was hard to get to tracks or get to a place I could practice and stuff, and so I started racing Grand Prix's and and some local desert stuff. And then I was introduced to Baja and stuff. So it what I liked about it was, uh, off-road racing was I got to ride a long time. I loved riding a long time, and when I go to motocross you get a couple of laps of practice, a three lap moto, and then you got to wait all day for the next three laps and there you go. And so I was just like you know what? I want to ride my dirt bike. I want to race my dirt bike. So that's what attracted me to off-road racing.
Speaker 2:Was the endurance and just how long you were on the bike by yourself.
Speaker 1:It sounds like maybe some of the freedom though, too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, the endurance part was great, um and uh.
Speaker 3:I always, you know, I always love just riding a long time and being on the bike a long time and I could say that, um, you know, a couple events that that really put puts that to the test, you know, is like the dakar rally, where you're on the in the saddle a long time, day after day after day after day, um the six days enduro, isde, and also um, a couple times in baja, like we virtually split the race in half from from tijuana la paz, or, uh, ensenado la paz, you know, or cabo, it's like I rode a couple times with jimmy lewis, uh, and it's like I rode the a couple of times with Jimmy Lewis, uh, and it's like I rode the first half, first 500 miles, and he rode the second 500 miles, you know, and be on the bottom.
Speaker 3:So I remember leaving Tijuana in, uh, 1995, bottom of a thousand. We started downtown Tijuana, raced out the riverbed, got in the Hills, went over to Mexicali, then went south. My section to San Ignacio above San Ignacio was like 620 miles, good God, it took me like 12 hours. I got off the bike, left it sun up, got off the bike at sundown.
Speaker 1:That's insane. I want to know a couple things about that. What did you eat along the way? Did you eat while you were moving, or did you eat? Uh, did you take a break?
Speaker 2:Like you, not eat at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and then after that, like how do you like you get off the bike and take a piss, like what do you guys do?
Speaker 3:Um, Well, you pee while you're on the bike. For one it's kind of gross, but you do. And then eating I only ate a little bit at one of the pits when they were refueling me, and then I just kept going. But hey, when you're 25, you're a machine, and I had more focus and adrenaline than I had really strength.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, and they didn't have Uncrustables then, so you had to have a normal PB&J sandwich, right?
Speaker 2:They had to have had Uncrustables then.
Speaker 3:I think this was the only bologna sandwich I've had since I was a kid.
Speaker 2:Really Bologna sandwich is crazy.
Speaker 1:There you go but at that point you'd take anything, man yeah, for sure, Throw some ketchup on a rock and you're good to go.
Speaker 2:That's true. I do agree with you, though, like some people will ask me, how you, how you not eat or go so long without eating.
Speaker 1:So there you go he's got a friend over there too. What kind of she's whining at me? Oh is she. She needs some assistance. Yeah, she probably does dog lover.
Speaker 2:but yeah, no, I. And then like telling them like you know, I had a string cheese before I went off, but that's pretty much out. It's like it for my 12-day race or 12-hour race, and they're like what? But I get it. Like you're not hungry, you're more worried about you know how I'm going to get to this next pit or I'm a lot different now.
Speaker 3:It's like I got to eat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's why I asked those questions, cause like I've I've done a lot of endurance, road bike racing and stuff like that, like a tour de France kind of shit, and like you eat on the bike and you piss on the bike, like you do everything on the bike and so like, so what you're saying is basically the same thing, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, basically the same thing, right, yeah, yeah, basically just. Uh, you know, back then it's like you I just went because you're young and strong and whatever, and but like, as you get older, you you learn, it's like you know. That probably wasn't the smartest thing. I could have been much better, much faster, if I would have ate at certain places along the way.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, but you can pass on all that information to everybody else that you're helping now too. So all right, bella, let's give him a one or two more questions and then we'll wind it down for him so he can get with the dog and get some dinner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. Um, I want to make these good if we're going to. I did want to bring up dust to glory one because I didn't know, I've never watched it until I watched it with my dad the other day. And um, well, first of all, it's an awesome film, but, um, it's based, if you guys don't know, it's based off the heart and history of racing, the baja 1000. Um, can you tell us a little bit about that, because you make an appearance a couple times in that movie.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that was fun, I mean dust of glory. Dana brown came along, um, right in the middle of uh, kind of my pinnacle of my career really, and so that was a special time. We uh got filmed in oh three at the 2003 bob 1000 and we did a unique loop that year, um, where it kind of went um, I guess it would be counterclockwise so we came down the pacific side and then back up the gulf and then back over to ensenada, so steve and I ended up splitting it in half, kind of um, but not really we. I started and right away I had a, uh, right away I had, let's see, I had a pretty good lead, about 60 miles and I hit, I hit a rock really freaking hard and like just about broke my thumb. I didn't crash, I didn't crash, but I had to. I stopped because the bike was shaking and I ended up blowing like about I don't know, five or six spokes out of the front wheel. So then I had to nurse the bike to the highway and then the race tightened up and then, um, yeah, and then I gave the bike to steve and had to nurse my wrist and uh, then we had gotten to that uh, epic battle.
Speaker 3:Um, my, my lead shrank, uh, because of my wrist then, uh, then Steve got caught by Grider. We got past the pits and then I chased Grider through all that silt and crap down by the coast, um, and then I caught back up to him on the highway cause we had a huge highway section right after we went down the beach. Um, we had like 60 miles or something it was crazy from catavina all the way to chapala, and that was because, uh, they had to change the course, um, during pre-running because a huge silt section, oh. But, um, then I handed the bike off to steve uh down by chapala and then he took it in, uh, all the way back from there. But actually we had Bruce Ogilvie, our manager, split that section because I couldn't get back over to help him split that section. So Bruce rode like 30 miles of whoops, gave him a break during the night and then Steve went on to win.
Speaker 1:I can imagine how that went down. So, bruce, you're cool doing all these whoops for 30 minutes.
Speaker 3:You know what Bruce wanted to race? He was actually my age oh okay, he was like 53 at that time and so he actually became the oldest guy to ever win an overall on a bike.
Speaker 1:Yes, should we do it? Should we do the applause?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he did that thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that was uh, that was pretty cool. And and to back that up, like Bruce, our manager and my mentor, he, he wrote with me the first time I won a score race, so it was, uh, it was kind of he. He, he rode with me the first time I won a score race, so it was uh, it was kind of he was, he was a unique guy with, uh, just a ton of knowledge. But getting back to dust, to glory, um, yeah, what a phenomenal time of of just documenting Baja racing, um, on the big screen. And and you know, right after that, as you saw, like there was a humongous influx, like we shot the thing in 03.
Speaker 3:It didn't come out till 05. Once it hit 05, there was four and a half, there was like almost 500 entries, yeah, at the Baja 500 or the Baja 1000. It's like everybody's like, oh, I got Baja fever, we got to go do this, you know, and so they uh, so we got this huge influx before everything tanked in a way but, um, but yeah, that that movie and that really showcased, uh, you know, not just our race but but the truck race and the gnarliness, and, you know, dealing with the cops pulling the trucks over, you know, and that whole thing. And then it showed the privateers and you know the guys that come out and you know the Mexican team and the Baja bug and stuff like that. Just it captured so much of the flavor of what Baja is all about.
Speaker 1:It was really well done, it was remarkable and the way that they built the character sets and all that stuff. You couldn't really ask for anything more. The thing that we've been doing I wasn't around for I didn't know about Offroad in that time, but Bella and I always talk about it It'd be nice to be able to have that same kind of concept and that same kind of viewer capacity now, because we really need to push it and get it growing again right, so I hope that some of the stuff that we're doing will help it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and just think about this there was no drones then, right. There's no drone footage at all. We had guys on bikes, you had guys in helicopters, you had the old school real deal stuff going down that film that. Just think of the production that they could do now. If the funding was there, you can really really focus really good. It would be pretty remarkable.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm saying, Bello. We're pretty close to having a bike. Do a full live stream of abaha 1000.
Speaker 1:I'm ready for this. Put one on my car, let's go. All right, let's get one more question. Do you want to ask it? No, I'm cool with it. I like your questions that you got, dude I mean I got a lot.
Speaker 2:I was pretty excited. So let's see, oh, this one's a good one. So I know, like for my racing team, me and Cruz, my brother, raced together. But um, when we do like long races, like Vegas, Torino, that's coming up I'm going to do around 300 to 350 miles and then I'll pass it off to Cruz. But I usually start the races because I'm better during the daytime and I'm more energized in the morning. That's my strength. But I was wondering for you, like what's your kind of dynamic for your team? Like, do you start off as the first rider or do you kind of break it up in the middle or do you end the race?
Speaker 1:That's a great question Um.
Speaker 3:I think we strategize to the rider's strengths as well. Um, you know, in my career I I was usually starting the bike and then, when you build, was usually finishing the bike because he was super good at night. He was very, very good night rider, so I'd usually start and then he'd finish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's once you got it dialed, I feel like it's, it's set and it's good and you can try other things. But when you have your plan and you know it's works and it's successful, then you stick with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you start learning from experience, like just like what Johnny said that you can play to everybody's strengths right For sure.
Speaker 1:You guys are doing that with your team too, man, it's. It's been so cool to talk with you, johnny. I really appreciate you taking the time and, uh, I want to say another thing too. I think it's really cool that Bella's doing all this stuff and getting her show lined up. You know cause? You've been on our list after we talked with Jamie before, but, uh, bella did it, she took it on her own and she got you on the show, dude. So thank you very much for coordinating everything with her and getting her all the footage and photos and all that stuff. It was really cool to see.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you, Bella. You're doing a wonderful job. Just keep up the hard work and you know, the successes will come, because it's a product of your hard work and efforts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much. I greatly appreciate it. It was so much fun talking to you and learning from you and soaking up all the knowledge.
Speaker 3:Um, I hope to see you guys and your team out on the racetrack in August, but it'll be fun, yeah, we'll. We'll probably be close to finishing when you're starting, but yeah we will but thank you so much.
Speaker 2:I had a great talk. It was super cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and John, thank you very much for everything that you've done Well in your career. Congratulations on everything you've done. But I think some of the stuff that's more heartfelt and meaningful to the whole industry is what you're doing to give back. So please don't stop doing that. Keep doing it, Keep being yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you guys. I really appreciate it, appreciate, appreciate it and appreciate the time. Yeah, you guys are awesome thanks, buddy bye, johnny yep, take care. Have a good night you too.
Speaker 1:See you later bye, bye so we'll let him uh sign off here. But uh, bell, let's just thank all the sponsors. Uh well, first let's thank everybody for watching. You guys are a lifeblood. Um, it was so cool to talk with johnny. He's such a legend and we really appreciate everybody watching. We already said at the beginning of the show, but you're more than welcome to go to iTunes, share it with all your friends, you know, do uh, do everything that you can to help Bella grow her show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. I greatly appreciate it. You guys are the reason I do this. It's so much fun, but being able to, you know, open the doors to more opportunities and meeting people and talking to people, I'm having a good time.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, you're doing a great job. That's why you're still doing it right. Thanks to the guys over at KMC Wheels. Like Bella said, go down to 4WheelParts, get some more wheels. Thanks to the guys at Maxxis Tires. Thank you to Motul, shock Therapy, jl Audio, evolution, power Sports, zonder Racing Products, vision, canopies and Starstream. What's next? Vegas to Reno, vegas to Reno. See you guys at Vegas to Reno.
Speaker 2:Bye. Thanks for listening to the Dirt Life Show. See you next time.
