Motocross.com

Chris

Who is 500guy?

Hi Chris

My Name is Jay Perkins; I’m a Diesel Fuel Injection Specialist
“The Angry Diesel Mechanic”
Huge fan/participant in our sport.

Why 500guy? What is the meaning behind the name?

I was racing a CR500 and roosting some people pretty good locally and a few kids kept saying “Hey you are that 500guy” I shortly after joined e-bay and mototalk and needed a nick name so I picked that and it just stuck.

Tell us how you became involved with moto and why it has become such a big part of your life…

I raced in the 70’s and early 80’s did ok locally but never really made a mark, had a support ride with Maico and Yamaha but never went past that, I decided my destiny was to have a job.
Took 15 years away from the sport and got interested in it again when I heard about this guy named McGrath in 1996.
A few years ago I hooked up with Privateer Ted Campbell and started helping him at the races, I had such a great time and met so many people I just couldn’t walk away when Ted stopped racing.

You have made a lot friends over at MT, including myself…What do you think about the whole moto-internet-chat board deal?

I have made more friends than I can count and couldn’t be happier with Mototalk and VitalMX and the connections it has provided me.

I learned after awhile it gets down to respect if you give some you normally get some in return.



Do you think it has helped or hindered the sport?

I think it has helped but it has also revealed some of the behind the scenes crap that goes on, at the end of the day accountability is up because if you screw up it’s all over the world in a matter of seconds.

You seem to be actively involved with the Wonder Warthog MDK Race Team. Tell us about that…

I met Scott Kandel through Mototalk back when he was the real wonder warthog with a mantra that was killer the old cornholio and voo doo doll was classic, He evolved as a champion of the Privateer and we talked often, they gave Ted a spot on the team in 2007 and I have been involved since, mostly because of people like Ron Joynt at Decal Works,Dana K, Mark Kvamme of MDK, Doug from The Plumber Inc. Chris at RXR,DC and the crew at Racerx, Todd at MXFiles, Jeff the truck driver and a bunch others like the Mole and Knobby just to name a few, and all the riders on the team have been great to be around. Also Some other Teams too like Allen at MotoXXX and Kevin from Tamer & The Solitaire guy’s (Sorry if I left anyone out)

You have created quite a niche over at Mototalk with your opinions on moto, and more importantly your 500guyTV! What made you start doing the informative and sometimes purely comical videos you have been posting up?

Ha ha my opinion sometimes could be left out
(I know I can be an azz at times) but many a time I feel like I can give a decent insight to what is actually happening.


500guy TV wow it started out as just a little prank
And thanks to the excellent art work from Paul Dean at (makemyownstickers.com) the 500guy logo is becoming well known.
My buddy Chip Morton emailed me and said watch it blow up and it seems to be growing bigger every week , I know it gets a little wacked but it’s all in good fun and sometimes even has a real message, I especially like doing the Privateer profiles and the riders and fans seem to like it too, I’ve been getting several requests for specific riders and plan to do as many as I can , it’s just a little costly to travel so maybe if I get enough viewers someday it will yield some sponsors of my own.

Is there anything else you want to mention????

I just want to say about the Message boards and people, there is Doctors, Lawyers and all types of professional people who read and post on the boards and just because they may say something absurd doesn’t mean they need to get a life, Industry people should not address them with “You People” and statements like that because in most cases those people are the ones who really drive the sport.

So they got it wrong or they said something not so cool , ignore it, Go do some laps or work out maybe get a life , LOL just kidding.

And remember I’m not just some jackazz on the internet I’m an accomplished one.

Now go to a Race and have some fun, you know you want to.

And Please check out the Warthog Nation booth and support the privateer if you can.

JP

1st the friends deal is cool, the free photo and video hosting is pretty slick too, sometimes it loads slow buy guy-b said a new system is in the works.

Being a featured member every so often rocks , it's cool to open up the front page and see your photo or avitar front page.

Most of all Guy-b gives us good photo and very up to date reports of whats going on in the pits and on the track.

The product spot lights are cool and the team and rider interviews are good.

most of all the reporting is unbiased and just full of the news without personal interjection.

Vital is more and more becoming my 1st stop when I want current SX/MX info.

Good job Vitalmx and Thanks

I thought I was going to have an easy week because Don & Tim at the Pit were servicing the bike and Whitcraft was going to haul it for us, Then Whitcaft called and said his Diesel Van wasn't running good enough to make it to Atlanta, We stayed after work Monday and Tuesday until 7 PM and got Him back on the road, Whitcraft is a good kid and he's practicing and racing on his one and only bike, I was glad I could help him out.

We flew into Atlanta Friday and went to a dealership to do some Leo Vince stuff and most of Team Yamaha was there, Paul Lindsey from Motoworld Yamaha Team seemed excited about the new start for East coast Lites and in the end the had both riders inside the top 10, after some of the tough times Paul's Team has had I was happy to see them turning the corner.

Ted didn't race this week because he wasn't fully recovered from last weeks crash, I had an easy day and actually got to watch all the practice and qualifiers, Atlanta is a very cool place and for sure on my list of Favorite Stadiums with some good dirt, I was kind of  bummed TC didn't race because I've gotten used to working 7 day's a week and really didn't know what to do with all my extra time.

We woke up about 3 AM AZ time and flew home, unpacked did yard work and got ready for work on Monday.

it's a ton of work but it's an excellent Sport and I'm glad to be a part of it.

JP

San Diego is an excellent place for a race the pits are good and the stadium is huge, This season is going in warp speed and everyweek brings something  or someone new. I'm kind of bummed the West Coast lites is over for 8 weeks because I really was getting used to working with Don from the Pit and his rider Clay , Also Clay's family have been awesome people to be around.

The day was fairly easy, I got up at 4 am and Drove from AZ to San Diego , Don had already put wheels on the bike and Ted ran it through Tech , so all I had to do was attend the riders meeting and prepare for Practice.

Ted qualified pretty good but ended up getting taken out on the start of the lcq and pulled off a little banged up.

San Diego was no different than anyother race and the people coming over to say hello never failed to impress.

I met Xavier Audoudard who is the Author of the Book in my headline "The Great History of Supercross"  I was very excited to finally meet him and was pumped he gave me a personally signed copy.

I also met Chip Morton a Photog for dirt rider who is also very cool and likes to take different photo's (non-action) that I'm excited to see.

I also got to have a long talk with Jim Holly who was very cool.

I also saw a lot of AZ people like Stultz , Jones and even saw Kyle Killebrew in the tunnel with the KTM jr Kids. it was excellent to see all these guy's

I also met my buddy Dwayne who is always a blast to talk to.

I can't say enough about how cool the Wonderwart Hog programme has been and can't believe they continue to put this monumental task together for us.

We got up a little late and drove home to AZ and the whole time as I reflected on the past weeks I realized something.

In my own small way I have become a part of my friend Xavier's 2nd book.

The Great History of Supercross

Atlanta here we come.

JP

What a Fun weekend we had, it all started at the Houston Hobby air port with Wes Higgins tring to rent a small trailer for our PT cruiser I guess he had some small ponies he wanted to haul around and was flabbergasted he was in Texas and the car didn't even have a trailer hitch on it, The rental guy was confused ,

 We prepped bikes and headed for the Hotel later that day, We decided to have a 5 man world championship of Bowling and I believe TC won it with a high score of 143.

Saturday we met up with Bob Blose in the Pits and he had a cool story about what he called getting "Rolled"  He pulled up to park his car at the Hotel and some guy comes out with parking stickers and a money belt, say's it's $5 for the day and $7 for over night, Bob say's I'll do the overnight but all I have is $100 bill, guy say no problem , he hands it to him and the guy hauls azz out of there.

Houston we have a roll over

The racing was good and our guy's rode hard we didn't get the results we wanted but thats life anyways isn't it ?

Once again the Wonderwart Hog crew took excellent care of us and Dana K is always quick with a smile and offers $ incentives for different performance things like Hole Shots ect. Jeff the truck drive is the hardest working guy alive I believe.

I saw several guy's from the boards like Fiddy, Jim George, Elsinore13 and a few others , great to see you guy's and thanks for stopping by.

Sure Houston was partially a problem but at the end of the day we had a Go

JP

I left Chandler Arizona at 4:50 am Saturday and drove to Anaheim stadium,arrived there at 9:15 thanks to the hour earlier time differance.

I unloaded my tools got the bike and went to work, Ted & Donnie had already got tires and did the sound check on Friday so I pushed the bike through tech inspection and headed back to the truck, last week we had clutch problems with it slipping and before we left San Fran I put a new clutch in, Now we had a new problem, the new clutch was grabbing and wouldn't engage 100% , we had it apart 3 more times and couldn't find anything wrong, Finnaly we took it over to the Team Green truck and talked to Jason who said maybe some of the new parts were bad, I pulled the clutch out for the 4th time and took it over to him, we checked all the plates and found 5 of the fiber plates warped, Kawasaki replaced them for me for free and gave me a side cover gasket too.

Thanks to Jason I reassembled the bike and acually had enough time to eat lunch before practice.

Our first practice was a little after 2Pm and Ted really looked good he came in a little early because the bike was pinging, We had installed a high compression wise-co piston and hadn't had time to jet the bike, We came back in and changed the clip 1 notch richer and backed out the fuel screw 1/2 turn.

Practice 2 the bike ran better but still made a little noise, we brought it in changed the pilot jet 1 richer , did our normal checks and took it over to Michelin to have the tires grooved, Thanks to Scotty for that, all the guy's at Michelin are great people and a pleasure to work with.

Heat races were ok but we just can't get good enough starts and being close in speed to the others we can't make up enough time.

We loaded up, grabbed a few waters and headed out for Phoenix, I dropped Ted off at 4:30 and got home a little after 5 am Sunday, I'm proud  of Teds effort this week he really raced hard, I don't mind putting out extra effort if I get some effort back in return.

That's all from me, I told Lenny that's Hard core Moto.

JP

Well Typical privateer fashion, the deal for a bike in Canada fell through, so if we don't get something next week it will be A-1 before Ted can race.

Well it looks like TC will go Green for this year, however he might have to ride his old Honda in the first two WSX rounds, Such is the life, Credit to him,  it's never about the bike & he rarely complains about his scooter and thats a good trait, Personally I try to do more work to it than he cares about.

Check out my Video of the New SX track that was built http://www.vitalmx.com/video/albums/userpics/10064/thumb_ML_SX_track.jpg

 and if you see us at a race make sure you stop and say hello.

Also Special Thanks to Will at Honestmortgage.net for his support for the Upcoming season.

JP

WSX is only 6 weeks away and still most of us are unsure what bikes we will have or who our exact sponsors will be, I'm sure we will be in Toronto putting graphics, suspension and all the extras on the bike Friday night and Saturday morning, Lots of exciting times and i'm sure some surprising announcements.

You know it costs $639.00 a year for a Mechanics credential and if you want to bring a guest you can purchase a season Guest pass for $515.00 but that is good only for the person it's issued to, now they say you are allowed to purchase 1 guest pass at each race for $50.00 but when you get there there's a big sign saying riders are the only ones allowed to buy a pass.

 Riders license is in the same price range and then if you intend to race you have to pay for the whole season up front aprox $5,000 for SX & MX

Riders are allowed 4 passes at $40 or $50 ea

The kicker to all this is they let top guy's have what ever they want and certain sponsors are allowed huge amounts of passes and the industry seating is way over sold, if you want to sit at A-1 you better get up there 2 hrs early.

I'm not writing this to slam anyone, just letting people know how hard it is to get in and passes are very hard to get unless you're a top guy.

it really does make you wonder where all the money goes.

Luckily We have a Sponsor  honestmortgage.net   helping us this year So my buddy Ted won't have to go without a Mechanic for 1/2 the races like last year.