"In Five Years I Went From Deciding to Do It to Being on a Factory Team" | Kade O'Grady on His Path to Factory Mechanic

Most of us have been told at some point in our lives that we can be whatever we want to be or that dreams do come true. Kade O'Grady figured out what his dream job was and he went after it. While still in high school he decided he wanted to be a mechanic for a factory team so he did the research and found a path. Kade went through the Scott Adkins Pro SX/MX Tech School and followed that with working for some privateers and amateurs. Through hard work, he wound up at Rockstar Husqvarna where he is now a part of the off-road team wrenching for Craig DeLong. I called Kade to hear how it all went down and to retell a story of when he made a mistake and learned a great lesson.

For the full interview, check out the Vital MX podcast right here. If you're interested in the condensed written version, scroll down just a bit further. 

Jamie Guida – Vital MX: What’s up Kade? I assume you’re getting ready for this upcoming GNCC season with a new truck, and all kinds of things going on at Husky. Has it slowed down any?

Kade O’Grady: Currently it has not. We're still trying to figure out the new truck, and getting everything loaded and organized. We have everything in the truck. It's just now finalizing where all the bolts and all the little pieces go, getting labels made, and getting everything organized. We've got basically a completely new team, new truck drivers, and new mechanics. I've only been there for a couple of months. My team manager has only been there for a little over a year. We started over with new bikes, a new shop, and new everything. We're all still learning and it's wide open at the moment.

Vital MX: Let’s start with your background first so people can get a chance to know you a little bit. Where'd you grow up? Were you into moto? What was your family doing?

Kade: I grew up in a little town in Idaho. Lewiston, Idaho. I grew up riding. I didn't race a whole lot until I was up in my teens and then started racing a little bit of local supercross, arenacross, the fair racing things. We’d go to Washougal to race amateur stuff there. Just having fun. I was never great at it, but always loved the sport, and working on the bikes. That's what led me to being a mechanic. I think I got my first bike when I was four. I had a couple of years that I didn't have a bike, but almost always had a bike or a four-wheeler. I grew up in the woods or at the track. I always followed it on TV. I always dreamt of being in the sport in some way. So, it was always my passion to follow motorsports.

Vital MX: Was your dad the type of dad that said, “If you want to go riding this weekend, you have to at least change your oil filter, check your spokes, etc? Did he teach you the basics?

Kade: It was a little different. My dad wasn't around a whole lot, and my mom got remarried. I have an awesome stepdad now, and he's the one that really started pushing me into motorsports, into riding more stuff, where before I was always just trail riding for fun. I never really raced or anything. He pushed me into racing a little bit. He helped me with what he could. He was always really busy working and stuff, and so if I had problems, he would come and help me if I needed it. But he would also just let me break stuff and figure it out on my own, which I think really helped me a lot. But he was also always there if I did have a question. He would always make the time to come and help me and show me how to change my oil and how to check spokes and stuff like that. So, it was good. There was a good balance between me having to think as a young man, and also having him coach me if I needed it. It worked out really well.

Vital MX: Do you remember what the first thing was that you worked on, and you were like, “Oh, I fixed it?" Was it a revelation? I can do this.

Kade: Yeah. So, it's a funny story. I don't remember the year, but I had a Honda 150, and the chain came off the rear sprocket because I didn't know how to adjust the chain and it bound up in the countershaft. We ended up having to cut the chain, and pull the whole swing arm off, which was a massive, massive task at the time. I had no idea what I was doing. We didn't have a bike stand. We had a five-gallon bucket and a little Lowes assortment of tools, so, not really any tools either. We set the bike up on a five-gallon bucket, and my dad helped me pull the swing arm off and get the chain fixed and go through that. It was a big task, but it was stressful and enjoyable. It sounds funny, but I enjoyed the stress of fixing it. Right after that is really when I dove head first into working on bikes, and then I started modifying my own bikes and really started learning. I learned a lot from YouTube when I was a kid. I would just go online for hours and watch videos of guys working on bikes and tearing engines apart. Porting and what compression does, and how to make more power and opening up the air box. I started tinkering on my bike, trying to make it faster. I was still little when I had the 150, I ended up getting a 250 and then continued to keep building and modifying stuff on bikes and that led me to where I am.

Vital MX: Do you remember the point in High School when you decided you didn’t want to go to college but wanted to pursue being a motorcycle mechanic?

Kade: Yeah, it was my sophomore year. We had an instructor from MMI (Motorcycle Mechanics Institute) come down to our school and he talked to us and told us all about the program. I was already thinking about or dreaming about how to become a factory mechanic and work with the Supercross team. At the time I had no idea. He filled me with all these hopes and dreams. “Oh, we can get you a job right away as a Supercross mechanic.” It's a four-year program, and right away, with the amount that he was telling me, I knew that it wasn't true. There's no way that they can promise you all of that. It was also ridiculously expensive. I was struggling to get through high school. I barely made it through high school. I knew the college route wasn't for me. I decided then I wanted to work on bikes, but I knew I couldn't do MMI. I had to start searching for a new route. I just started Googling motorcycle schools. I think I found Scott Adkin’s School, the Pro MX/SX Tech school on the 10th page of Google at like 2:00 a.m. I was supposed to go to school the next morning, was dead tired from Googling all night, and I woke up telling my mom, “Look at this. I found this school.” She kind of brushed it off. She's like, “Oh, we'll look at it the next day.” I'm like, “Hey, we need to look at this school. This is what I want to do.” I had already messaged a couple of people that had gone through there. I said, “I'm going to go to this school one way or another. We're going to figure out how to do it.”

Vital MX: What was her reaction? Was she supportive?

Kade: She was supportive, but she was very nervous. When I went, I was the fourth class that went through the school. So, the school wasn't really very known and there was only a handful of people that had gone through it. There wasn't much information. It was honestly a little bit sketchy. Looking back now, I completely understand why my mom, was supportive but hesitant. I understand why because I'm 18 years old, moving to West Virginia from Idaho. I had to pack everything and drive across the country to live there, and I had never gone out on my own before. My parents prepared me very well for going out on my own, but it's still something new. She was more nervous about how far away I was going and just the atmosphere of the school and how it was going to be. Because it's such a small class. There are only ten people that are accepted into the school year. My year two people dropped out. So, there were only eight of us from all across the country going to this one little school in West Virginia. She was nervous, but she supported me, helped me get funding, and used some of my college fund that I had saved up from being a kid. My grandparents helped me out a lot also by getting me the rest of the money so I could afford to go to the school. But we were able to rally together, and we made it happen.

Vital MX: What does she think now that you're working on a factory team living in Southern California? Rock star life.

Kade: She still can't really believe it. I brought them to Washougal this year for the National, and I'd brought them to a couple of other races, but it was for smaller teams. They thought it was cool, but just hung out in the corner and were a little standoffish. They weren't sure exactly what to do and what their place was. They were the same way when I brought them to Washougal when I was working for Dean (Wilson). Dean wasn't racing in that race, but I was still helping out all the guys. They kind of just hung out in the corner and I was like, “Hey, I'm with the factory guys now. We got you guys passes. You could literally go anywhere you want on the facility.” I'm also buddies with Ryan Huffman, the guy that owns the track. “If you guys need anything, let me know. I can get you where you need to go. You don't have to worry about food. You're not to worry about anything. Just get to the race and hang out. You can come in the truck, you can meet the guys, you can do whatever you want.” They always knew how cool and special it was. But they never got to really see it until they were there and see the show and the two semis. Everybody on the team has a specific job and we all know what to do. Tearing down, we can have both semis torn down in an hour, hour, and a half. So, it's organized chaos, but everybody knows what to do. They really saw all the training and everything that we've done leading up to it being put to work there. It was pretty cool to have them experience what I get to do every weekend.

Vital MX: Going to the Scott Adkins school, what were some things that were surprising? Something you didn't expect. What were some of the key things he taught you?

Kade: First off, I was really surprised with all the bikes that he had. He won't have any bikes more than two years old to train you on. He'll bring side projects, and things just for you to get more experience on that are a little older. But for the most part, everything is a current model bike. He has a minimum of one of every single brand of bike, so you are familiar with every brand, engine, suspension, chassis, and everything. The very first day we were there, all eight of us, got around this bike. It was a 2017 Honda; I believe it was. We pulled the engine out on the first day. We split the cases and just went 100% through the engine. At that time, I had done top ends and a little bit of stuff, but I'd never fully split cases before. It was an eye-opener to what all goes into it. It was a little overwhelming, especially on the first day at school. He basically has you tear it down yourself and attempt to put it together without any assistance so he can see where you stack up in the class. That way he can focus on the guys that need a little more help to get caught up with the guys that know a little bit more so that the entire class is learning at the same pace and nobody's left behind. We'd get a bike, you'd frame it and then get the engine, and tear it apart. You build the engine as best as you could, and he would come through and inspect it and give you tips and tricks on what you need to do. Different tips on how to install piston rings correctly or put the rod or the crank in the case and all that. It just gives you the confidence to be able to tear into any bike without hesitation and know that you're going to be able to diagnose an issue and find a solution and fix what the problem is. It's overwhelming at first, but as I said, it gives you the confidence to not worry about it and to be able to succeed in fixing anything, any issue.

Vital MX: One of the things I like that he does, this is how I met you, he tries to take you to events. He took you, in 2018, to St Louis. There's a possibility that you could find a privateer that needs some help and actually get some hands-on experience. I would think that was probably one of the most beneficial experiences you had because you already had some knowledge from working in the school and then you got hands-on race experience.

Kade: Exactly. I don't know really any other school or program that is going to take you to a race where they have the connections. At that St Louis 2018 Supercross, we walked in, walked straight to the factory Yamaha truck, and Keith McCarty was the manager at the time, and he gave us a full tour of both of the factory Yamaha tracks, which is really unheard of. We go through the truck, meet all the guys and then just start walking around meeting everybody that Scott used to know or still knows. He then takes us to the privateer pits and we're just walking around, and I see a guy struggling to work on his bike and say, “Hey, let me help you. I'm a mechanic”, and I jump in, help him. He's like, “Hey, I don't have a mechanic for the night. Do you want to help me tonight?” So of course, I said yes and jumped on the deal. You helped me get in touch with Travis Delnicki, which was cool. That was the first race I ever worked at and was on the floor. A lot of the guys I went to school with were a little jealous because they were sitting in the stands and at the first race, I was already working. It was cool. It's a great experience. I don't think you'll really get that anywhere else.

Vital MX: No, I can't imagine you would. Once you get through the school and you graduate, Scott said close to 80 or 90% of the graduates can find placement for. I don't remember whom you were wrenching for right out of school. Was it Chris Howell or was it somebody else?

Kade: I worked for Hunter Cross for a little bit, and then I went to Noah McConahy. It was a little bit of a shady deal with McConahy, and I ended up losing the job. He ended up racing in Germany with a different team. So, I was kind of stranded in California without a job, living at Chris Howell's house. Luckily, he's a nice enough guy and he offered me a job to work for him in 2019. That led to my first season wrenching professionally with JMC Motorsports. So, I had a couple of guys right outside of school that I worked for that didn't work out. I stuck with it and just continued to make connections. That led to working with Chris. After I worked with Chris, I worked for BarX for a little bit and then went to Max Miller with Orange Brigade. Max led me into a couple of different teams and then he got hurt sadly a couple of times while I was with him. But I made good connections with Larry Brooks, and Larry Brooks called me back to BarX for a couple of months just to be a fill-in mechanic because they lost a guy. So, I've kind of bounced around, but I've always tried to stay loyal. I've made connections and I'll get calls and I will go be a fill-in mechanic just for a couple of weekends or a race or two. It's cool getting those calls. When Larry Brooks calls you, it's pretty neat. The guy's a legend in the sport, so he's calling you to trust you enough to jump into a bike that you haven't worked on for a year or two. It's cool knowing that he trusts you enough to just throw you in.

Vital MX: Scott kind of preaches, “I can give you all the knowledge in the world, but the experience you can't teach.” Coming out of school, how prepared did you feel from the school to do what you were doing? Even though you didn't have the experience, you had the preparation to at least work under pressure and learn from the experience.

Kade: Right. He teaches you everything about the motorcycle that he can, and he tries to pressure you. But there's no real pressure like the actual race with people watching you or an engine blows up and you have to do an engine swap. When you're in the pits, sometimes there are thousands of people surrounding you just staring at you, trying to ask you questions, figuring out what's going on, and you have to be able to tune them out and just focus on the task at hand, whether it be changing bars, changing suspension, changing an engine, a wheel swap, anything like that. You have to be able to tune it out. Some people can't handle it, some people can. Scott would do drills at school where we would have to change tires or change wheels out and we'd time ourselves, try to get faster, and not make mistakes while we were doing it. We’d do suspension swaps, wiring harness swaps, and electrical swaps. He would come and unplug certain sensors without telling us. There was a day we knew that we were doing electrical stuff, but we didn't know what the issue was. He would unplug something, and we'd have to diagnose it on the fly to figure out what the issue was. Engine swaps and things like that. He does what he can to prepare you, but nothing can prepare you like the real scenario. So, the only way is just to throw yourself out there. It's nice having that experience I had with Travis, where I understood a little bit more than the rest of the guys how the professional race series worked and staging and qualifying and where to stand and all that. There's a lot that goes into it you don't understand. There are a lot of rules that mechanics have to follow. He does what he can. But again, there's nothing like the real-world experience of just getting out there and doing it.

Vital MX: Speaking of that real world experience, there's a story that I really thoroughly enjoy having you retell. You've told it on the MotoXPod show, but I want to get it in print for Vital MX. I think 2019, possibly in Houston. You had a little issue.

Kade: Yes. 2019. Houston, you love to bring this one up.

Vial MX: I do.

Kade: Well, we got done with Press Day. I was with Chris Howell, JMC Motorsports got done with Press, I'm washing my bike and Tooley comes up to me and he's like, “Hey, your bike sounded a little louder at press We want to do a sound check on you to make sure the decibel level is within the threshold so we're legal and allowed to race.” I was in the middle of washing it and it stressed me out a little bit because I wasn't sure if we were going to pass or not. We'd been right on the edge all year that year. Instead of just taking my time and thinking about it and taking a deep breath and just slowing down, I panicked a little bit. I said, “Okay, yep, no problem.” I took my air box cover out, threw the air filter in, and just dried the bike off as best I could. I fired it up and went and rode it down to sound testing. When I did that, I forgot to take the blue Scott paper towel out of the air box and I rode the bike a little less than a mile, but a pretty long distance. It's far from the pits to the stadium, with no issues. But as soon as they crack the throttle wide open, it sucked that paper towel into the engine. It stuck the throttle wide open because the paper towel jammed the throttle body. The paper towel was coming out of the exhaust pipe, and we were trying to shut the bike off. We threw it in gear to get it to stall. We're holding the kill switch, but when the bike is revved out at 15, 16,000 rpm, the kill switch doesn't cut timing fast enough or cut spark fast enough to turn the motor off. So, it ran a little bit longer than we would have liked and it ended up pulling the rag through the valves. Luckily, it didn't break anything. But yeah, suction sucked a paper towel into the engine.

Vital MX: On to better topics. How does the Rockstar Factory Husky position come about?

Kade: I was working with Max Miller. We were just finishing off the Supercross season. I had worked for him for about three years and loved the kid, love the family. But I decided I needed to better myself and move on. Before the season ended, I had a talk with Max and his family and told them that I was going to leave and find a different job. I was betting on myself because I didn't have a job at the moment. I quit without knowing where I was going, but I knew what I was capable of and I knew with the connections that I had made, I could find something. I called Nate Ramsey, who had just stepped into the Team Manager position at Rockstar Husky Moto, and he told me that they were looking for mechanics but didn't know if they had anything available and that I had to apply online. I went online and applied. Actually, Pedro, who is Tom (Vialle) mechanic this year, sent me the link and helped kickstart my application after I talked to Nate Dog. When you apply, you don't know what you're applying for. It just says race team technician. I didn't know if it was moto, if it was off-road, what the deal was. When I applied, they were hiring for the off-road side. I got a call from Anthony DiBasilio, who is my manager now at Rockstar Husky. He said they pulled my resume. He wants to interview me for the off-road team. I was nervous because I had no idea about off-road. I've been to one GNCC, which I went to with Scott at the Pro SX/MX Tech school. But I couldn't pass the opportunity up. I didn't have a job at the moment. We did a phone interview and then I went in for an in-person interview and I didn't hear anything for like three weeks to a month. I kind of just got down. I was like, “Well, I didn't get the job. Time to move on.” I started reaching out again to other people. Out of the blue, I just needed to call Anthony, and figure out what was going on. So, I call Anthony and he's like, “We're trying to get paperwork settled. You have the job. Don't take any other job yet. We're just trying to get things figured out on our end.” Another week goes by and no contact. I'm starting to stress again. I'm running out of money and my savings is starting to dwindle at this point because I wasn't working. I called him back. He was like, “Alright, you'll start tomorrow, but Nate Ramsey's going to call you.” I was all excited to get the job. Nate Dog calls me and says, “Hey, I just lost a mechanic on the moto team. We know you were hired for 0ff-road, but your season doesn't start for another three months, so you're going to fill in on the moto side until outdoors is over.” So, I started with moto, and did three and a half, four months over at the moto side working with Dean Wilson for the last four races that he did with the team. Then I ended up transferring over to the off-road side. I did, I believe, eight races with Thad Duvall last year and then went into this 2023 season knowing that I was going to work for Craig DeLong. I had to build all of his race bikes and practice bikes. We had the new semi. We had the same van, but we had to get the van and rebuild the van. We're moving to a new shop, new bikes, new mechanics, new team manager, new truck driver, new everything. So, it's been a crazy experience.

Vital MX: Now that you've done the GNCC side, you've also done some Supercross stuff, would want to stick with that, even if a Supercross/motocross position opens?

Kade: That would be a really, really hard choice because my heart is still with Supercross and motocross. That's what I know. But I'm really enjoying the off-road. At the moment I couldn't tell you what the answer would be, what I would choose. It would be extremely difficult. I like the motocross/Supercross side. It's a little flashier. I like the racing better. It's tighter, it's more intense. But I like the GNCC side because I'm a big mountain bike rider. I ride mountain bikes all the time. At the GNCC races, I have stages and checkpoints that I have to meet to give my rider a pit board or give him water and things like that. I am chasing my guy through the woods on a mountain bike, which is fun for me. Also, the pit stop is really fun. Your adrenaline is flowing. You're trying to get in and get your guy out quickly while giving them fuel and water. They take a little gel pack to give them some energy. They change goggles. If they crash you try to change, tweak something and fix the bars or anything like that. It’s stressful in a different way. Also, the biggest difference is with Supercross and motocross I'd always have my hands on the bike. Where with GNCC, I build the bike once and they race it for 3 hours. If I make a mistake, there's a very good possibility that I can hurt my guy because I'm not going to notice it. In Supercross, you have a little bit more leniency where if a bolt is slightly loose, you are touching it more often so you can find that loose bolt. In GNCC, if I leave a bolt loose, it's loose and the bike's coming apart. I think on both sides, you can't really make a mistake, but on the GNCC side of things you're not allowed to make a mistake because if you do, your race is done. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Vital MX: I'm proud of you. It's really cool to have met you when you were in school, and now you’re living your dream.

Kade: It is awesome. It's crazy, I was just looking at it last night. I had a bunch of memories pop up on Facebook. It was five years ago yesterday when I started school. In five years, I went from deciding I was going to do it to being on a factory team, working with factory guys, and building a semi, basically for the team, which I never really thought was ever possible. So, it's pretty cool that a little kid with big dreams from Idaho was able to make it on the big stage like this. I just hope some other kid will listen to this and hear this, and it can give them the confidence to go out and try to make it and achieve their dreams and their goals.