What is something your dad/moto mentor told you as a kid that stuck with you? Was it true or false?

Jerkin off too much makes you go blind.

It wasn't my dad, it was his good friend that had more experience with racing things. He said that HIS dad taught him "never lift" when you are racing behind someone.

You will regret not trying harder. He was right.

1)Suzukis suck.

Later, I learned that this resulted from him trying to race an RM250 in 76 or 77, and apparently he got the one built on Friday at 4:59. Unfortunately, it got reinforced when a friend with 2 RM125’s and a 250 had a rash of oddball stuff (CDI, transmissions, etc) fail on his bikes over a couple seasons. Of course that was in the early 90’s when dirt bike or MXA said that their hardware choices looked like someone rummaged around a parts bin.

2) Once you try MX, nothing will ever replace it. I’ve stopped riding several times, tried all sorts of things, and he’s right. Flying was close, and if I had the seat time and $$$, I’m guessing air racing might do the trick, but even that’s debatable. Motocross and motorcycles in general are a hard thing to give up.

3) everything happens for a reason. We may only learn later, or never, but there have been numerous times this has proven itself true to me. Women I was sad to lose became train wrecks I was grateful I wasn’t with, missed job opportunities turned out to be inferior to something better afterwards, etc.

- Never follow someone like a duck while trying to pass him. Try multiple lines and see what works. Prepare your pass. True.

- When you pass someone, protect the inside first few corners. True most of the times.

- Never look back while you’re in front of someone, that shows weakness. True

- I grew up riding sandtracks, so I was taught to ride the track like you’re driving f1, from outside to inside to keep momentum

- Ride on your toes to have more control over your bike. Joel Smets, Glenn Coldenhoff, Bobryshev, Van Horebeek all taught me that during riding clinics they gave to our club. Wish I learned it earlier in my riding career.

Stay in school.

My dad taught me to never give up, although he never said that in words.

We used to go play basketball together when I was very young. He loved that sport but was only 5'8" and could never truly compete, even in high school. He was thrilled that he had a son that looked to be a tall man in the making, so he tried to get me interested. Sadly, I didn't like the sport all that much, but I'll never forget a lesson he ingrained in me: never leave the court on a missed shot. You have to keep trying until you make a basket, and then you can be done for the day.

On my very first race day, it was a muddy disaster. I crashed in practice a zillion times, got stuck, didn't make it back to the pits until they had already started the big bike practice, and I was scared shitless. I wanted to call it a day and a racing career and never go back. My dad convinced me to just go out for the 1st moto and ride. If it wasn't to my liking, he'd take us home. Of course, the dirt dried out by then, I had a blast, and the rest is history.

I try to engrain those same values in my kids.

"Consider the source and forget it" I use that all the time. Whenever some idiot says something I just consider the source and forget it.

Hold in on going into first turn until you see Elvis!

I used to have a real bad problem with not looking far enough ahead, especially in the woods. Always looking right at the front tire. He said something like “If it’s already right there, it’s probably too late to do anything about it”. He was spot on with that one.

One time at a practice track he was trying to get me to blaze through a set of rollers, but I didn’t think I was good enough to do it. I would roll the first and then double my way out. When he asked me why I didn’t blitz them I pulled a dumb ass excuse about how the bike wouldn’t track straight through them.

So he looked around, got out of his side by side, took my bike from me and proceeded to blitz these rollers in his Guy Harvey T shirt, Wrangler jeans, and Justin work boots. He hadn’t rode an MX track in at least 15 years and let my 125 eat through those rollers while he hung off the back smiling like a kid. That day taught me to not make excuses, because if his 58 year old ass could do it, my 16 year old self probably could too.

What does every moto kid want growing up? A tricked out bike and newest gear head to toe. He worked his tail off my whole life to just get me to the weekend races, the majority of the time I had hand me down gear and a 10 year old Honda 125, but he kept up with that bike like a factory mechanic and never half assed any repair or maintenance on it, always put the bike first before anything else so that he knew I had a safe and reliable bike every race.

When he splurged and bought me a trick to the max KTM 125 my bike wash time went from 15 minutes with the Honda to an hour on the KTM. I scrubbed every inch of that bike every time, spent the money on quality cleaning products, and started air drying it with the compressor getting every nook and cranny.

That bike still looks and performs great 5 years later with 200+ hours in the chassis. My 2005 F150 V6 just cranked over 262k on the original engine and tranny, I guarantee you it wouldn’t of if my dad didn’t teach me to take care of my shit, even if it wasn’t the nicest or newest.

My favorite one (and I just told him about this the other day) is when I went through occasional teenage drama, whether it be friends, girls, whatever it was he would always say something along the lines of “Just get up in the morning, keep working hard, keep moving forward”. Looking back it sounded so basic, but I’ve watched that dude use that tactic for any kind of hardship he’s ever faced and he’s walked his walk and talked his talk. I watched that guy use that tactic to work through a messy ass divorce, his own family problems, and accomplish his dream of owning a bunch of property in the mountains.

Thanks OP for starting this thread. I like to look back on a lot of the shit he taught me, and I don’t do it as much as I should. Hope I can be half the man he is one by the time I’m his age.

"Boy.... you'll get callouses from washing your hands too much."

The most important one my dad ever told me was:

"When in doubt grab a handful of throttle. You won't save it every time, but you'll end the suspense a lot sooner."

Once you get the bike into a corner turn the throttle on and keep it on.

"Make sure and turn the gas on...!!!"

I didn't listen to my Dad and watched a full gate of 80cc bikes go up a start hill while I sputtered to a screeching halt 5 yards in front of the starting gate.

So TRUE- and because 40 years later I still remember that reminder each time I throw my leg over a bike...

"It would be way cheaper if you got into running."
He was right.

“If you ever get a chance to ride a Maico 501, don’t try and kick start it”

It stuck, unfortunately I’ve never even seen a maico 501

My Dad told me in my early years of racing, if you have a bad day of practice it will be followed with a good day of racing. For the most part its true.

I had a mechanic that said...If you are gonna be dumb, you'd better be tough!

From Dad
As a kid - "you don't want to race - those kids are too fast"
Later when I turned expert - "If you want to make it as a pro, you have to ride when you don't want to. You can't just practice when you feel like it."

Another one from a mentor I worked for - when I was adding oil to a filter a little at a time, he dumped the whole bottle on the filter and said - do your work WFO like you want to race. Stop wasting time doing a little at a time all the time.

Get your head out of your ass!!

The only piece of racing advice my dad has ever given me was “have fun”. Hands down the best race advice I’ve ever gotten, and unfortunately, the piece I always struggled to put to practice.

My dad always used to tell me: "Boy, have fun now because you're going to pay for all this dirt motorbiking and injuries when you get older". He was right. At 61 years of age, I can feel every broken bone and torn ligament I've had over the last 50 years of riding and racing. No regrets.

"Empty vessels make most noise" that is definitely true.

My grandpa told me that you couldn’t have a seat bolted on your dirt bike until you turned 20.

When in doubt flat out

Pull your finger out

Fat chicks suck

Dont eat yellow snow

Buy a jap bike not Italian

You can go as fast as you like on a MX track

Dont have sex the night before a meeting you'll loose your aggression

Have you been shagging again

Can you go any faster ?

"If your not on the gas or on the brakes, your not going as fast as you could be"

Oil is cheaper than transmissions.

“ Going to the store for a pack of smokes”.
I have saved a ton on Father’s Day presents…..

Line selection is the most important attribute a competitive racer can possess.

Will always be true.