Mike Benson has been around for a long time in GNCC racing-nearly 30 years, in fact. For the last three, he's been battling in the GNCC U2 class in the ATV morning race, battling for class and overall wins. Mike came close over and over, but he finally pulled one out at Mountain Ridge. Here's more on Mike.

You've been racing for quite awhile, first on bikes and then on ATVs. When did you start racing? I ran my first race in 1980 at Big Bear Lake. I met Dave Coombs and when he built the track there, because I was working there at the time. I had a bike and they asked me to ride with them so I rode when Dave was building the track. I was racing on a bike until 1985, then when four-wheelers came out in 1985 I switched and I have been on four-wheelers ever since. Ross Savage opened up a track three miles from my home that was ATVs only, so I'd race that. It was good at the time because it was a new thing and we'd run the A class and we were always the guys to beat week in and week out.

So was that when you first heard about GNCC? I wasn't out of high school yet. I graduated in 1981. I had raced motocross. Back then there wasn't a lot of racing going. There weren't a lot of tracks everywhere and I was still in high school, but once I got out of high school I basically raced full-time. Once I got out of mom and dad's and they couldn't tell me what to do! (Laughs) No, they supported us. It was a family deal. My brothers raced and we all raced four-wheelers and we were all really successful. We all ran different classes and had different bikes. My mom and dad would come every Sunday. Then I got married, and had kids.

Do your children ride? I have one daughter and she's married but she's too prissy to ride. She's all girl.

I'm sure she'll love reading that! She always helped me with my four-wheelers as a kid. She keeps up with the races online. She won't ride but she'll work on the bike with me. She's always been daddy's little girl. She spent a few days with me last week and when I won overall she told me it was because I had such a good mechanic.

After all these years, what keeps you in GNCC? I think that it's just the people you meet over the years. We did good and we did it as a family. There were only three boys in our family at the time and then there were twins. My nephew Shane started racing and we had him racing when he was 5 or 6 years old. We got to where the whole family raced. My youngest brother and nephew got into it. It got to where it got to be expensive. I happened to be old enough and more financially able to travel and then I ended up doing well enough and got enough sponsors. Basically I get to race for free for now.

When did you start getting sponsors? I guess it would have been about 1999-2000. I remember building a '99 bike. Mickey Dunlap called me and he was a factory Honda rider on three-wheelers. He became an engine builder and he raced at some of our local races where we did. It was around November, he called me out of the blue and asked if I was interested in riding for him. He took care of our motors. That's why my brother and nephews started. I was able to get their foot in the door. We had a 20 by 40 tent and I was the team manager. Mike Houston, Chris Jenks, Bryan Cook.... Cook won his first race riding for Mickey. There were 6 of us on a team. Everyone said we had the circus tent!

What have you done all these years to be able to fund such a long career? Before then, I just had local sponsors. There wasn't a lot out there. We got tire sponsors and wheel sponsors. We didn't really get anything for free until riding with Mickey. Now I have great sponsors. They help me out tremendously. I was just in a good position, before. I lived in Bruceton Mills and whenever we ran the series we had close races. I didn't usually go to Florida or Georgia. We had High Point, we had the Hard Rock, we had the Wilderness which was in Clarksburg. We had 6 or 8 races within 2 hours. It made it much easier We enjoyed the sport. It was a family sport. People today they have to appreciate all their sponsors. Every week it looks like we're on a brand new bike. You don't have to always win to keep the sponsor if you represent them the right way. They want winners. We're lucky enough to win.

You're sure to have seen a lot of changes in your rides through the year and lately you've been riding an automatic bike. Why the change? One thing is that my motor sponsor, he's always built four-wheel drive and utility machines. It just came to the time, that at 46 years old, that I thought man these things are fun! We always knew how to go fast, we just wanted to adapt to something that was fun to ride. He asked if I had ever rode one.  He let me ride it and it just worked so nice. I thought, 'I can win on that thing! I think I can win the morning overall on this thing!' The next year in Florida I got second overall and we were on the podium 6 or 7 times that year and won all but two. I even had a broken leg from Millfield and finished second in those. Second wasn't that bad!

How is the season in general going for you? Well, we just got second in the points last year in U2. We had a lot of bad luck this year. We had an 8 minute plus lead in Florida and a mile and half until the finish I had an axle break. I went back out and finished 5^th in the race. I was able to salvage that race even thought I had to walk 3-4 miles. In Georgia, a week later we think we tweaked the swing arm in Florida so it broke in Georgia. We thought we were behind the 8 ball. We went all over the bike. I've never ever had to change the drive belt on these bikes. I thought I should put a new one on and at North Carolina and I ended up shredding a drive belt. My luck couldn't get any worse! I talked to Mickey and he told me to go out and have fun again. Don't think about racing. We came out and it was just a good day in South Carolina. Then in the last Tennessee race,  it was the mud pit and I did well in that. I did as well as any race and the only guys that beat me were on a four wheel drive. Then the last race I finally ended up winning the overall and winning it hands down. Hopefully the rest of the year will go well to win my class. I still feel that my bike works that well that we can win race in and race out.

What's the best season you've ever had? Probably the first year I won the championship because I won every race. That was 2007.

How long do you think you'll be in this now? Well, now I have another nephew racing so as long as I feel the way I do, I don't know! I just recently got engaged to get married next year and my new fiancée had three girls that are all excited to come to the races. They definitely like to go and we do it as a family now. And now my daughter goes every chance she can get so we still do it as a family. We try to get to as many as I can. We still try to make it a family affair and I think it's a good sport to keep the family together. You get to spend time with your family. We've got a great crew of people. I've probably been going to the races longer that anyone. Even those guys like Billy Ballance! You get a close group of ATV guys too that are like your second family. We have done multiple magazine articles in ATV Sport and ATV Action, and Dirt Wheels. Go pick up the May/June issue of ATV Rider, we're in there again. And all the pros like Borich and McGill, I know all the pros pretty well, and every week when I'm there they're cheering me on. It makes it cool and makes it good for the kids who are coming up. You don't have to be a pro to be successful. Amateur riders can also get help.