Team Warnert Racing / Can-Am's Michael Swift fell into GNCC racing after racing local Harescrambles. Soon he found out he was actually really good at it! Swift decided to join Mike Penland to race Baja in 2005 and the rest is history. He hooked up with BRP Can-Am and sent his resume in and now, he's juggling owning his own business and being first in his class every round in the 2009 Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series.  We've never done a Tuesday Toolbox on Michael, so read on to find out a little more.

Have we ever done a Tuesday Toolbox on you Michael?
I don't believe so. But it's about time!

Alright! Since we haven't, why don't you tell me a little bit about how you got started in GNCC.
All my friends were racing motocross and I wanted to do that. They built me a bike and then I couldn't stay on the bike. I kept ending up on the ground. So, I decided to get rid of the bike. Someone told me about Harescrambles and I went to a local race on a 2003 Rancher ES and I got second. While I was racing there, someone told me about racing in the utility series. I wasn't good with sport bikes and I wanted to race utility. The GNCC was coming to Loretta's so I decided to race that and I had a lot of fun.  I rode in the stock class and I did pretty well so I decided to do a couple more and decided I had to get a bigger bike to compete.  I raced the Sparta race when it was really muddy and did really well there. I thought if I did good at Ironman I'd get a bigger bike and race some more. So I went to Ironman and I won! So I bought a new bike and raced the whole next season. Funny thing is, all my motocross friends switched to XC!

So when did you get started with Can-Am? Mike Penland invited me to race Baja with him in 2005. I thought it was a once in a life opportunity. I ended up meeting everyone from BRP. I put my resume in and they signed me on. My first year on a Can-Am was in 2006 and I won the championship. And we've been winning ever since!

How do you feel about the Can-Am? It's different from a lot of racing bikes, so how do you feel like it fits in competitively? It's a totally different bike in every aspect. I spent a year and a half on the Kawasaki. I wasn't really confident on what the bike could do and that slowed me down. I switched to Can-Am and my confidence went up a 100 percent. It's totally different. Just making a change to Can-Am speeded me up all by itself. The bike just works so much better. Once you build a trust in the bike, it's unbelievable what you can do. It's a huge huge difference. I tell people, over the past year a lot of people in my class have swapped and asked about the Can-Am. I tell them just by making the bike swap you will speed up just like that.

Being in the 4X4 Limited class, you can't change a lot on the bike to make it faster from week to week, how do you work with that? A stock bike out of the box works just fine. Obviously we run different tires, and better wheels to prevent flats.  Other than that, it's stock. I can ride the stock suspension just as fast as the modified guys with the beefed up motors. It's really not a problem. It's just such a good bike out of the box; you don't really have to do anything to make it a competitive bike. It's competitive right out of the showroom.

You really have done well all along, and now you're leading your class, how has your career made it this far? I've gotten better every year. My goal is to be better than the previous year. I'm pretty dedicated to the racing. I try to race a lot of the local series for practice. Our local races are a lot tighter. I'm used to the tight woods and that helps me a lot. I tell you, I started exercising and stuff a couple years ago and that helped tremendously. Now I have a trainer. Then we learn things about the bike too about things we were breaking. BRP would update the parts.  It's just really about being dedicated.

Is racing your full-time job? No, I own a small business working on heavy equipment. Racing is just like my second Job. I take it seriously. I schedule each week I have to stick to. I'm pretty disciplined.

What helps you stay so disciplined? I would say the desire to keep winning. I'm having so much fun. Not just racing but meeting people. You make a lot of new friends. I enjoy racing. I enjoy the competition. I don't want it to come to an end in the next year or two. I know to keep my job I have to keep winning championships. That's what keeps me focused. My son will be racing in a year or two and I want to get involved with that. To keep winning I have to keep riding, and stay fit. It's very easy to come in at night and say Man I don't want to do this. I just want to stay on the couch. But I know I have to do it to win.

What are some of your goals for this year? My goal for every year is to do better than the last year. I got on the podium twice last year, and now I want to get on the podium three times. I always want to get a flawless season. Something silly always happens. That's a goal for this year. Another goal to have is to be the best utility cross country racer. My goal is to be the fastest 4X4 every year.

Who do you think is the best utility cross country racer now?  I'd have to say myself! (laughs)  I don't know, Bryan Buckhannon has come a long way. He's spent so much time and work in it. I kept telling him to hang in there and sure enough he's right there at the top. Rick Cecco is really good on the utility bike. Cliff Beasley. In the past there was Mike Penland and Scott Kilby. There are so many up and comers, too. I'd like to think I'm one of the best. And that's my goal.. to be the best.

Hey you are a pretty easy interview!
I'm easy going and easy to get along with.

Well congratulations on all your hard work. You've won every race in your class this year, that has to feel good. We'll see you at Snowshoe!
Yup! See you then.