And, on top of all that, you always a pristine looking quad. How do you manage to get all that work in as well?
I’m very OCD when it comes to my race quads. Routine maintenance is key there.  Usually Mondays after work I wash the quad and riding gear and give it a once over before dinner. Then family time until Layne goes to bed, and its back to the garage checking every nut and bolt and going over the quad. Order parts on Tuesday if I need anything to make a Thursday night plan to load up the trailer for a GNCC after we have ran a WEXCR on Sunday.  Usually 1-2 nights a week I’m up late prepping and cleaning the quad until about 2-3am. Before the Limestone GNCC last year I built a brand new quad for from Monday until Friday morning. I have a whole list and a time frame on things I replace to prevent DNFs from week to week. Every rider is different here, for example I can make it 6-8 races on clutches where some riders are replacing them every week. I try to build the quads as reliable as possible to keep maintenance costs at a minimum.  I rely heavily on a couple sponsors to keep the quad pristine and will even be talking to them late at night when I need something or have a question about setup or installation. Ryan Smith from BNR Motorsports usually has a running list to ship out for me and is always a call or text away when I need something. Matt Pierce at Pierce Performance always helps with engines when I’m in need. Maxxis keeps me in fresh rubber. Austin Parks at Spider Graphix has the biggest impact on the appearance of my race quads!  He always nails every design idea I have in my mind and always takes a basic looking bike to having that “WOW” factor. 

How did you get started racing?
I’m pretty sure I was just born to go fast!  Just kidding… I grew up on a farm in southern Ohio and my brother, sister, and I always had quads to ride and that was always what I wanted to do once all my chores were done. That kind of just evolved more and more! One Sunday at home I can remember a big ride leaving from my farm and riding on the backseat of my dad’s old Yamaha Moto-4 down to the Pioneer Motorcycle Club. There was some fast guy in that group named Chad DuVall. I had no clue who he was, or why my uncle would have brought him along to go riding! From that point on it was just a matter of time, and what really set it off was when my Grandpa Hendershot was driving me to show me the house he was born in. We pulled up this old gravel road and there was someone collecting money to enter the farm. Once we made it to the top of the hill that farm was now a motocross and hare scramble track known as Reno Raceway. I watched my first motocross race that day and returned there for my first race on a stock 400EX in the fall of 2001. I still have that plaque, and walk by it every day I go into the garage. It was a mud race and I picked up the win that day.

And what brought you into the world of GNCC Racing?
After racing motocross on quads then bikes then quads from 2001 until 2009, throughout college and working full time, I was burnt out on racing motocross and sitting all day at a track for a couple of ten minute races. My friends Tim and Vikki Wood that now own WEXCR talked me into trying my first GNCC at Powerline Park in 2009. I finished 27th Junior B after getting a flat, hitting a stump, and crashing! But I finished the race and was hooked from then on! We came back for 2010 swinging and made a run at a championship all the way to Ironman in Junior B that year. We lost that championship because I got in a hurry, yelled at my pit crew and didn’t get enough gas to finish the race. We look back on it now and laugh it up as another racing story!

What has been the biggest accomplishment of your racing career so far?
Winning the Amateur Overall and Vet A class at last year’s Limestone GNCC. This one was a battle to the finish between Craig Bowman and myself. Then with about two miles two go he flipped over in front of me, I pulled him back up off the rut and we took off and were bumper to bumper into the finish. It was a mudder and those are always my favorites!

You also help out the WEXCR guys. What do you do at their events?
My wife, Nicole, and I assist with the WEXCR races on race day. We also help with planning, feedback, social media, and Co-Sanction events. She registers riders from 7:30am until the quad races start at 3:30pm so I have a pit crew when I’m racing as well. I bounce back and forth between the starting line, scoring, podium, results posting and awards presentation. I memorize and check every rider in on the line to make sure they are in correct class and row to make scoring problems minimal, record holeshot winners, head back to scoring/registration trailer to help wherever needed, then throw my gear on and race the quad race, then back to doing results and awards, and finally teardown scoring and registration to end the day. The WEXCR crew all work very long and hard to put on races and my favorite part of the day is always seeing our Mini Riders! We always have a combined Pee Wee bike and Mini Quad podium ceremony and that is where you will find the future stars of our sport at. You never know when a surprise silly string party may happen at one of our mini podiums.

So tell us a little about how your 2016 GNCC season went.
The 2016 season overall on paper went great, but it was a bit of a struggle at a couple rounds and just tried to maintain consistency throughout all that. I was really humbled at the first couple races as I felt off the pace compared to Jeff [Pickens] and AJ [Koontz]. I kept working hard and focusing on staying in better shape and seemed to do much better from Steele Creek on. Then at Camp Coker disaster struck and I had a mechanical DNF with a snapped rear sprocket. We bounced back following that only to lead three laps at Snowshoe and blow an engine. That was a frustrating way to head to summer break with two mechanicals in nine races. We went to Unadilla on a fresh engine and was able to pick up the win on a track I seem not to favor but always excel at. Masontown was another turning point that ended with a win after a hard fought battle for the lead with AJ. That was a tough race like Snowshoe because not only are you racing your competitors but you are racing against the rocks there as well. Powerline was really uneventful for me but Ironman never disappoints and it was the best race of the year. Jeff Pickens, Jeff Miller (from the Junior A class) and I battled for two hours back and forth for position. That was the best race of the year because in my opinion, those type of battles make you push better as a rider and be more comfortable. I cannot count how many times we all passed back and forth; it was like we were drafting each other NASCAR style. I had a lapper pull out in front of me on the last lap was lucky to not be injured at that point, and a second place for the day secured the championship. All in all racing Vet A has been a blast for me returning two years ago and getting to race with guys that have so much experience.

How did it feel to come away with the championship?
I don’t think it sunk in for quite a while. Very surreal. To be a National Champion has been at the top of my bucket list for a long time and I’m just ecstatic that I’ve had the support from my wife, friends, and sponsors to get there. A couple years ago in 2014 I would have never imagined this would or could happen after retiring from having some back issues. I knew the math heading into Ironman, what I needed and what had to happen to win the championship. The pit board went up that AJ was out with a DNF and it didn’t change anything for me, I just kept pushing that day for my best. So for over an hour I was out there racing already knowing it was locked up.  I was bummed for AJ because he and I have been racing each other since my Junior A days. I have to thank him for being a great competitor and sportsman and congratulating me after it was over that day.  I would have rather seen it down to the last lap battle.  I think it really finally sunk in when I was on stage at the banquet and you get that jacket. So many things in life you earn and you can set a timeframe on in life and this is one of those things that we have been working towards forever. I know everyone probably says that, however now that it finally sunk it is pretty cool. Laz Sommers believed in me a long time ago and it feels good to be able to look up and say “this one is for you”.