GNCCRacing.com: So, you just made it back from Vegas to Reno. Can you tell me a little about the event?
Adam McGill: It was a 530 mile desert race. It started in Las Vegas, Nevada, and finished in Reno, Nevada. I competed on a four-man team this year in the pro class. We started around 6:00 in the morning and we crossed the finish line near 5:00pm, so we were racing for about 11 hours.

And who were your teammates?
Justin Woods, Jeff Harvey and Joe Teagarden.

Is this a race that you’ve competed I before?
Yes. I ran it last year, we didn’t finish though.

How did you place this year?
We ended up fifth in our class and 20-something overall.  We had a few issues. Nothing major, but definitely a few things we could have changed or done better. It was a learning experience for sure.

I assume it would be pretty difficult competing in a style of racing that is so different from what you’re used to.
The guys that race in the desert normally – just the way the can see and read the terrain going 60 or 70 miles an hour is just mind blowing. Even in the blinding dust, where I couldn’t see a thing, even the 30 or 40 miles an hour we were doing was slow. I was getting passed like I was standing still and couldn’t believe it.

I remember having a similar thing happen when I did a couple desert races a few years back – those riders are crazy! Was running a competitive pace that the biggest challenge had?
Yeah, mainly getting used to the speed. Another difficulty is the fact that we are basically running a full GNCC season in a single day. Most GNCCs are usually like 50 miles for the pro quad riders, two hours long. And we went over 500 miles in one day, which took us, I think eleven hours and five minutes. You don’t have time to check anything. All we did was change the oil once, and the air filters every time we felt we needed to and that was it. You just run the thing.

I take it there are major differences in how you set up the quad for this event….
There are huge differences. We ran 22 inch rear tires, 23 inch front tires, and a completely different type of tire as well. We had to mount a radio to the machine. We had a big tank obviously, a rack to carry extra fuel in case we ran out – there was a section between pits that was like 60 miles long. The setup was definitely something. It is nerve-wracking beforehand too, trying to figure out how far you can go, whether or not the pit crew can chase you to the next pit area in time, stuff like that. With the pit crew, it’s like a race inside a race. It’s a cool event, but there’s really a lot that goes into an event like this, and it’s extremely exhausting, mentally and physically.

Sounds like it! What made you decide to do something like this in the first place?
Last year I got asked to go out for the factory Kymko team. I went out there and we had a problem at mile marker 250. I told them that I could build a machine that would finish, a machine that would do better. And that’s what I did this year, built a bike for just this event. Our machine finished and it was flawless all day. The only problems were that we put too tall of a gear on it at first, and one rider wrecked so we had to replace and fix a few parts that got damaged.

Are you happy with how you did?
It’s the longest race in America. To go out there essentially my first time building a machine … well, we wanted to win, but to go out there and have the machine perform as well as it did with the way everything happened. I was a little bummed at first because my expectations were so high, but it is what it is. It was a learning experience and I’m thankful we finished, that was the biggest thing I wanted to do. We got beat by maybe an hour or so, but in the last 200 miles we were 2 hours behind after our problems, so we were able to make up almost an hour on the leaders. After those changes got made we were definitely on the gas and competitive. I would probably do some stuff different, but I had a good time. It was fun, and I learned a whole lot. If this all happens again, I’ll know the changes we need to be even more competitive.

Is this something you see yourself doing again in the future?
Oh boy ….

Still too early to ask? (laughs)
We’ll just say it’s a possibility. I don’t want to commit to anything right now. I mean I’ve only been home for a little while, still super jet-lagged, and I have to leave for a Parts Unlimited show in Wisconsin tomorrow. I’ve barely had time to do my laundry and load everything back up.

Do you have any big plans for the rest of your season, besides the last four GNCC rounds?
No, I just want to not suck and maybe try to get on a GNCC podium again.

Been a bit of a rough year, I take it?
You have no idea! I’m not really sure I’d call it a rough year, actually. It’s been more of a growing year. We’ve had new problems pop up, and obviously the machine’s dated, they haven’t produced a Honda TRX in like four or five years. I don’t know … I mean, the situation is what it is at this point, you can’t fix what’s already happened. We’re just going to go to the last couple of races, and I’m going to push as hard as I can.