It never fails, you show up at your local race and up rolls some ol local boy on his beat down quad. No stickers, no numbers, it looks like it has never been washed and you wonder if the oil was changed after the last 300 hours of ride time. You know the guy.   So you open your trailer, roll out your race bike. You’ve got it all, suspension, arms, axle, wheels and even custom-made number plates.

As you both approach the line the courtesy nods and handshakes start being passed. And all the while your thinking ‘hick’ while he is thinking ‘prema donna’. The world goes silent as the 2/1 card is held high…  WHAM! The gate drops and you are gone! You have both become equal in the eyes of the scorecard.

The winner here, does it really matter? It’s all about the fun, right? I think that is something that people too soon forget about. I know I have. During the past few years of my life I have lived by a credo of sorts: ‘I’m going to stop if it ever stops being fun’. That has been the forefront of my mind for the last couple of months in regards to ATVs in general. Fortunately I am happy that it is still fun, I rediscovered the enjoyment I was so close to losing. I had to hurdle over two or three stumbling blocks that kept throwing curve balls at me. But once again I am on the fast pace to success and joy in an industry that contains a few of the fastest people in the world and thousands of the nicest.

You see, I’m not a competitive person. I have run a couple GNCC races. I have even planned on running in a point’s race during a GNCC season. But what I soon realized is that I have no desire to prove anything. And winning is simply not something I need to prove to myself – I am already a winner. The main thing I accept and know to be true – I love riding quads. And I love watching races. In recent years I have made hundreds of friends with ATVs in their blood. Some race, some watch, others just ride for fun. I have even lost a best friend to being too consumed by the same thing we both love. Quad racing is a crazy lifestyle. And at the same time the typical weekend warrior starts riding less and less as time goes on and their interest’s change. It’s a tough road to haul keeping quads a priority in your life without going to any kind of extreme.

So while working on articles for magazines, web sites and personal projects I often wonder how many really great riders there are in the world. Not the people so consumed with themselves or with racingthat there is no room for anything else. I am not talking about class winners or championship level Pro riders. I am talking about your average Joe Blow. The guy who works all week, rides when he find the time. Keeps his family close to his heart and even has other hobbies. The guy who buys a quad and runs it ragged. He never worries about bling and never worries about preventative maintenance.

As I ponder that thought the question really arises: are the fastest riders in the world already racing? Or are some of the weekend warriors faster, smarter, and harder working? It’s a question that may never be answered. But one thing is for sure; never approach the start gate thinking you are faster on a prettier machine. I have seen boys on stock quads rip up a track or trail better than some whiney ass riding a $15k machine who couldn’t handle the physical punishment. You can ride to win, but if you are not riding for the fun then you better get used to $5 bits of wood and pray like hell you have what it takes to be the next Pro champion. Otherwise you are just like the average weekend warrior, except frustrated and on an expensive quad…