Behind the entertainment of a motocross race lies a different world. It's a world the everyday fan doesn't get to see and only a handful of people in the world really appreciate. It's a world of work. Race team crews show up early and leave late, and there's not a lot of time for rest in between. This year at the Southwick National, I found this out firsthand.
During the 30th anniversary weekend at the famed Motocross 338 facility in Southwick, Massachusetts. I infiltrated the Motoworldracing.com/PPG/Yamaha team to find out just what it takes for a professional motocross team to put on their show.
Wake Up and Smell the Semi
My weekend on the job officially started Saturday just before 7 a.m. (4 a.m. Pacific time). I was hitting the snooze button like Gallagher hits watermelons when Iain Southwell, the team's crew chief, called my cell phone. I was awake but not really moving as quickly as I'd like before my first day on a new job. Southwell and the rest of the crew were downstairs in the hotel lobby waiting on a magazine guy so they could get to work. I hustled downstairs, jumped into the car and quickly met most of the mechanics on the team. We drove for about two seconds before banking left and swerving right to grab breakfast sandwiches at a local greasy spoon diner. I say bank and swerve because that's how Southwell drives. He banks, swerves, zooms and splits. I wouldn't say he's a bad driver...he just has an aggro-Australian style that makes commuting to the track and pissing off truck drivers quite enjoyable. Along the way to Southwick, Keith Bowen, David Vuillemin's mechanic and a former professional racer in his own right, put on his tour-guide hat and gave us tidbits of history as we weaved through the New England countryside and munched on breakfast. Bowen won the Southwick national 20 years earlier and was surprisingly full of random facts about historic underground prisons in the area. I nursed my jet lag and tried to take it all in.