The Dashnaw Family - Dirt Rider Magazine

Family of stuntmen and stuntwomen. Entire family worked together on Spy Kids 1, 2, and 3, and, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Jeff talks about his wife, Tracy, and kids J.J., Nick, Chad, Jake, and Jessica (not in photo).My kids have been riding dirt bikes since they could walk. We still have at the house... I want to say 23 or 24 bikes because we have five kids now, I have four grandkids... We have a little track at our house. Every Superbowl we have a huge party and all the grown ups bring their little bikes. I think last year we had forty bikes on our little track at the same time. Shorts, flip flops... There's a lot of blood involved.As a family we've spent years apart. If you look back, I think this is my 32nd year in the business. The times that I've missed with my kids... I think I got stuck in Mexico once and missed a graduation, which killed me. You look back on those things and think, 'Now you get your priorities straight!' Riding is one of the things that we do to get everybody together and we have a blast. It's an expensive sport but it really is worth it. I hope that it translates to my children's children and they keep doing it for years, because I know my dad loved it and he wanted me to ride.We come out here probably four months before the race , and once a week we rent the track just for stunt people. We all hang out. Don't tell the truancy officers this but I'll let my kids miss school once in a while to come out and ride. There are these traditional things all families do. They might be a little different for every family.When my family's working for me-not that I'm a control freak but nearly everybody that knows me says I am - when they work for me it's in a controlled environment and I know exactly what's happening. I'm pretty okay with everybody in the family doing stunts. My 26 year old does a lot of fire gags, and that's the scariest part of our business.My family, they have never backed away from dirt bikes. Chad plays quarterback for his high school team, so he doesn't ride during football season because he feels like it's not responsible to his team. But the day it was over, we finished on a Friday night, he was over here Saturday morning. They love it. It's true what they say, once it's in your blood it never leaves.