I grew up watching factory racing legends and now good friends
@martyhart15 , Curtis Sparks, and
@jimmywhite531 race at Fischer’s Pine Lake in the 80s. My brother Tommy,
@mark_baldwin33 , and I raced Hondas and all dreamed of Honda factory support some day. In the late 80s, three wheelers went away, four wheelers arrived, and factories quickly left the ATV racing scene for the next 15 years. There were always rumors that new ATV race models were being built and factory teams would return. Throughout those years,
@mark_baldwin33 and I built and rebuilt TRX250Rs and hybrids with great aftermarket support and rose toward the top of the sport. In late 2003, Chris Hawks
@benchmarkperformanceinc contacted me to arrange a meeting with Bruce Ogilvie, American Honda’s Off-road Racing Manager. A week later, Bruce showed up at my house in Ohio with a factory contract in hand to race the new, soon to be released, Honda TRX450R. It was one of the best days of my life. It was then off to the Baja 1000…
