Tuesday Toolbox: Jason Raines

10 years ago, the Millennium  opened the door for a whole new generation of off road racers that would change the face of GNCC forever. One of the riders that rode the old wave in and was one of the last to get off was one of the greatest GNCC champions that never was. With an injury plagued career the GNCC title eluded him but in his struggles Jason Raines became one of off road racings greats winning 6 National Hare Scramble Championships and several GNCC over alls during his rough but illustrious career.

GNCCRacin.com: Hey Jason! What's going on with you today?

Jason Raines: Not too much just hanging out here in South Carolina working in our house. I am just glad I'm not out working in the rain.

I know you are from Washington but sounds like you now reside in South Carolina?

Pretty much, I go home to Washington a couple of times a year. You know just like any place you live you get more and more roots planted and me and my wife are both very happy. We are both from Washington but we are both real happy here and we stay here most of the time all year long.

 

We haven't seen much of you racing in the GNCC series lately but I know you have been busy with Demo rides and riding schools. How has your school, Raines Riding University been going?

This year school has been great and a huge eye opening experience as far structuring something like this. I have learned a lot as "chief, cook and bottle washer" actually doing the traveling, promoting the schools, teaching the schools and so on. It actually takes me more time to do this rather than race. I get to the school locations at least a couple days ahead of time to lay things out and set things up for what we are going to be doing. It's been a busy year and it has been a lot of fun. I have met a lot of great people all around the country. I try to keep in touch with all my students after the school. If a rider that has never gotten a trophy or finished top 10 it feels so good to hear the excitement in their voice  and it makes me feel good that I have helped out in some way. It should be a lot of fun next year in 2011, I plan on slowing down a little bit and enjoy some more racing. I am hiring someone to take care of the marketing end of it and let me focus on the teaching and riding. Next year I hope to add a third day to the school. It is something that I feel actually brings the school full circle and allows them to work on new skills under supervision and apply with raw speed and aggression. And become a faster rider and in more control. (Check out www.RainesRacing.com for more info.)

 

How much has things changed for you since you were a GNCC championship contender back in 2002?

The biggest turning point in my life is when I had to take that year off from racing about 4 years ago to let my broken leg finally heal. I think that was the best and the worst times for me and looking back on it, it actually did a lot for me. It really made me realize that I couldn't do this sport forever like I had originally thought. Like every kid thinks, I thought I

can do it forever, I'm Superman. It was an eye opening experience and when I didn't have my motorcycle I really had nothing. So my ultimate goal when I started racing again was to take anything I could money wise and invest it. You know start creating something else I could do so I wasn't so reliant on going racing and having it be my soul provider. It just kind of took over and the last three years I raced it was really tough to focus 100% of my time on racing like I did. I was juggling a bunch of different things trying to do everything. Randy (Hawkins) and I sat down and he asked what I wanted to do this year. I told him that I really don't need to make a living racing but I do want to race some. I don't feel I need to race full time with all that I have going on. So it's been a smooth transition from racing into as normal of a job as I can make of it.

Another change was when I took that year off from racing and came back, I looked up and down the line and my generation, and all but Barry (Hawk) and Jimmy (Jarrett) was gone. We were the three guys left from all the guys I grew up racing from Rodney (Smith), Freddy (Andrews) Steve Hatch, Mike Kedrowski, Shane Watts and all those guys were gone. I knew how Randy and those guys felt when we were the young guys coming up. So I think that was kind of an eye opener. And I have always told myself as a racer or anything that I have done in life that if I could not give it 100% like I like to and not do as good as I know I can do then I am not going to do it anymore. I still love riding and racing it's to be at that level is stressful and I came to a point where I did not want to be a 5^th through 10^th guy because I knew where I had been. Once you have that expectation of yourself it is hard to go back.

 

Some other big changes are that you are a husband and father.

Yep! Our little girl just actually turned six this year and we got her a little PW50 and she's

been racing this summer some local motocross races and she is excited. She loves her dirt bike and riding and racing. Every day here lately she wants to practice more. I pick her up after school and we'll help her do her homework and then we will go riding in the afternoon. She'll do her motos and I will do mine and it's a lot of fun.

 

She sounds pretty serious!

Yeah she started out just riding down here at Randy's place in one of the big fields. Then she started playing around on some of the places on our track and our track is rough. So we made a little loop in there for her and she goes through some pretty big ruts and bumps and can hardly make it through with her foot pegs are dragging. (Laughing) She's intense. You know at her first race it was muddy and pouring down the rain and she had never really ridden in the mud and we told her you don't have to race if you don't want to. She stood there with her arms crossed and she was looking out around the track and said, "I'm here to race!" (Laughs) She's got the eye of the tiger. We haven't taken her to a woods race yet because we are not ready to have her out of our site that long. At a motocross race we can see her everywhere and I stand in part of the track, Emily stands in another and my dad stands in another so someone is close to her at all times.

 

Photo By: Raines Family Photos
Jason enjoys an easy day at the races with wife Emily and daughter Prestin.

Sounds like a good time! Are you and Emily planning another child in the future?

Uh...I think we're pretty good with one! (Laughs) I say that but she may say something different. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

 

You never achieved your goal of winning a GNCC championship, but you have been pretty successful winning a total of 6 AMA National Hare scrambles Titles. Is that at least some sort of redemption for you in the end?

The GNCC is the one championship that always eluded me. I was so close a so many times. Every time I would get close I would get hurt. It just seemed like I could never complete a year without injury. That was always my biggest weakness I think. If I could have stayed healthy maybe things could have been a lot different. One of those coulda, woulda, shoulda things. It's always something you look back on in people's career and if this wouldn't have happened or that would have happened things would be different. You never really know though. To me this whole racing thing has been a bonus. When I first came out here I was just going to race for a year and go back home. I just wanted to come and do the GNCCs. When I was a kid I always looked at the magazines and would read about Summers and Randy and all these guys and to have it all turn into being a part of the series and win races and be close to winning a championship, I look at that to be a dream come true for any rider.

 

How tough is it now, for riders in the same situations you were in a few years ago? You know like a Charlie Mullins to a Chris Bach?

It's bad! Me and Randy have had conversations about this and unfortunately right now is financially the worst time to be in that position. When I signed with Yamaha I actually made more than Randy did when he was winning championships back in the 90s. When I came on board it just kept increasing in '02, '03, '04, '05 and then about every since then it has been going downhill. It's a good time to not be in there scratching for that piece of meat. Because you know guys like me, Barry, Rodney and the guys that were making that kind of money that's what you get used to. Me and Charlie have talked about it and what they are making now and he even told me that he hoped the money didn't end up skipping his generation. You know that there are just so many rides available. A few years ago when things were good there was three or four riders per team making really healthy salaries and now the teams has been trimmed down to just one or two and are making half of what one of the three were in the past. For Steward Baylor and guys like that there is just not that amount of support around. There are 15 guys racing full time and maybe the top 5 guys have a real ride, maybe. Look at Charlie for example he finished 2^nd last year and didn't even have a ride coming into this year. It's a tough time. It's a real tough time. When is the next rise? I don't know but it could mean guys like Glen Kearney may have a shot at sticking around.

 

What is your advice for someone setting their sites on becoming a Pro Off Road Racer?

Unfortunately off road has never been a sport that has been based on potential. You have to results. Even now if you were winning three years ago and you are not winning now then you are out the back door. It's a quick turn around. It seems like for the last part of my career a lot of guys were still racing and making good money because they had good names and multi time championships in their backpacks. But now that is just not happening and a multi-time champion can't get paid anything because you got younger guys winning races and he is willing to ride for less.

So I think for the younger guys racing full time for a living is one of the greatest you could ever do. You always get to meet a lot of different people and see a lot of different places but at the same time don't rely on it. Have a back up plan because racing is not going to last forever. To go into it and put all your chips on the table is a gamble.

Will we see Jason back on the GNCC trails in 2011?

I will be at a number of the GNCCs next year with the Yamaha Demos for 2011 like I was this year. We are working on trying to make that happen again. So we will demo on Saturday and then I will race on Sunday. Whether or not it will be in the XC1 class or Sportsman in the morning I am not sure. I would like to races though for sure.

Do you ever get the desire to maybe try and put it all out there one more time and maybe make one last run for the championship?

Photo By: Raines Family Photos
No matter what Jason does, it looks like Grandpa Raines has his next student lined up.

(Long Pause) It is a definite possibility. I have done a lot of traveling this year and driving down the road and I think about it. I am still healthy and I am not that old but the biggest thing is if I came back and did it, it would be strictly for fun. You never know. You just never know.

 

Thanks for talking to me today, I wish the best and look forward to seeing you in Florida.

For sure and thank you. I also want to say thanks to all those that continue to support me like Yamaha Motor Corp, Am-Pro, Kenda, HBD Motografx, Cycle Gear, GPR Stabilizer, Rekluse, Zip-Ty Racing, IMS, Factory Connection, Titan Industrial, EBC Brakes, MSR, FMF, Fastway, Scott, Shoei, Gaerne, Pro-Taper, TM Designworks, Accelerade, Slavens Racing, and Bullet Proof designs