When what you know best becomes your worst nightmare, what do you do? That is a question that one of the world's greatest off road racers was faced with at the height of his career. Shane Watts had conquered the world of off-road racing from World Enduro Champion to GNCC Champion and still never reached total satisfaction...till now. Say hello to a "Happy Pappy" who has found a love to share the passion that made him the man he is to the rest of the world. What's going on in Wattsy World?
Photo By: ShaneWatts.com
Wattsy sharing his knowledge with Stephen Young.
G'day Rodney! Yeah mate things are going wide open and it just seems like I'm always flat maggot (very busy!) trying to keep up with all of the sensational things we have going on with the DirtWise Academy of Offroad Riding schools!!!
I understand you are on your way home Australia today, what's going on there?
I'm currently in Minneapolis airport on the way to Oz. I was scheduled to leave yesterday but my flight to the west coast was cancelled due to snow which threw my whole itinerary out of whack with no option of continuing with that schedule. It was lucky that I had a spare 24 hours on the front end before having to conduct my first DirtWise school there this weekend. After a bit of hustling we were able to create a totally new itinerary with different carriers that enables me to get there with actually less cost and better arrival times than before. I'll have just enough time to set up for the school before getting into it!
I know there has been a lot of changes for you in the past 12 years or so since you made your first made the trips "Up Over" from "Down Under" to make your mark on GNCC racing. How are things with the family and life for you here in the United States?
Life is great mate! It's been a long and interesting road to this point and no doubt things will keep evolving in the future. I'd previously spent three years in Europe racing the World Enduro championship before I came here to conquer the US, ha, ha! Since then I was able to win the GNCC Championship but unlike what many people might think that was one of the lowest points in my life. I was so burnt out on being around racing at that stage. The race track was the last place I wanted to be! Fast forward to now though and I am so content and happy with where my life is at - I've got the best wife and 3 magnificent kids that are such a pleasure to be around, and our complete program of DirtWise Academy of Offroad Riding schools and Instructional DVDs are going ballistic!
Photo By: Watts Family Photo
The center of "Wattsy's World", his three children.
I don't think the actual racing has changed much at all - they drop the green flag and you race to the checkers, as simple as that. For sure now, the pace is somewhat faster for a longer portion of the race and the fitness level of the top guys is at a higher level than back when I came here. Nowadays you just don't have as much of an opportunity to make up for a major mistake on the track and the time you might lose from it by the end of the race due to the higher overall race pace. At the second GNCC of 1999 at Paradise in Georgia I went out and pinned it from the start and rode wide open all race ala Juha-style, except it was 6 years before he even came over. I won pretty easily but was so tired after that race from having a lack of fitness that I decided right then not to do that again!
I suppose the other thing you could say that has changed since back then is the size of the trucks in the Pro pits and the somewhat false perception that there is much more industry support now. Really now the amount of support hasn't really increased, it's just been redirected to provide for a bigger truck in the Pro pits. Personally I think it's quite ludicrous to have those semi's there and is a total waste of money. It really amazes me when I hear the top riders say "Yeah, the semis are great 'coz they make our sport so more professional, blah, blah, and it will help attract more outside sponsors blah, blah..." and then they go and complain about how they have no support or they only get to ride for contingency and can't make any money! Are you kidding me? They should be annoyed that those semis are there! The outside-of-industry sponsors aren't coming and never will to a significant level. That's just the way it is. The cost of operating that truck and all of the associated personnel is where the rider's potential decent salary is getting spent. I think it is a joke! Geez, the way the top riders are getting paid now you could probably buy at least half of the front row for what it takes to keep one of those big rigs on the road. In my opinion the manufacturers need to understand that a big shiny semi doesn't sell new bikes or product in a racing environment, race wins do - they should ditch the semi and extra fluff, and spend the money on getting an extra race winning rider. I think it's a joke when the truck driver (no disrespect to each of those drivers who are all great guys!) is equally or higher paid than the lead rider on the team. Whether the riders are pitted out of a semi, a box van, or Mum's minivan, the same riders will continue to win. I proved that in 2007, and so did Knighter at Snowshoe in 2009!
How cool was it for you to see Josh Strang a fellow Ozzy win the Championship a decade after you won it?
I'm happy for Josh that he was able to win. I know what it is like pack up and head overseas to race, except I did it back when there was no support and foreign riders generally weren't accepted as being worthy of support. I did a lot of "ground breaking" for all of those who followed whether they were from Australia or Europe. These guys don't have to struggle today like I did back in the beginning. I was very lucky to have the "mongrel dog" instinct that allowed me to use my mental strength to never quit and to eventually overcome whatever situation I faced. It is that same trait that pushed me to both the highs and lows of racing. I totally love riding a dirt bike and going trail riding, but I have no problem in admitting that I never really cared for racing so to achieve the results I did when really I didn't want to be on the start line is pretty awesome I think. Without trying to sound like I have tickets on myself, and even though I only won one GNCC Championship, I think it is fair to say that I was one of the all-time greats of off-road racing due to the way I went about taking my victories - who else has won a GNCC on 6 different sized capacity machines ever, let alone in the same year? Maybe the great Ed Lojak did win on two capacities, and maybe Mullins got a win on a 250cc before they all started riding 450's but other than that none of the other greats of GNCC have even though they all tried to! There are so many unique things I have done over the years, and a few dumb ones I must admit, but those things were the reasons why I was able to captivate the imagination of the off-road enthusiasts out there and really create an exceptional following for myself that continues to thrive today. Unfortunately that is one thing that none of the top riders who presently compete have. There is no spark there, no unique personality from any of the riders, and for me that is boring!
Photo By: ShaneWatts.com
Shane Watts class in Honduras
The majority of our students are the part time or lower level full time racer and also just general trail riding enthusiasts which our regular DirtWise school caters to them. Since June, 2007 we have had over 1800 students graduate and continue to get rave reviews for what we provide. Just in the latest issue of Dirt Rider magazine there was a full 5 page feature on the DirtWise school about how awesome it is and the huge improvements we provide to each student! The problem with being the market leader though is that other operators are now copying us, but that just keeps pushing us to provide a better all-around experience and learning opportunity for our students. For 2011 we'll be conducting a total of 49 two-day DirtWise schools and pretty much all of them will be sold out! That is huge!!!
I see that you have something really cool and special coming up in this years schools, what is the Hardcore Advanced Riding schools you have planned for this spring?
Yep, that's right! This year we are implementing our "HardCore" program that is designed and applicable for the higher skilled rider who really wants to push themselves and achieve their best racing results possible. We will be conducting the first of our new DirtWise "HardCore" Advanced level Riding schools here in the USA on March 10/11 (Thur/Fri) at the excellent Rivers Edge venue, in beautiful south central Virginia. This school is going to be excellent preparation for any of our northern based friends who are heading down to Georgia for Round 2 of the GNCC series on that coming weekend - this school will be just the thing to get them fine-tuned for a magnificent result at that race. By clicking on the "HardCore Training" tab on our home page all interested riders will be able to get the lowdown on how we will be able get them finishing higher up the leader board and reaching their full potential. These new "HardCore" schools will be exciting, and we will be conducting more of them at select locations across the nation.
That's pretty cool! So you have every riding level covered with your schools and it's almost like you could start handing out some sort of degree to a rider that goes through the programs! (Laughs) You could offer everything from an Associate Degree to Doctorate of Racing or something!
Mate, that's the direction we are heading, although at the moment we certainly don't believe we have all possible student demographics covered with an appropriate learning program. We still have many more programs and expansion in the works as we continue in our quest to provide riders all across the board, whether they are the high level hardcore racer or the rider who is twisting the throttle for the very first time, with the best opportunity to learn the best techniques for them to become a safer, and higher skilled rider which ultimately allows them to ride faster with more ease should they desire.
What kind of other schools do you have planned and how can someone find out more?
The best thing for everyone to do is visit www.shanewatts.com where they can access all information about the Dirtwise Academy of Offorad Riding schools and Instructional DVDs, plus our new HardCore program. They can view our upcoming school dates and locations, subscribe to our YouTube channel and access our monthly free Riding Tips, signup for our monthly eNewsletter which contains great information and discounts for some excellent products, plus they have the opportunity to purchase our Instructional DVDs which are exceptional learning tools for all riders and racers out there. This year we will be completing the final two Volumes of the Advanced Instructional series and they are going to be sensational.
Photo By: ShaneWatts.com
Steele Creek GNCC 2010 - morning race victory!
I definitely have no desire to try and win the Championship again - been there done that! I'm realistic enough to know that I just don't have the commitment and desire to focus and be prepared to race at the highest level for a full season. And really now why would I want to especially seeing as the peanuts those guys are currently getting paid. That kind of a pay is maybe okay for all of these fast young kids who essentially have no financial commitments and can still be subsidized by Mum and Dad if needed, but I have four extra mouths I need to provide for, a retirement fund to build, etc so I need a more stable, guaranteed, and much higher income than what racing provides right now. Having said that I still get the urge to come back out and lay the law down at one or two races and show how it can be done. The only issue for me is to find the necessary time and desire to undertake the required physical preparation and conditioning needed to make that happen - I'm not worried about my skill to do it. Ultimately though do I really need to go and prove one more time how I can beat all of those guys? It would be a great story and even further cement the legendary following that I seem to have but it would just come down to being a pissing contest. As I mentioned earlier I'm very content with where I am now in life. To get the needed desire and commitment like in the past to go win one more time I would need to be very pissed off at someone or something, but usually both, and I don't want to be like that anymore. I like being happy now! I'd much rather focus that energy into further improving the DirtWise schools and spending more time with my awesome family. I do know that if I had only put half the effort into my racing during those "Championship" years as I now put into my DirtWise schools and DVDs then I would have easily won plenty more Championships back then. But we all know about woulda, coulda, shoulda......
Thanks Shane for everything! The memories, the drama, the excitement over the years and for taking time out on your way down under to talk with us.
No worries mate, you know me I'm never one to shy away from telling it how I see it. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share a few stories, a couple of opinions, and to get the word out about all of the great things we try to achieve with the DirtWise schools and Instructional DVDs.
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