Hannah girl, how are you doing?
Rachel love, I'm doing great! I'm spending the day with my 2 year old niece Mariah, so as you can imagine I'm pretty well entertained!
It was really great to see you at Snowshoe this weekend. What's new with you?
It was great seeing you too, just a shame I didn't have the chance to chat more. I don't know what I was thinking not putting a mic back in your face! (laughs) As for new, I just moved back in with my parents in Ohio one day short of 2 months ago, and I love being back. I've been getting to spend a lot of time with friends and family, and have really enjoyed getting some R&R!
I bet! It's nice that you still get to make it to the races. Now, not many people may know this, but you're actually John Penton's granddaughter. How much do you know about your grandfather's legacy?
I know he was one bad mambajamba! On a bike, anyways. A lot of people know of John Penton, but they don't necessarily know why. Well, there's lots to know! After a road trip to Mexico in 1958, and a non-stop trip from California back home to Ohio, my great Uncle Ted challenged Grandpa to break the New York to Los Angeles record. Grandpa accepted, and succeeded! On June 8th he took off from Western Union in New York City on a BMW R69S with an oversized gas tank, and 52 hours and 11 minutes later he rolled into Los Angeles.
In 1967 he took the idea of a lighter and more agile bike to a bicycle and moped manufacturer, KTM, and in 1969 the first Penton was brought into the states. In the first year, more than 400 Pentons were sold. By the time Grandpa sold the distributorship to KTM, some 10 years later, more than 25,000 Penton motorcycles had been sold in America. Grandpa also stepped up the professionalism at the track, he purchased large trucks from the Post Office and painted them in the Penton colors, starting the team rigs we see today. On top of that, he wanted to improve the standard work boots riders wore at the time, and so he approached the Italian ski boot maker, Alpinestars, and the product Hi-Point Boots was born. Bob Hannah wore the boots and gave input for improvements, and they grew into one of the most popular boots at the time, and eventually he began with other Hi-Point race apparel as well.
Whoa that's crazy! I had no idea he did so much stuff, and I've even met the guy. So you probably have some more incredible stories.
Now, this may be myth more then Legend, but I even heard he won, and was one of the few, if not the only, to finish an extra gnarly Jack Pine, and he did so with a broken collarbone! To continue with his being a bad mambajamba, he left the wintery Ohio weather, and headed to Daytona on a 175ccNSU, stopped in Atlanta to win the Stone Mountain Enduro, and continued on to win the Alligator Enduro, all on the same bike he left home on. Daaaang! And that one's fact.
Did your grandfather have a part in you getting involved with racing? If not, what did?
I always knew about KTM, but it was my dad who turned me onto racing. He along with his brothers raced growing up, but as many riders do, once he had a family he hung the boots up. He was married and had 6 kids by the age of 23! Twenty years later, my Uncle Rich moved back to Ohio and he and my dad got back into racing. If it wasn't for my daddy, I may not even know GNCC's exist!
We've got John Penton's signature race coming up soon, is that one of your favorite tracks?
That's a tough question. I find myself saying before every race "this is one of my favorite tracks!" But truth is, I like being at any of them.The John Penton however is one of the more memorable tracks for me. It was the very first GNCC, if not the first race period, I had been to. I think it was 2002, and it was hot, and dry. I just remember seeing a constant whirl of dust and dirt over the entire facility. The first time I witnessed a GNCC start it was magical. I stayed up on the ridge and overlooked the starting line which at the time was placed in the heart of it all, down on the motocross start, and was just amazed at all these rows of bikes, hundreds of them lined up in rows, people standing everywhere trying to get the best view. As the National Anthem came to an end, there was this huge uproar of engines revving and I'm pretty sure every hair on my body was standing up. I was hooked! After that, Steele Creek had become pretty popular with me, the mountainous setting, along with it being the first race I'd get to go to each season, just seemed to win me over, Not to mention one of the best Italian restaurants I'd been to, Da'Vinci's, which unfortunately is no longer in business. And then of course Snowshoe is my kind of setting for a race. I love having everyone centered in one place, and the food, and fun, and cool air and Starbucks to help with the aftermath in the morning from too much fun we had the night before! It just makes for a great weekend getaway.
When did you start going to GNCC races?
I started going to the GNCC's I think in 2002. I was really active in school sports, playing basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball and track, and also 4-H and FFA, so at first I was only able to make a race here and there. I'd say it wasn't until 2005 or so that I started really trying to make it to all the races, and 2006 would have been my first full season of GNCC racing. Since then I've missed one ATV race in 2008 because of my sister's High School Graduation (made it there for bikes on Sunday) and will have to miss Unadilla this year due to my sisters wedding.
How did your role with the GNCCs evolve to what it is now?
It was the 2007 awards banquet, and I was dancing and chatting and doing all the things I do best, when I told Carrie (Russell) I'd be her trophy girl! I was so excited I ignored Jason Weigandt's warning that the boxes were heavy, and the wagon didn't always work great, and was I really sure I wanted to be the trophy girl?? I was like, 'Heck yeah I want to do it!" I can handle heavy boxes, I throw haybales! Carrie told me to email her in a week about a job working in her and her sister in laws jean boutique in Morgantown, WV. I emailed her, and a week later she told me they were looking for a new RacerTV girl, and she thought I'd do well at it. I ended up spending a weekend in Morgantown, landing the job and moving there 2 months later. I remember that first race in Florida my stomach was in knots the entire time! I couldn't breathe, I had anxiety, I was thinking what on earth did I get myself into? Two races later in North Carolina Carrie told me they wanted me to start assisting Rodney with announcing, and you guys pretty much know the rest from there!
What's your favorite thing about going to the races?
This one's easy! The people. I love, love, love the people at GNCC racing. You won't find better people anywhere else. Everyone is always so friendly, and ready to lend a helping hand, and you know when you're at a race, you're not just there with friends, you're there with family.
With registration and announcing you've gotten to have a personal relationship with the teams, especially the Pros. Do you have any fun stories about the JG Off Road crew?
Do I have funny stories or do I have funny stories I can share? Both! I think my first memory of JT Bennett would have been at the 2008 banquet, and he was wrestling in the hallway of the hotel. He later was hopping from balcony to balcony knocking on patio doors, and I came out and told him don't you dare go knocking on my parent's door! He turned around and went back to where he came from. Then, with Jimmy Jarrett, I remember running into him out at Bike Week a few years back in between races, and he was like "Hey, it's Hannah Reid!" I was like "Whoa! he knows my name." I thought it was so cool that Jimmy actually knew who I was.
The guys from Honda will be coming to their first GNCC race of the season at John Penton. So what's your take on Honda coming back over to the GNCCs?
I think it's great! The more factory support we can get to the track the better. I know you can send in a resume with your results and try to pick up some support that way, but nothing's as good as getting real one on one interaction between the manufacturers and the racers. You can look at results and see that Joe Shmoe ended up 3rd, or you can get to the race and witness him busting his butt to make up those 8 spots he lost from a flat tire, or bottleneck, or one of the other million things that can go wrong in the race. Looking at a piece of paper and picking out the "best riders" is one thing, but it's not the same as being at the race and getting to know the racers and their families, and witnessing first hand the effort that goes towards finishing a race.
What are some of the cool memories you have of the GNCCs? You've been around for quite a few years.
Oh man, I have a lot of cool memories from GNCC's, but since I don't ride myself, most of them are of the people, and the things that happen off the track. I remember the first time I met Kurt Caselli, he took me for a ride on a KTM Adventurer to the store, and when I tried to get on to the bike I laid my leg on the exhaust like a fool. I went around for the next three years bragging about the football shaped scar on my upper thigh I got with Kurt Caselli!
You do a lot of work with the younger GNCC riders, and have developed some great relationships with those kids. How do you see these kids shaping the series in the years to come?
I think they're going to take it over! ha ha I've already had a few let me know that if racing doesn't work out, they're gunning for my job, and that has me nervous! The amount of focus and drive some of these young kids have, not to mention the talent that goes along with it, it's like they're miniature pro's. Each year the competition gets tighter and tighter. We go from one or two kids dominating the races to five or six who could easily win the race on any given weekend. And the maturity in some of them! You'd think they've been racing for 20 years the way some of them speak. Take Charlie Welch or Hunter Hart, half the time I forget I'm talking to 10 year olds. I am more than blessed to be able to work with so many young talented bright kids, they really make it all worth it.
So what's next for Hannah?
Well, I'm planning on cosmetology school now in 2012, but if I've learned anything in the last few years it that life can take you anywhere, so I'm taking it day by day and just trying to enjoy as many things as I can.
Well it was great catching up with you and learning about your incredible family history!
Thanks, Rach! See you all in a few days!
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