Are you going to race all of the WORCS races?

Yeah, I plan to race all of them.

You promoted a race in Adelanto, CA yourself didn’t you?

Yeah.

How did that work out for you?

It worked out pretty good; I had no complaints, no dust, and no injuries. I think I put on the best race there was as far as a Grand Prix ever.   Always, someone is gonna complain in some way or another, well, I don’t like this, or this is terrible.  The first one who’s gonna complain is Ron Lawson, but he usually has a different view on things.  But he didn’t say a bad thing, he was so stoked; he rode three different races.  He said he had a lot of fun, so that made me feel good. You know what? I’m not a promoter, my whole idea was to have a race and show all of the promoters this is how you run a race. I’ve been to all kinds of races; I’ve seen the good and the bad.  And I said, I want this, but don’t want that in my race.  I want to make sure it’s done this way, this way, and this way.  I didn’t have the turnout I wanted, only had 380 entries but everyone had positive comments, so I can’t complain.

Is promoting races something you want to do full time?

No, I just wanted to show the promoters that you don’t have to charge outrageous fees and you can give money back to the pros. As you can see that’s what drew all the pros out today, $5,000.00 dollars to the winner.  I have a hard time dealing with Casey Folks, who charges $600.00 for racing some race that three years ago was only $200.00.  What’s the deal here?!  And then a 50% payback!   We are the people who make the show.  Open pro class is the grand finale class, we bring all the people here, if we don’t come then these other guys don’t come, they figure why should we bother even going if the top racers aren’t going to show up?  Then, it’s gonna be all the weekend warriors or the guys who got a lot of money, not the serious racers.  I’ve tried to talk with Casey and he says that money ain’t worth decent riders.  So, he’s yelled at me and we’ve gone round and round yelling.  You know what?  It’s his way or the highway.  Well, I’ll take the highway and go somewhere else.

What do you plan to do after you stop racing? 

 I have no idea.  I got Zip Ty Racing, which I sell shark fins, chain guides, magnetic drain bolts, and all kinds of stuff for the 4-stroke. We make tire irons, tire changers; a lot of my ideas that I’ve come up with and I laugh because those aren’t even my best products.   I give a money back guarantee if someone’s not happy.  It’s not for everybody but all my products work.  And I’ve been real successful with that and we sell tons of parts.  I’ve got new ideas to improve and come up with.  I come up with the ideas because I’m always working on the bike, and I say, you know what, I can do this better and I can make that better.  These other companies don’t have somebody constantly working on bikes, they are all in sales and promotion, it could be a stupid part, but they figure if they advertise it, they can sell it.   Well, I’m not as big as them but all my stuff works, and I don’t have to go out and advertise and sell more but I race with my stuff. That’s all I can say, if you don’t like it I’ll give you your money back because I know it works.

Any new Zip Ty products coming out? 

I’ve got a couple things. 

Would you like to share with us what they are?

Not yet, there not developed, with this sneaky, cutthroat industry we live in, everybody has a C&C and I’ve seen people starting to copy my products a little bit.

Do you put a patent on them?

No, it’s not worth it.  Your not gonna become a millionaire, selling products to this industry.  Let them copy it; I just know I’m the first one who’s come out with it.   I can always low-ball; you’ll sell it for that I’ll sell it for this. I don’t have a problem with that.  But when my sponsors start to copy my stuff that gets really irritating.   I’ve helped them design some of their products and I’ve seen them sell it.  It’s cutthroat.  

The Environmentalist are trying more and more to shut down our off-road riding areas. What do you think the average off road rider can do to help stop this?

Get involved somehow. I joined the BLM volunteer program.  They get people that ride to patrol the areas.  So, we keep people off certain areas that they’ve fenced in.  Eventually they're gonna bring a trail system in. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt; we’ll try it and see what happens.  They are totally excited with this new program, they’ve given me the key and said patrol it.  They’re trying to get the horsemen in there to patrol it too.  Because of certain key areas they don’t want people riding in.  So, you abide by those rules and everybody sticks together.  We’re trying to make it happen, cuz’ it happens to be a big riding area.

There was a big fire in Hesperia where you ride.  How has the fire affected the riding area?

The BS when a fire comes through and the Environmentalist try to close the area.  Things happen, things will re-grow; keeping us out won’t solve the problem.  Riding stirs up seeds and stuff like that and I’ve seen it where I’ve gone down in some canyons and deer use my trails.  It’s really cool, you go down a trail and the next day you see all these deer prints, that’s cool to know that deer use my trails.  The problem with the whole thing is the Sierra Club is an organization, and motorcyclists are individual identities.  To fight it, we need to get together as one!  We need somebody to come up with a good lawyer or whatever, and build a good program instead of just giving their money to this coalition or that guy.  We don’t know where the money is going.  We need to attack as one.

Do you think the AMA is doing their part? 

They could really go out to the head of all these little organizations and say, hey let’s get together.  After that, the people will follow.   Then the small organizations could say we give money to the AMA and they fight for us.  That way the AMA can give us information how they’re fighting and spending the money.  Were killing ourselves because everyone is so cutthroat.  We’re gonna lose it.  I guarantee were gonna lose it. There is a lot of motorcycle enthusiasts but we're not as a whole. 

You ride for Montclair Yamaha right?

Yes.

Is your ride factory backed?

Semi factory-backed I get bikes through Montclair and my parts through Yamaha.  Montclair Yamaha has worked out really good.  They’ve been extremely good to me and I can’t complain one bit.  Kawasaki thought I was done when they dropped me.  I put a program together and it worked, that’s what’s nice about motorcycle racing, is that it’s not who has the biggest paycheck or who has the fastest motor.  I mean they (Yamaha) don’t have the prime bike for what I do.  When I’m up against a KX500 I’m always playing catch-up.  Although rumor has it that Yamaha is making a bigger bike next year. 

Oh Really, what size?

I hear it’s a 450. (We didn’t pursue this because it seemed Ty didn’t want to talk about it further).

We hear Big Gun is your pipe sponsor now?

Yes.

What happened with FMF?

I’ve been with them too many years I guess, they just don’t want to do anything with me.  It’s unfortunate.  I’ve done what I was supposed to do and they just don’t want to work with me on any of my ideas.  I wanted to work out a deal with a signature series pipe, I went in there with Tom, Danny, and Donnie and told them my idea, and they told me it was stupid.  I said no, it sounds logical.  I said, Well, you know what, with the money you pay me I could triple it just selling my own pipe with my name on it.  I could sell 100 pipes a year with my name and make three times as much money as I do now with you.  I said, either you can work with me or compete with another competitor.  It would be stupid for me to leave my name is still good.  Why not just sell my pipe, use my name, you make money; I make money, everybody’s happy.

Sounds like you left on bad terms?

They don’t know I left ?til this weekend.  They saw the Big Gun stuff and didn’t say anything.  I called them (FMF) this week a few times and left a few messages, we’ve been talking on contract stuff and they said, well, you can run any 4-stroke pipe you want.  But they still gotta work out last year's contract with me and it’ll be pretty ugly.  And for such a big company to get to where it is now and end it with me like this really ticks me off, it’s irritating.  You really wouldn’t expect that from a big company.  I’d say they just have bad management right now.

We know you have a race to ride so we’ll get out of your way.  Good luck and thanks for the interview.