East Coast "Rookie of the Year" Drew Goldie
Yearly award recognizes outstanding new competitors that can rumble on the World Extreme rocks.
This past year W.E. ROCK received six new teams ready to battle professionals in both the East and West series, as well as be considered for the prestigious “Rookie of the Year” award. Former winners include Detroit Locker’s Cody Waggoner and BF Goodrich’s Peter Mazzoni. The recognition honors your first-year achievements and official status as a professional rock crawl competitor. It’s a prelude of what can come in your off-road career: more wins, more sponsors, and more media attention. PROFILE STATS Name: Driver Drew Goldie (Spotter Eric Dickard) Vehicle Model: 2006 Custom XJ Buggy
Q&A WITH DREW GOLDIE
How did your love for off-road sports begin? My dad used to let me drive his Cherokee through mud holes and trails in Pendleton, South Carolina when I was young. Ever since then I’ve been hooked. I was fifteen when I boug ht my first truck, a Ford Ranger. I went everywhere I could go, including Jellico. It was a couple hours from the house. In my lifetime, I’ve been to Jellico about 100 times. How did you get involved in competitive rock crawl?In 2003, Chris May and I showed up at a UROC event at Jellico. We had watched a couple of competitions before then and thought, ‘hey, we got a truck, we can do that.’ So we put it [1978 modified Toyota pickup] on the trailer and tried to compete. He drove and I spotted. I was scared we were going the wrong way on the courses. It was confusing. Ever since that day, I knew I wanted to be involved. It got my adrenaline running. I guess just being able to be in an outdoor environment. Being with other competitors, with others who enjoy what I’m doing. It’s something I do with my friends. We go wherever and whenever to have a good time. What has been the biggest challenge(s) for you as a driver?I think one of the biggest challenges has been to keep a competitive state of mind. I enjoy the sport so much that I tend to enjoy it no matter what is happening in a competition. So whether I’m doing good or not, I like to have fun. I seem to do pretty well under pressure. I usually take the screw ups well. It is part of the game.
Winning 1 st place in Jellico this past year. It was at my favorite comp location. It’s my type of terrain and I enjoy competing in that style. I had a good day and everything went my way. I got some lucky bounces – I got bounced up the hill rather than down. Aside of your sponsors, who else gives your team support?My wife. She handles a lot of the traveling arrangements. She does our web page and marketing for sponsors as well as proposals to obtain more sponsors. She is supportive of the sport and what I do. We give her as much credit as we can. What off-road sport figures do you admire and why?I’d have to “Ironman” Ivan Stewart, the Baja 1000 driver. I’ve always wanted to run Baja and do something of that nature. He’s always been good driver. He never gives up and seems to know the track as well as his truck. I’d like to have adrenaline for 1,000 miles. You’d be hyped up for 24-hours straight. I would like to jump the hills and do the speed, but I think rock crawling is what I enjoy the most. In rock crawl, Team Wombat [Danny Rorher and Chad Rolfert] has good ideas and good lines to follow. I try to learn from them. Any plans we should know about in regards to your off-road sporting future?I hope to do this for a living in the near future. I definitely think it is going to grow just as much as it has these past years. It has peeked to a certain degree and now it needs bigger and better sponsors to get it to the top. Sponsors are not looking to help you, but for you to help them. My sponsors expect magazine covers from me. They expect sales to go up. The more coverage and wins, the more the sponsors are going to be interested in giving more and more help. What advice would you pass on to the next or newer generation with a desire to be involved in the sport? You have to practice. The only way to be good or to get better is to know how your vehicle works from the inside out. Know what happens every time you do something. Know the consequence. Know the cause and effect. You’re not going to learn everything you need to learn [about sponsorship and competition] in the first hour. Don’t give up. Click here for the West Coast version of “Rookie of the Year” on Brian Ellinger! |
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