The 2017 A Day In The Dirt

2017 A Day In The Dirt presented by Red Bull 

The Red Bull hospitality is like no other at this event. 📷| GoPro

Since my professional racing career has ended I really look forward to the The fastest party in town which is the A Day In The Dirt. I use to think of this event as a serious event for your racing resume. Oh was I wrong. This event is exactly what it says it is “A Day In The Dirt” the race has been held on Thanksgiving weekend for now 20 years and has grown exponentially since it was held at LACR. The founder of this event Kenny Alexander and his family and close friends are the back bone to this race and keep it a not so corporate event.

​For 2017 some friends from Australia made the trek across the pacific to race the event, so we organized them a RV, I pulled my trailer out and we made a weekend out of it. I raced on Friday for the SoCal reunion race. This a race where you race for your SoCal track that is no longer around. I grew up racing at a Carlsbad Raceway so I race for Carlsbad each and every year. There is some legends in this race like Ron Lechien and Jeff Emig to name a few. The flag dropped and I pulled the hole shot over Dirt Bike magazines very own Mark Tilley. I felt like I had a huge lead but coming into the last lap I heard a screaming 150 Husqvarna and it was Emig. I was shocked because I thought I was long gone but clearly I wasn’t. I ended up barely edging Emig for the win. It was a lot of fun battling with a SX and National Champ like Jeff but clearly he wasn’t pumped and through a bit of a fit hahaha. This was my attitude years ago when racing this event because I took it to serious. Jeff needed to realize in that moment how bad ass he is at 47 years old and maybe rides 10 times a year and can still go so damn fast on a little bike. He has nothing to prove anymore and the public is pumped to him show up. Later in the weekend Jeff and I had another great battle where I once again got the win and Jeff was still furious at himself. I think we can all agree he Ol’ Fro Daddy has nothing to prove and with me beating him at a GP event on a 350 when he’s on a 150 doesn’t give me any more Street cred.

Friday’s Carlsbad reunion Race

This event is also where my oldest son Mason raced his 1st race last year and now my 4 year old son Noah wanted this to be his 1st race. The kids race is a perfect entry level TT style track where the kids can race once a day on Saturday and Sunday. They get 20 minutes of riding/racing which is an enormous amount of time for little guys but that’s what they need to improve. Each rider gets a finisher pen and thank god for that because after Noah’s PW50 stopped running on the 1st lap due to an electrical problem that pen saved the day. I had thought I fixed the problem but clearly I didn’t. Noah was so excited to race so when his bike quit running I was gutted for him he shed a few tears and I was sweating my ass off kicking the bike for him knowing it wasn’t gonna start. Mason had a great first day racing hard the entire time.

The next day Mason and Noah took off together and Noah at 4 was charging and two laps in he went way to fast into a turn where panicked put his feet down and then hit the track banners where close lined off the bike because didn’t hit the brakes. This is what I was afraid of because due to the fact he’s capable for riding a bike doesn’t mean a little 4 year old brain can manage a motorcycle in a race situation. I scooped Noah up put him on his bike that I now got running and off he went for 16 more laps. Mrs Sleeter had a moment but at the end of the two days of racing my two boys had an absolute blast.

Noah 4 years old

Mason 6 years old

The 2017 trophies did not disappoint  

Our crew had a great time. I got to the team race with the legend Shawn Palmer where we won. My Australian friends won lots of motos as well and we drank plenty of beers and shared all of our sketchy moments. The trophies are obviously rad but it’s more about the memories and good times at The Day In The Dirt. Saturday night 805 beer held the 2nd annual drag races where riders of all ages and bikes have a good time racing each other through the pits in a 1/8 mile not so serious drag race. I guess that last sentence explains The A Day In The Dirt the best. It’s a not so serious event that we all take having fun very serious. Let’s hope Fro Daddy and other accomplished racers learned what I did. Just lighten up and have some fun with family and friends at A Day In The Dirt, Truly the Fastest Party around.