Speedster,

Ah, the days of the baby mullet… I had the world by the short and curlies back then, and that hair was the envy of many men. I actually began my comebacks in Montana several times after an injury. In 1996, I came up and did a race on my Pro Circuit/Splitfire/Kawasaki while healing from a broken femur and I did the same thing in 1998 after an ACL reconstruction. I enjoyed getting back to my roots and remembering why I went through the exquisite pain of putting new ligaments in my knees time and again. Racing at home took me back to when I first started and I just did it because I loved racing and I loved the competition. That gets convoluted over time.

Interestingly enough, I asked this same question to Lee McCollum, Stewart's mechanic, at A1. Will he do any racing prior to the expiration of his ban? Maybe a couple one-off European supercross rounds that aren't FIM sanctioned? North and South Dakota arenacross championship? Hell, I don't care what race it is… get out and get some gate drops. Lee didn't give out any information and it sounded like the Stewart camp had gone underground a bit and they weren't really talking to anybody. That's shocking, I know. The real problem with sitting on your couch in your gear for eight months while your competition races is that you are losing ground. And Stewart is doing it at a time in his career where he can't afford to give up speed. This whole debacle sucks and I hope they can appeal the decision and let him start the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross at round one. 

PING

 

Hey Pingree,

First off, I really like your writing and look forward to "Ask Ping" every Friday. I've seen you ride in person a few times and I'm always impressed at how fast you still are. I actually have three questions.

First, do you sometimes wish you could nab a future, time-traveling phone booth from a dude named Rufus and go back to a younger Ping Dynasty and infuse some old guy wisdom into your young racer self? It seems like a lot of young racers have the speed but not the patience and the wisdom to put together a whole championship season. Ken Roczen channeled his inner 2003 Las Vegas James Stewart, got all impatient, and full throttled himself into the face of a triple jump. He nearly took himself out of the championship right then and there. He was clearly faster than Reed and Short and he could've waited half a lap and still made the pass. Instead he got flustered and had to be in front NOW. Many young racers make the same mistakes. If only they could have their older self show up in a glowing phone booth at circle K and talk some patience into their psyche, they might end up with less injuries and more championships. Case in point. Powder Mountain Motocross 2009: McGrath is getting serious pressure from a young pro named Cole Siebler. They pass back and forth for a while but instead of forcing the issue, McGrath lets the young buck take the lead, content to follow him until he can make the pass stick.  Then, with a couple laps left to go, Jeremy sets up a pass over the finish line triple, calmly over-jumps to flat and proceeds to motor away from young Siebler for the win. Would some old guy wisdom have changed anything for a young David Pingree?

Second: Is Pingree, Idaho named after you or any of your progenitors?

Third: What size helmet does Malcolm Stewart have to request in order to comfortably stuff all of his dreadlocks into his hard hat. Does 6D make a special size just for his lustrous locks? In all seriousness, I'm super stoked for Malcolm on his first win. I've been rooting for him for a long time and I'm glad he finally got it done for little brothers everywhere. He has the speed and he finally hung on for the entire main to score the victory! Looking at his post race pictures the size of two things stood out to me; his 6D helmet and his huge winner's smile!

Kam

Kam,

1) I would love to go all Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure on my racing career. "Sign with this team, not that one," "don't date that girl, she's a wh***," "don't triple in that rhythm lane behind Pedro Gonzales on the third lap of practice in San Diego because he backs out of it at the last minute and it ends badly for you" and "have your mechanic check the piston before the heat race on your KTM in Phoenix in 2002" are all key notes I would have passed along to myself. Young me was a stubborn ass. but I'm sure he would have listened up if I showed up covered in scars from post-crash surgeries in a phone booth. Unfortunately, many lessons have to be learned the hard way.

2) I'm not sure. There is also a Pingree Park in Chicago, so apparently my people have been doing big things all across the country.

3.) I don't know exactly, but the last time I saw a helmet that big it was cruising down the Philadelphia Eagles sidelines toward the locker room with an injured tailback. Size "M" for Mookie?

PING

 

Dear Ping, 

Tyler Bowers said he wanted to shed his "muscle head" persona and race straight up for the title. But then he came in and completely cleaned out multiple competitors - by round 4. And now he’s sending threatening tweets to other riders because he nearly broke their helmet in two. Based on that, I propose a new nickname: Tyler Bowser, or simply Bowser: the Mario Kart character. He’s basically the same guy. He should totally run that butt patch and then point to it after committing a felony on his next “pass”. 

Mark

New York City