This column is usually based on action from the most recent race, but this week we’re bringing you something a little different. 250SX West Region racer Landen Powell is involved with a very cool organization called Sportsmen for Warriors, and together they’ve been giving our nation’s true heroes the opportunity to be race-day mechanics during Monster Energy Supercross. We’re all about vet appreciation here at Racer X, so we decided we’d better make Powell the Unsung Hero of the week for paying homage to our nation’s true heroes.
Racer X: Tell us about the Sportsmen for Warriors program you’ve been involved with in supercross this year.
Landen Powell: It’s been awesome. It’s been a very humbling and amazing experience. We teamed up with the Sportsmen for Warriors foundation, which honors the sacrifices made by our nation’s warriors and their family members by providing custom-tailored support and world-renowned recreational activities that improve their overall quality of life. They work with vets and with active-duty service members. The military has a really high suicide rate, and SFW is just trying to counteract that by giving these guys really cool experiences through sports and things like that.
It was actually my dad who came up with the idea of having an honorary mechanic at every 250SX West race. They show up at ten, go on track walk with me, and basically spend the whole day with me. They go to practice sessions with me, hold my pit board, and when the night show comes they’re on the line with me. It was cool for them, but more so for me—it’s been very motivating.
Was it random selection, or were these guys into dirt bikes?
Actually, at Phoenix the veteran had just graduated from MMI to be a Harley mechanic! He was so into it, man. He was taking my wheels off and taking them over to Dunlop for tires, he was wiping my bike down after practice sessions, he was full-on into it. It was pretty cool to have someone who’d just graduated from a mechanic’s school. The guy at A2 had ridden growing up too, and he was into supercross—everything was really familiar to him. And in San Diego, the marine had raced his whole life, and his dream when he was younger was to race supercross. He’d already gone to the first few rounds of the season and he was definitely into it. Watching a race from the floor is way different than watching from the stands, and I’m glad he was able to get that experience. It was so cool to see just how stoked these guys were.
What was the highlight for you?
At A2, during the main event, I would look over at the mechanic’s area and the warrior was just slamming his hand against the mechanic’s Tuff block, putting my pit board up every lap, and at the end of the race he was just so stoked. You could feel his excitement, and I think his adrenaline was flowing just as much as mine was. Unfortunately I got hurt after A2, which was a bummer, but the program still continued. I missed Oakland, but at A3 and San Diego we did track walk, watched practices, hung out, and did as much as we could, and they even got to go down on the floor during opening ceremonies. San Diego was really cool because it was the Military Appreciation race and we had an interview with Jenny Taft.
I’ve got a whole new respect for the military that I didn’t have before. I have a lot of insight into what they go through, more of an insider’s view. Talking to them and looking at the pictures on their phones has made me realize just how intense it is, what these guys go through. A lot of people don’t realize that because we don’t get to actually see it, but it truly is amazing what these guys are doing for us. At one round I’d actually just gone out and seen American Sniper and they were telling me that that’s the most realistic thing that they’d ever seen. To see how intense that movie is, it’s crazy to realize that it’s actually like that.
Will the program continue when the west races resume?
Yes, we’ll be starting again in Houston. I think they actually lined up a woman to be my mechanic there, so that’ll be really cool.
It sounds like a very cool foundation.
It is, and I’m very happy to be involved with Sportsmen for Warriors. I’d also like to thank Liquid Service Industries, Miller Motorsports Park, Tuff Country, Beehive State Exteriors, Zane Miller, Escape motorsports, Proven Moto, Super Top Secret, Bell, Fly, Sidi, FMF, 100%, Ryno Designs, Dubya, No Toil, Rekluse, Ride Engineering, Acerbis, Car Concepts, Tire Pros Bountiful, Vortex, Moto Seat, my mom and dad, my fiancée Kolbyanne, and everyone who continues to support me!
