It's another Fun Filthy Friday! Here's this week's Q & A with our resident expert in all things, Phil Nicoletti. Phil announced his plans to race the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship this summer, but no worries, he'll still be here for all your important questions!
Send your questions to phil@racerxonline.com.
Hey Phil, it's your old buddy from New York, Jeff. First I want to say how pumped I am that you’re back racing in the red, white and blue where you belong! You won’t be the only New Yorker coming back I convinced Jack Carpenter to come out of retirement and do some nationals!! It got me thinking that you must have a war story or two about the Carpenters while you guys were out on the road back in the day. See you at the nationals and PS Amy says go kick some ass!
Fellow New Yorker
Mr. Jeff!
I hope you are doing well! I’m excited to be back. Two years away felt like a life time! Paulie and Jack are some of New York's finest! Paulie was much older than I was, but I grew up watching him ride for White Brothers. When he rode for factory Kawi and then rode for Pro Circuit, I thought was the absolute pinnacle. He would race SX here, then head to Canada and did his thing up there. I don’t know Paulie at all to be honest. I was just a kid star gazing back then. Now Jack was a different story. He was a tough as nails. I did race Jack a few times when I turned A class at the end of 2006 at some Northeast Classic races. I believe my rookie year in 2008, Jack rode for the team out of upstate New York with Paulie, named Atomic. It’s been years since I’ve seen him around. If Jack does come back and race a few, I’ll come over and have a beer after the motos!
Hey Phil, big fan of yours. I remember watching you at Frozen Ocean back in the day. Anyways I was wondering if you could rank the order from the least pissed to the most pissed you would be if the racers below beat you in points (hypothetical of course) this summer. K, thanks.
J-Mart
Troll [Alex Martin]
Zacho
Seth Rarick (in his prime)
A-Ray
Mike Alessi
and Mike Brown
Yours truly, Dan-O from Yonkers
Yoo Dan-O,
I appreciate it mate. Gah Frozen Ocean was a badass track back in the day. Haha the night supercross they had between Unadilla and Broome was epic. Back when pros showed up to race local events for fun. Frozen Ocean was actually the first time I met and raced Zacho. We had the most intense battles for a regional ever there in 1999. But back to your question, least pissed to most pissed would be: Zacho
J-Mart
Brownie
Troll
Alessi
A-Ray
Rarick—Wait, did Rarick even have a prime??!
So Phil, we always hear you’re a no non-sense guy who doesn’t suffer fools. And you even bust on your buddies. So how do you treat your mechanics? Do you drive them crazy or do they drive you crazy? Both? Who is the poor guy that has to deal with you this summer?
Mechanically Inclined
Mechanically Inclined,
Man, a good mechanic is absolutely priceless. I don’t like mechanics that are there for the show, and just wanna change plastics and graphics. I have been very fortunate to have had some awesome mechanics over the years! Spencer Bloomer, Lee McCollum, Ben Schiermeyer, Dave Feeney, Glenn Hobson, Steve Simms, Risi George, Paul Bruno, Terry Varner. Those guys all knew how a bike was supposed to be. From practice bikes to race bikes. They know if something looks funky on the bike, how to pack a gate, how to run lap times, what lines to take, all of it. Just knowing how to take care of business on a race day when the pressure is on with no time for errors.
This summer, I’m in uncharted waters a bit. I have a much younger fella with not as much experience as the guys above. His name Hunter. He has a big task at hand. Big big task. I’ve already warned him if I’m yelling, either at him or about something else, not to take it personally. If he doesn’t know something, then ask. It’ll be a steep learning curve, but he will get broken in right. This summer he will gain three years’ worth of experience. Well, if I don’t make him quit haha. Just kidding......
