Motocross, if nothing else, is a series of high highs and low lows, often crammed together in rapid succession. Take Coty Schock, for example, who had a breakout summer in 2021, rightly earning a ton of attention and even a salary from Honda for the following year. Then, his team folded. Fortunately he got boosted from that low when he was picked up by Phoenix Honda, only to crash hard in the Arlington Supercross and sustain serious injuries. Schock is now on the mend after having reconstructive surgery on his knee, but his year is over, as is his shot at backing up the brilliance of last summer. Schock is undeterred, however, and is already working hard to be able to make the last race of the summer. Not to make an impression on anyone, but simply because he wants to ride his dirt bike and get a chance to run his hard-earned national number, #37. We caught up with The Schocker earlier this week to see how his recovery has been going.
Racer X: How’s it going? How’ve you been?
Coty Schock: Lately it’s been good. I’ve been doing better now that I’ve been able to start walking. It’s definitely been a positive in my life!
Yeah, I’d guess that being able to get from place to place would be a positive thing.
Yeah. My mom flew out and helped me the first few weeks. I was non-weight bearing for the first six weeks and after she left, after two weeks, and I had to do everything on my own I was like, "Holy crap! I can barely function!" I live in a two-story house and my room is upstairs, so I have to crutch up and down the stairs. Every move I do I have to carry a crutch, so to carry a cup of coffee from the kitchen to a table was a process. It’s all little stuff you don’t realize you can’t do when you can’t walk.
So you’re talking post-surgery.
Yeah, it took me a while to feel like I could operate on my own. I had Tony [Archer, friend and former mechanic] and his wife helping me out. I’d be like, "Hey, I made some food, but can you carry it to the table so I can eat?" Within the last week everything has kind of turned around though. I’m weight bearing now, so I’m able to do more things. I want to start going back to the track and seeing my friends and start to get back to my normal life. I’m just not able to ride, that’s all.
You got hurt all the way back in Arlington. Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about, but it seems like it took a while to get the surgery going.
I got hurt in Arlington, and I thought I knew everything that happened. But about a week-and-a-half went by and I realized my knee wasn’t right. Everyone gets a stinger every once in a while, but this was different. I was losing strength and it hurt, and I couldn’t stabilize it. I got an MRI, and when I got the report I realized I’d done it good. I made a doctor’s appointment immediately following that, and it took about a month for my insurance to approve everything. For some reason they only wanted to approve my ACL and meniscus surgery. They didn’t want to approve the MCL procedure. It was so weird. I don’t know why, but they were fighting against the doctor’s office. It took about a month to get the surgery approved. I was annoyed! I was just sitting at home doing nothing.
You’re a professional athlete, you gotta get fixed to make money!
Yeah, that was frustrating, but as soon as I got an official surgery date I got excited. I knew it was going to suck that I was going to walk in and not be able to walk out, but at least finally I was going to be on the road to recovery.
Getting hurt sucks, but has there been anything positive in all of it?
To be completely honest, there’s only one positive. Now that I kind of know what it takes to do better in this sport, I’m kind of trying to give back to my close friends who are trying to qualify for nationals. I’m trying to share with them what worked for me, and see if it works for them. What worked for me might not work for everybody, but it’s worth a shot. I’ve just been trying to be the guy people can ask questions.
That’s cool of you. When you got hurt did you think you’d be back for the nationals, or did you know it was going to be 2023?
I thought I was coming back for the Detroit Supercross. When I got hurt it was a concussion, a collapsed right lung, broken right middle finger, a hematoma on the right shoulder, and just a banged up knee. But it turned out to be more than that. After I figured out how to get surgery, 2022 was already a wash. I’m trying to make the final round of the outdoors. If I keep progressing the way that I am, I’ll be fine. It’s more just because I want to race with my number. I haven't really gotten to race with the #37, I didn’t get to do anything with it this year. I think it’d be cool just to be able to line up and enjoy that race before focusing on supercross for 2023.
Yeah, and at least get some cool race pictures with your national number, right?Yeah, I have like no race pictures. I just want to ride a dirt bike and I need something in the gym to motivate me, and making it back for the final round and being as strong as possible is a huge motivator.
That’s good to hear. A lot of people, probably most of all you, were excited to see what you might be able to do this summer, especially after 2021. It sounds like you’re staying positive.
I’m trying! Last year was my year to shine, and you’re not going to always have that back-to-back. So maybe it’s somebody else’s summer. It’s all good and it’s part of the sport. Injuries, it’s a matter of when, not if, and my time was up. I’ll come back better and stronger. I know what I can do, it’s just a matter of time until I can do it again.
What’s the old saying? The mountain is easier to climb the second time, or something like that.
Yep.
Where does this leave you with Phoenix Honda? Will you be back in 2023 or is that an unknown at this point?
It’s a huge unknown right now. When I get back on a bike is when I guess we’ll talk, that’s what I was told. It’s unknown. If I do re-sign, great. I’d like to, I have so much unfinished business. But I don’t know, other people are shining right now and you know how this sport is, if you’re not racing you get forgotten about. I really hope that doesn’t happen to me, but what’s meant to be will be, and I’ll live to fight another day.
Well one way or another you’re still going to be back on the line next year.
I’ll be racing regardless. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Phoenix, I really don’t. I had a one-year contract. Depending on what [David] Eller wants to do with his program, be it a two-man team, three-man team, or a four-man team. You never know. I think he’s still trying to figure out, and I don’t blame him for whatever he decides. You don’t necessarily want to talk to someone who’s injured, but at the same time you kind of have to—injuries are temporary.
Coming back for the last one means something too, regardless of results.
It’d mean more to me than anything. I’m not doing it for the industry, or to try to prove a point, I’m just doing it because I want to. I want to be able to race, it’s my passion. Whatever happens is meant to be, and we’ll live to fight another day.
