At precisely 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 30, 2019, country music icon Loretta Lynn’s autobiographical ballad “Coal Miner’s Daughter” blared across the loudspeakers of her central Tennessee ranch and campground. Below the speakers, people were beginning to gather around the motocross track that sits in the middle of the property, waiting for the first of 108 motos that would make up the 2019 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship.

After some drive-time banter between the announcers, the staging area behind the starting gate began to fill up with the 42 riders who made up the Vet 30+ Sportsman class. They would draw chips from a bucket for gate picks, line up accordingly, and then take their sighting lap. Once they were all back on the starting gate, the motors were shut down, Kevin Cozadd of MXers for Jesus gave a morning prayer, our national anthem was sung, and then the 42 bikes fired back up. At 7:30 a.m. sharp, the starting gate dropped and the races were underway. Two minutes later, #2 Taylor Painter, a Kawasaki KX450 rider from Cleburne, Texas, crossed the finish line to record the first competitive lap of 2019. Over the course of the next five days, 47,047 more laps would follow.