Alabama resident Alan McWiliams, owner of RPM and Mill Creek Motocross Park,  has made a huge milestone not only as a business owner but in the motocross industry. He and his spouse have made some major headway and taken a  few successful jumps, one being the purchase of the Lake Whitney motocross park. The McWilliams family has dedicated their life to the sport and provided the Southeast with some seriously pristine motocross experiences. Check out below to see a our catch up with McWilliams!


Thanks for your time today, Alan! Let's start this off with an easy one! Where did you start begin in the motocross industry?
I started like most, as a racer.  My first race was in 1968, which eventually led into a friend’s basement mod and repair shop and I raced until 1976.  Twenty years later, my son, at age 5, told me he wanted to become am motocross racer so the new quest began for him and memories were reborn for me.

You leased the Lake Whitney track about 1 1/2 years ago, tell us why you decided to a take on such an enormous project and can you tell us a little of what that process entailed?
With the economic time quickly changing, our other business was slowing down to the point of allowing us the ability to put more effort into promoting more events, which is what I really wanted to do anyway.  For years, we had been promoting larger events and running our own series.  I received an email one day from Dave Martin of Honda of Houston.  He was interested in talking to us about the purchase of his promotional company which included Whitney.  We were one of several prospects he was interviewing.  After several conversations and a personal interview, my family and I were given the opportunity to finalize the transaction.

As a track owner and race promoter, what does your typical work week consist of?
Mondays are clean up, paperwork, phone calls, updates etc.   Tuesdays equipment maintenance, re-stock supplies, verify all are in place for the upcoming weekend event.  Wednesday, chill out as much as possible; go to church on Wednesday night.  Thursday/Friday – track prep, maintenance and load up and travel to the next event destination.  Saturday/Sunday – doing what we love “putting on the event!!!"  It is awesome doing what you LOVE.

Mill Creek provides a Supercross, Night and Outdoor track for racers. Can we look forward to any track changes in 2010?
Yes, we just completed a new super cross track and built a Pro arenacross track.  After our Pro Am event in November, we will make some track changes through this winter to the main track to get ready for next spring.  We will start racing in February and host the Spring round of the ATVA Pro Am Nationals in March.

What other events or tracks do you partake in behind the scenes besides MillCreek and Lake Whitney?
We currently host events at Big Cedar Mx, Monster Mtn Mx, Sand Mtn Mx, Bremen and we have added a couple more for 2010.  We have the Southern Classic Championship Series, Alabama Gold Cup Series, Big Chill Showdown, Challengers Cup, AMA Pro Am National and Indoor Stadium Cross Series and area qualifiers and regionals.

You ran into some pretty terrible weather at Lake Whitney this year that would've ruined any normal race weekend, but you took the situation and made the best of it creating a killer track and very positive event. What problems were you faced with and what did you do to turn the situation around?
Well the good Lord says he does not give any  of us more than we can handle, so instead of it raining a little, it rained record amounts!!!  On Tuesday and Wednesday, it rained a little over 3 inches after a break, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday, it rained again and this time it was a little over 4 inches, for a total of over 7 inches of rain! Funny part, it had not rained even an inch since last October of 2008.  The problem was that the track was already opened up from Monday practice and Tuesday racing, so when it started raining, we did the best we could to make sure the water drained.  Then I knew that I had to get the track sealed, so I had to bring in more equipment when the weather broke on Thursday.  Fortunately, we had Sunday as a makeup day.  So it all worked out, and we were blessed in a bad situation.  We did a lot of praying.

Coming up is the Pro Am race at Millcreek, November 7th and 8th. Tell us a little about the race and what your hopes are as far as attendance and what you hope to provide racers and their families?
We have been hosting this event for five years, back when it used to be called the 4 Stroke Nationals.  WE have always held it the last of October or the first of November each year.  Historically, we have had an awesome turnout of amateur and pro riders.  This year, we have a $3000.00 minimum pro purse.  The pro riders will run 20 minute motos and we have factory contingency.  We will have Saturday practice and a Saturday afternoon SX race, with a pro Dash for Cash to finish up early evening.  Red Bull will be present and Vurb will be showing the new film, Epic.  The Kawasaki and Suzuki rigs will be on hand along with FMF, Kevin Cozzad of Mxers 4 Jesus and several other vendors.

So you've got this new idea….Stadium Cross. Basically a 5 stop series that where the track is a little smaller than Supercross but bigger than Arenacross. Explain to us your vision and what the AMA has done for you in reguards to the series?
We have run smaller arenacross for years.  A few years ago, I gave the concrete floor arenas a try so we could give the amateur riders a taste of what only the pros get to do.  For 2009/2010 we will promote the Fly Racing Indoor Stadium Cross in Mississippi and Georgia.  The biggest issues are getting the dirt into the arenas and getting available dates.  If all this works out this year we expect to expand over the next few years.  To feature the amateurs and pros together on Friday and Saturday nights is a void that I believe we can fill.  AMA is currently working on getting approval for these to be a part of the Pro/Am series.  We want to take a moment to thank Rod Reynolds with Fly Racing, Pirelli and FMF for coming on board with our vision.

I hear you have a plan for new race format at Lake Whitney for 2010, can you give the Vurb readers a little detail on what they can look forward too?
For 2010 the Spring Classic at Lake Whitney race format is as follows:  All qualifiers and LCQ’s will be just that, qualifying only for gate position.  After the gates are filled with the 42 riders, two full motos will be run and the motos will run on time and not laps.

Thank you again and we look forward to your future events!
Thank you, Megan!  We are looking forward to a great 2010 race season.