Troy Dog
As promised, here are SOME more of the best bits from my interview with Honda HRC’s Colt Nichols. This entire interview was great and Colt and I dove into his training with Wil Hahn, growing up in Oklahoma with a who’s who of MX, and of course the now famous SX walk-in photos. Special thanks to Colt for taking time to do this with us. If you’d like to listen to the full interview we’ve embedded it below.
vurbmoto: I did some research and I found out that another cool fact is that Wil Hahn is your trainer this year. What advice has he been giving you, because he was once in your shoes entering the 450 class and a 250 Regional Championship in the bag. Has he been coaching you in what to expect?
Colt Nichols: Yeah, I mean he definitely has. He has a lot of experience, you know, he’s been around a long time. He’s a guy that loves the sport and has accomplished a lot as well. He’s really just trying to help from experience. He’s like, this is what I did and it didn’t work, or this is what I did and I thought it was good, but maybe we can tweak it and do this or that. He has some experience working on the training side with Barcia last year. Getting through a full 450 season, like they did, that’s definitely one of my goals this year: to get through the season. Yeah man, he’s been a pretty crucial role in getting this whole thing going. Once the opportunity was there for me to work with him I wanted to jump on it, just because. I’d worked with Wil at Star, just not with this exact role. He was obviously the manager, not the trainer, and we just always got along. He’s a midwest guy, just like I am. I’ve known him for years and he’s just a really good guy. He has my best interest at heart and that was huge for me making this transition. I wanted somebody who really had my back and was going to be really involved and he certainly is. He’s been huge, he’s a good trainer, and he’s learning just like I am. We’re applying stuff together and trying new things as we go, but the advice and the wisdom has definitely been there. I’ve been pumped to have him in my corner.
Vurb is back, we’ve been back two years now. I feel like you’re one of the OG’s. I feel like Wes has filmed you from the 50s on up. What was one of your favorite Vurb moments as you were coming up through the ranks? Do you have one?
Honestly yeah, Vurb you know, was just iconic, especially when I got to my older years. You know, like 80s going into big bikes, Vurb was it. They were the cool publishing, they made the coolest videos, you just wanted to be a part of that. That feeling when Vurb tagged you in a photo, video or something. Those dudes were always so awesome. Wes is a good dude and he’s been around a long time. Just seeing those guys at the races is just always a cool vibe. I can’t think of one instance separately, but I remember being pumped when they would send me photos or tag me in something. I would be like, oh this is sick, and immediately want to repost. I used to visit the website daily growing up. It was the place to go to, that’s for sure. You guys are legends, you’ve been doing it for a minute, so it’s cool to see it all full circle, still doing it.
Yeah, it seemed like we always had cameras in your neck of the woods. Just that era and the group that you had was iconic with the amount of talent. It was you, Bogle, Trey obviously, and Albertson was around. Can you kind of give some insight into what it was like growing up at that time?
Yeah, it was honestly the best time. This was pre social media before it was so crazy you know? Today, kids don’t know anything about that, just because that’s not the way things are anymore. In that era of pre-social media time, we were secluded in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Robbie Reynard bought Reynard Raceway and we were out in the middle of nowhere just doing our thing. It was honestly perfect. I had such good dudes to look up to. I obviously lived with Robbie and I rode with Trey weekly. He’s the man, like I was saying earlier. Jimmy was there, Justin, it was just a really good group. It was pretty iconic at the time to have that many good guys being in Oklahoma, all at the same area, all training together. It was just fun, dude. Some of the best times of my life were at Trey’s, in Shawnee, at Robbie’s in Wellston. We had a really core good group. I still talk to every one of those dudes and it was such a good time man. It was a damn good time. I wish I could go back sometimes. I was very lucky to be around those guys when I was. They were very influential in my career, my life, and pretty much every aspect. It was good, I have no complaints on the way I grew up.
RELATED: Colt Nichols Talks Honda, Canard, and the Excitement of Racing Again
Are we planning any walk-ins for Instagram? Are we still doing that? Is that still a thing for this year?
You know, I’m trying to convince Brad (Frace) to come to more races now. Frace was the guy behind the lens catching all of the stuff. I’m trying to convince him to go to more so that he can help out with that. I’m not sure if Justin (Bogle) will be. I think he’s going to try to race some races, but I’m not really sure. Man, you know that the walk-in fits are still going to be there. I have to keep it going since Justin won’t be there, someone’s got to keep it alive. That’s definitely going to be a thing. Why not?
Listen to full interview:
Main image: Honda HRC
