Troy Dog
Notice that this column now has a sponsor? That’s right! Troy Dog joined the Blu Cru and you should too! I have one in my garage right now and I can’t wait to go shred it! Thank you to Yamaha for believing in my ELITE columns on this dirt bike website enough to sponsor me. What a dream come true! BTW: Have you seen the all-new YZ450F? OH. MY. GOODNESS. I can’t wait to test that bad boy.
Ever since the Indianapolis Supercross when I did the HEP Takeover I’ve been intrigued by a Mr. Shane McElrath. Why is that? Well, before that weekend we had never crossed paths in life. I had never met or spoken to him before that weekend. It turns out that I was very impressed with him as a person. He went along with everything during the vlog and even made it better with his jokes and personality. Then I met his Film Producer Ryder, at Foggy Llama Films and we’ve been bonding over our Guts Racing Power Rankings ever since. I caught up with Shane after his fifth place finish in Denver for a big interview that you’ll be able to listen to soon. Here is a snippet where he talks about World Supercross, goals, and his future.
I knew you were going to do World Supercross, but at the same time you’re doing well with HEP Suzuki and could be their outdoor guy. I know you have to do what you have to do for your career, but are you going to miss the outdoors this year?
Yeah, a little bit. That’s what a lot of people have asked me, “Are you a Supercross only guy now?” This year I am just because that is what my contract is. I do enjoy the outdoors. Last year I really enjoyed it, but it was sort of the same situation where I jumped on the Husqvarna not long before the first round. I got to do eight rounds on it and then jumped on the Club MX Yamaha for three or four days before I raced it. I did enjoy it, but I don’t think I put my best foot forward, just kind of given the circumstances. 2020 was my best year obviously with getting third in the championship. That was a big deal consistency wise. Having won outdoors before, it’s like dude I like riding outdoors and I think it’s a lot of fun. I’ve always done a little better at Supercross and I like both equally. In the future if I have a contract for both Supercross and Motocross then that’s perfectly fine. This is a job and you go where you need to go.
It’s an older sport now. You’re a veteran now. I look back on your career and dude, you were at Loretta’s in 2012 battling with Webb and that was your breakout week and it feels just like yesterday.
That’s what’s crazy to think about. My rookie year in Supercross was in 2014 and I feel like it wasn’t that long ago, but that’s nine years ago now. It’s funny because I joke with Ken (Roczen) like my rookie year was his rookie year on the 450 and he’s only three months older than me. So, it’s crazy to think about. Ken has been doing this for a very long time now and we’re the same age. He knows stuff that I’m still learning. It’s cool to see the older guys and the veterans having more fun now. Even guys I watched growing up, they only retired because they hated it, and I don’t ever want to get to that point. There definitely is a lot of money in it for some guys, when you’re seeing guys get to do what they want, then they start to enjoy it more. Then when they start to get better they’re like, ‘Dude, I can keep going now.” Like with Dungey, he would always say like, if my heart is still in this then I’m going to keep doing it, same with Eli. Obviously for someone like me it makes it a little bit harder because I’m not at that level yet. I’m not in a position where I’m doing well and the teams are chasing after me. For me, I’m focused on building my 450 career up. Age-wise I’m 28. I feel like I’m just getting started and in years past there have been guys who have retired before they’ve even gotten to my age. I can’t even fathom that. I’m still on the way up.
You’ve won, been in championship contention in the 250 class, so what goals have you set for yourself for the remainder of your career?
I believe that I can be on the podium and that I can win a 450 race. As far as my timeline goes, in two years I think I can win a 450 race. I have some short term goals, like I really want to win a heat race. My starts haven’t been that good and I feel like I should have won a heat race before this point. It’s not easy and there’s a lot of really good guys out there at the moment. It’s going to be about building that speed and that confidence and in another year or two I’m going to be a consistent competitor. Even the guys that are beating me now. I’ve raced in the 250s and I’ve been competitive and even beaten a lot of them. I don’t really like to compare, but at the same time it’s a baseline of where we need to work to be. I think that those goals are perfectly obtainable. I just need to stay at it.
If you were to go back and tell yourself in 2010 or 2011 that at 28 years old that you’d still be in it at 28?Would you have believed yourself? Obviously you have that mindset and dreams as a kid, but when you look at your career and what you’ve accomplished, would you have believed that?
No, that’s where when people ask me, I just tell them that it’s a total God thing. Honestly, when I was younger, my goal was to be on TV racing dirt bikes. Once that happened it was like almost nothing in comparison to where I am now. At Loretta’s that year when I did have that breakout, it was a dead end road. My parents couldn’t afford to support me anymore. My brother wanted to race and take it more seriously and he was doing really well. It was literally coming to a dead end. It was like okay, well we are just going to keep going. We got picked up by the TLD team. From then on it was like, “Alright God, we don’t really know where we’re going.” Even now it’s like every year Joy and I pray like,”Alright, God if you still have a purpose for us in this industry then find a spot for us.” He just keeps doing it for us. I mean now, where we’re at we’re just trusting in the Lord and moving forward because we don’t know what else to do and there’s not much else we want to do.
Main image: HEP Suzuki
