T-Dog’s Takes: The Thor Pinstripe Gear Changed My Life

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.

Dear Thor,

Back in 2007, I was racing the B classes at our local District 11 tracks around southwest Ohio. In those days, and I can’t believe it’s been 16 years ago already, we had some very fast talent around here. I’m not saying that we don’t now, but back then we had amateur superstars like Shawn Rife, Justin Weeks, the late Walker Brightwell, and Steven Mages. The cool part about “back in the day” was the fact that the brands and amateur teams actually supported and wanted these guys to race at the local level. Heck, even Blake Wharton told me that he had to race a certain number of weekends out of the year and it was basically every weekend. 

So, when these big dogs would show up when they weren’t doing an amateur national or racing some other important race, it was a big deal. At least for me it was. I’d get a glimpse of a Team Green bike, or in Rife’s case, a Factory Honda 85cc. It wasn’t just the bikes either, these guys had all of the newest gear and the cleanest helmets that were custom. It was an honor to get lapped by them. Needless to say, gear was always important to me.

I was a huge fan of Thor gear from 2005-2009 and they would continue to pump out what I thought was the best gear line in motocross. I’d see Chad Reed wearing it and I had to have some. Yet, what gear did I want? I couldn’t afford to buy several sets of the stuff and my decision had to be meticulously made. So, in 2007 when I needed new gear, I went with the new Thor Pinstripe gear. I made the choice after immediately seeing Weeks wearing it at Dirt Country one race day. He lapped me within two laps and I knew then that it was the gear that made him so fast. IF I could get me some of that gear, surely I’d have the Rockstar Suzuki amateur team begging me for a ride. Move over Weeks, Cole Gress wants to sign ME!

Moral of this story is, I got the gear and it elevated my game from a last place B rider, to a midpack B rider. So, I never did get offered that amateur support team ride for some reason. I feel like midpack in local B was factory level status, but not in those days. 

At the end of the 2007 season, I went to Mammoth East, which is a race that used to be held at the Paoli Peaks Ski Lodge in Paoli, Indiana. It was my favorite race of the year because it felt like a national track and I always did well there. It was an all natural terrain that had some of the best dirt and when practice started it was just grass. Anyway, I had my pinstripe gear on and my 2007 RMZ250 was, um, RIPPING. Or so I thought. On Sunday, the last day of the event I landed off a downhill jump and my backend swapped and ejected me over the bars. I ended up getting a “contusion” of the collarbone, but I swear to this day that it was broken. It still doesn’t look right. Sadly, the hospital had to cut my jersey off. 

I was heartbroken. It was my favorite gear ever. 

I went and bought a new jersey immediately. It was my third new pinstripe jersey, because the first one was ruined when we tried to iron on my last name and number on the back of it. 

For some reason I thought it was a great idea to get my senior pictures taken in this gear. The photos were taken in the courtyard at our school. Walking down the hallway at school in my gear was something I never thought I would have the chance to do. I even had a cute girl walk by and I gave her the ol’ Darkside head nod. I was invincible in that gear. 

Thor, please bring this gear back, so that I can peak again. 

Thanks. 

Your friend,

Troy Dog