Interview:
Harold Goodman- 2007 ATVA Extreme Dirt Track
Pro Champion
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| #708
Harold Goodman - Quick Facts |
| Birth
Date: |
7/13/1978 |
| Weight: |
150lbs |
| Hometown: |
Brownstown, MI |
| ATV: |
Honda TRX450R |
| Occupation: |
Real Estate Inv. |
| 1st ATC/ATV: |
Honda ATC70 |
| Started
Racing: |
7 Years Old |
| Favorite
Food: |
Steak |
| Favorite
Drink: |
Dr. Pepper |
| Hobbies: |
RC Cars |
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The series final of the 2007 Duro ATVA Extreme
Dirt Track Nationals took place on September
30th at Fayette County Fairgrounds in Brownstown,
Illinois. Despite a close points battle with
Shane Hitt, Harold Goodman held off the competition
and took the championship, the first Pro ATV
Championship of his racing career.
Harold, who has been a Pro ATV Racer since
1995, has had a very busy season, racing not
only the Extreme Dirt Track series, but also
the WPSA series, and a few other miscellaneous
events throughout the year, along with instructing
at a couple of riding schools he put on at
tracks around the country. Keeping busy and
being in the racing circuit for so long, has
presented Goodman with abundant opportunities
and experiences, and has allowed him to accomplish
many of his racing goals, including his first
Pro Championship. ATVRiders got the chance
to talk to Harold about winning his first
championship and what he’s got planned
for next season.
Congratulations
Harold! You pulled off your first National
Pro ATV Championship here at the Extreme Dirt
Track Series. How big of a deal is this for
you?
Thanks! I’ve been racing nationals since
1987 and it’s great to finally get a
pro championship.
You
have won a few amateur titles along the way;
what were they?
I won the 60 mod class in ’89 and a
couple 90 Super stock classes. Also some A
Class and some Pro Am stuff, but ever since
I went pro I’ve never won a championship,
so this is awesome!
Who
was behind you this year and what made the
difference?
We made some changes for this season. We switched
to Rage ATV for our motor work and we went
40 motos this year; 12 mains, and 16 TT heat
races without a DNF. It’s been my most
consistent season since I started. My Honda
worked perfect. PEP Suspension, Houser Racing
Components with the new “Tric Trac”
system worked perfect. Everyone that helped
me out…JP MX and Douglas Wheel, and
everybody else were just terrific this year.
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What’s
really impressive is that you were out there
running AMA MX, the WPSA, and EDT Nationals
and you had an impressive finish in the WPSA
also.
We had a really good season there. 7th overall
was great. I did have to miss one round and
to still pull off 7th was incredible. I couldn’t
have had a better season. Next year, of course,
I would like to do a little bit better than
that. I don’t have any plans to win
the series, but I would like to be in the
top three so we’re going to try hard
for that next season.
The
Extreme Dirt Track series split off from the
GNC Motocross Series a couple of years ago,
so where do you think the series is headed?
The series has been doing really well. They
have great numbers, an awesome youth turnout,
and a good turn out of pro riders. We always
have over 20, this weekend we had only 17,
but it’s the end of the season and that
does happen at the end of most seasons. Hopefully
the series just continues to grow. It’s
a little bit easier and little bit less expensive
than racing MX, but the average rider doesn’t
have to train as hard either.
What
is it about Extreme Dirt Track that really
keeps you coming back?
It’s not really more technical, but
it takes more finesse to ride TT than motocross.
If you blow a turn in MX you might not even
have anyone pass you, but if you blow a turn
in TT you might have 3 or 4 people get by
you. So you have to try and be perfectly consistent
for 20 laps, so it’s a little bit different
riding style, but I like the speed, I like
the close competition. There’s always
a race going on. It’s a lot of fun.
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| Harold
Goodman & Shane Hitt |
Was
there a lot of pressure on you this weekend
going up against Shane Hitt?
After North Carolina, I lost most of my lead.
We had a really bad weekend, so for a couple
weeks I really put a lot of pressure on myself
to really try and do well the last couple
of rounds and I got to thinking about it and
thought since we’ve been doing this
for fun for 22 years, and that’s really
what it’s all about. Coming into this
weekend I felt fine. I got a little nervous
after the heat races. When we went to line
up, I felt a little nervous, more than usual,
but once I put it in gear, I forgot about
it and just tried to get the holeshot.
You
and Shane were right next to each other and
bounced off each other a little, did that
make you nervous?
Yeah, it actually did. The start here was
less than desirable. It gets kind of tight
and we’re already in 5th gear when we
get to the first turn and trying to go 4 wide,
it’s not the best of starts. When we
got to the turn we touched a little bit again
and that’s when Chuckie (Creech) got
around us.
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| Chuckie
Creech & Harold Goodman |
You
were right on Chuckie the whole time. Did
you feel you could have made the pass on him
if you wanted to or did you just not want
to risk it?
There was a couple of times when I did really
pressure him, but then I got comfortable behind
him because Shane was behind Zac Willet. When
Shane got around Zac then I started pushing
him again, and we just kept pulling away,
so I just stayed and followed him. Could I
have passed him? I don’t know, it’s
hard to say. It worked out fine. I ran a smart
race
