I have shared this with Joe but I want to share it publicly too.

About 7 years ago I started racing with JMX. I had just gotten back into dirtbiking the year prior and sucked. I really was (still am) a slow poke.

Growing up I had a dirtbike but rode fire roads and open fields on a DT100. Nothing to teach me how to ride like I was learning then.

The thing I didn't have growing up was a father who was around. He was in the military and was divorced from my mother. I saw my father rarely.

That changed when he retired. JMX racing gave us a venue to get to know each other again instead of sitting and watching tv all day. My father didn't play golf, didn't bowl and had only one hobby... work. So when he came up we didn't have much to do except the races and he hated bikes... at first.

Then over the years my father and I grew closer and closer. He died in July of 2005 and one thing I remembered about him as I cared for him in his final days was the nights and days at Shelby, Parker Valley and Top Gun.

Basically JMX racing gave me my "Field of Dreams."

I can't explain the positive memories I will always have of my father and JMX racing and I look forward to new memories with JMX even though I don't race as much as I used to.

Joe never knew how much of an opportunity he was giving me and my father to get to know each other. He didn't realize he was providing a way for a family to reconnect but JMX did that and Joe was always approachable and fair and became as much a part of the weekends as the racing.

I will always appreciate JMX and Joe personally for all that he provides through JMX.

Racing PVMX for the final time was bittersweet and on the way home it brought up all the past memories and reminded me just how great life can be, how hard it can be and how much worth it is to go through it all.