Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Pro Circuit's Mitch Payton wist 0 By Donn Maeda ake a look at the machines that fill t h e s t a r t in g gate at any loca l motocross track, and cha nces are that you 'll see more than just a few of th em equi pped w it h af termarket exha ust pipes. And ch a nces a re even better that many of them will be fro m Pro Circuit, the Southern Cal iforni a hop-up bu siness that has in less than 10 yea r s become w h a t is a r g u a b ly th e industry's most successful sho p. With num erou s s u per cross a n d National MX titles to their cred it, there's n o doubt th a t Pr o Circuit ha s a great deal of name recogniti on . Ricky Johnson, Jeff Ward, Broc Glover, Jeff Stanton an d man y, many more ha ve used Pro Circuit products at one time or another during their careers. Bu t wh ere did Pro Ci r cui t co me fr om ? Th e sho p see med to e njoy overnigh t success in the mid to late 80s, bu t the s tory of the bu siness and th e man behind it is quite an in ter esti ng one. Mitch Pa yto n is th e owne r a n d founder of Pro Circuit. He is paralyzed fro m th e waist down, and reli es on a wheelchair to get around. Before he was injured, though, Payton wa s an up -andcoming d esert racer with'high hopes for a n illustrious racing career. But hi s plans were da shed at the tender age of 16 after a racing accident, and Payton w as forced to deal with a chan ge in not only hi s lifestyle,but in hi s goal s as well. Rather than sink ing into the deep depression that haunts many new paraplegics, Payton set a goal for himself, and now - 17 years later - he finally feels that he has accomplished it. T DESERT HOT SHOE Payton's rise in the d esert racing world was a relatively quick one. After throwing a leg over his first minibike at the age of seven, Payton competed in his ' fir st race when -he was 12. Though he dabbled in motocross and endures, his true love was the high speeds of th e open desert, and it w as in the de ser t that he began to make a name for him self. At 15, Payton was already one of the fastest racers in the desert - capturing the District 37 125cc Ch ampionshi p in 1976 bu t it wasn 't until he reached the minimum age of 16 that he began to shake up the r esults at th e bi gger SC O RE events. During his first yea r in the "big leagues," Payton racked up class wins in the Parker 400 and Baja SOO, and had h is ey es and hopes se t on the biggie - the Baja 1000 . Known as th e rac e to wi n, Payton's exciteme n t about the 1000 escalat ed when he w a s info rme d by the higher-ups at Husqvarna that he might be team ed with Larry Roesel er , Eve n then , Roeseler was a legend . . ~ But Payton never got the chance to be 0\ on th e Baja 1000 Dre am Te a m, as a 0\ rl see ming ly harmless crash in the Shamrr) rock Hare and Hound would change his N life forever. "It was only a small race at ~ Californ ia Cit y," said Payton, remem OJ ...a bering that fat eful d ay. "I wa s really s toke d, because I was sta rt ing on th e seven th ro w w ith the othe r 125s. It was OJ ::> starteven t, and sin ce o a timed far back, 1 figuredI wasn'1t had a that ing too Z cha nce at the overall, even though Roe.seIer w as starting on the first row. " Bef ore th e s ta r t, Payton received E 14 words of encouragement from a forme r competitor, Mitch Mayes. "Mitch wa s really fast, but he got paralyzed ea rlier in a crash," said Payton. "He still liked to come to th e rac es, and 1 remember him being re ally exci ted a bo u t my chan ces of winning the overall." , The race started ou t well for Payt on; at the halfway point he had wo rked up to eig h th ov erall, and th ird on ac tual tim e . Thin g s look ed g oo d , but a n extrem ely steep downhill p rove d to be his downfall. "There wa s th is hill that the rider 's packet warn ed us about, it said that you w ou ld ha ve to walk d own it," Payt on said . "But Larry rode down it, so 1 figured that 1 could, too. It wa s steep - man was it steep. Anyw ay, 1 started down it and fell off, but 1got up and kept rid ing. I fell off ag ain, but still, 1 go t up and rod e ag a in . 1 remember lea n in g w ay back and slid ing down the hill, when 1 saw a front fender in the comer of my eye. 1 tho ugh t, 'Oh crap, I be tte r ge t goin g: Just then, 1 hit a rock w ith my front tire and went over the bar s into these big rocks down below. "The next thin g I rem ember was that my e lbow was bleeding and I had the wind kno cked out of me. It felt like my kn ee s we re bent up and tou ching my ch est , but-then 1 looked a nd my legs were stra igh t. 'Som ething' s wron g,' I thou ght. 'Oh no .' Th e first thing I thou ght ab out was Mit ch May e s . 1 couldn't believe it. It was su ch a simple crash . I'd had some crashes where 1 wa s going so fast that 1 didn't stop tumbling for 30 seconds." Payton was airlifted to the hospital, where he stayed for three months. He was released shortly before Christmas. Unlike many new paraplegics, Payton made the adjustment tei his new way of life rather smoo thly. " O h, it was to ugh, but I mad e a promise to myself when I was on the stretcher getting put in the helicopter," Payton said. "Being good friends with Mitch Ma ye s, 1 sa w wh at he w ent through and w h a t h e put hi s family throu gh wh en he go t hurt. So there I w a s - m y m om w a s tellin g m e th at everything wou ld be oka y and trying to comf ort me , and th en there's my dad . My dad 's the meanest, tou ghest guy in the wo rld, and he' s standing there crying. Right then, 1 promised myself tha t 1 wou ld never pu t them through that:' A NEW WAY OF LIFE "Su re it .su cks," sa id Pay to n of th e loss of mov ement in his legs. "The simplest things become a complete struggle. You really take things for granted. You put your pants on in 10 seconds, but it takes me three to four minutes. Every th in g can s till be done, it ' s ju st that everything' s harder. You kn ow - lik e when your chick puts the Oreo Cookies on the top sh elf. You en d up beatin g them down with a bro om handle." "I wa s really lu cky to kn ow Mit ch Mayes. Having gone through the same thing, he helped me deal w ith it," said Payton. "Mickey Thompson also cam e to see me in the h ospital. He was in a bad boat accident and got paralyzed too, but he was up an d wa lki ng arou nd ." Still, Payt on see med to accept the fact that his 'condition was permanent, right from the start. Soon after his accident, th e 16-y ear-old goals for himself. b eg an to se t ~~~I';::::~~~~!!!~~~ "Every th in g had just changed," he said . "Before the crash, my goa ls were bike in Payton's shop, attracting throngs simple and short term. 1 was gonna do of googly-eye d fans . the 1000 with Larry, win some races, do BRANCHING OUT a bunch o f chicks, maybe buy a new mini tru ck th at su m mer - now every"The 125 Huskys were really slow ," thing was different. 1 had alw ays been said Payton. "I remembered riding a pretty good in school - my goals were to bike modified by Harry Klemm at DG, ge t B's and C' s without doing any and it was a lot faster than my factory homework . My brother was really . racer. 1 called him u p and asked if he smart, and after 1 got hurt I decided to wo uld be interested in working for me." try and get a ll A's on my la st report Tired of DG, Klem m made the jump card." and began to modify Husky 125s under Thanks to a home tutoring program, the Ana heim Husqvama banner. After a Pay to n completed his last semes ter at while, Payton decided that he too home and he d id, indeed, graduate with should le a rn how to m a ke a motor straigh t A's in his final semester. faster, but foun d little help from Klemm . After graduation, Pay to n realized The old master had no interest in teachthat he still wanted to be involved in the ing his art to Payton. motorcycle industry. "I wanted to stay "I went to the library and got a book, inside, somehow," said Payton. "So here 'The 2-Stroke Tuner's Handbook.:" said I w a s, a 17- y ear-old kid , looking Payton. "Then 1 got a new 125cc moto r. through the Cycle News c1assifieds and 'This thing is gonoa be so fast, it's gonna ca lling guys who wa n ted to sell their bl ow their m inds,' 1 th ought. Th at sho ps. engine wa s goin g to be my hobby. 1 "Wh en 1 wa s racing, lwas sponso red totally h acked out th at m otor. They by a small sho p - Anaheim Sport Cycle. blew up .and 1 made a zillion mistakes Wh en I g o t hurt, th e o w n er g o t all things that 1 lau gh at other guys fo r bumm ed o u t. He al so s po nso r e d a now." But even tu ally, Payton began to m oto cr o ss r a cer, a n d on ly a co u p le learn , and hi s eng ine m odifi ca t ions wee ks a fter 1 got hurt, that guy broke be gan to g ain a s mu ch re sp ect as both o f h is wri st s. Th en h e go t even Klemm 's. Over the years, a motle y crew more bummed a nd so ld his sho p to a of e mp loyees assembled at Anaheim guy wh o renamed it Triple A Cycle: ' Husqvarna, which s low ly, but su rely, Only one year later, in 1978, the new be gan to gai n a name for their eng ine own er ph oned Payt on and offer ed to and sus pens ion hop-ups. sell the bu siness. Apparently, the sho p " Pre tt y soo n, w e w ere doing well wa sn't ma king any mon ey, and he was wi th our pipes and stu ff, but we were anx iou s to get out. "I had saved $6000, co n ce rn ed that o th e r Hu sky s ho ps and my parent s took a second mort gage wouldn'tstock ' Ana h eim Husq varn a' o n the ir house to loa n me th e rest," pipes," Payton sa id. "So we had to come ex p laine d Pa yton . "So here 1 was - 17 up with another name, and that' s when years old and the owner of a shop. 1 had we came up with Pro Cir cuit Products a $123 a month van pa ym ent, a $308 a in 1980." m onth p a ym ent on th e sh op, and I For five years, Payton continued to would take ou t $50 a week to liv e off divide his time between Anaheim Husqof." va rna and Pro Circuit Products. In 1985, Payt on renamed the sh op Anaheim Pa yton made the decision to se ll th e Husqva ma . Thanks to his fame in desert de alership and concentrate solely on Pro ra cin g circles, Payto n 's business did Circuit. "My mom was doin g all of our well eno ug h to sur vive. Payton' s close bookkeeping, and she figured ou t that fri end Go a t Brek er - then a fa ctory we were making money with Pro CirHusqvarn a racer - wo u ld wo rk on h is cuit and losing mon ey w ith the sho p."

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