VOLUME 57 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 15, 2020 P101
T
here are numerous stories of champions
who get their two-wheeled start at a young
age, take to the sport immediately and rise
through the ranks. Lesser known are the kids who
ride a few times, aren't that thrilled for whatever
reason (heretics!) and walk away from the sport.
Rarer still are those who try it, go on to other
things they find more to their liking, then return to
two wheels and climb to the top of the heap in
the sport.
Dalton Shirey is one of those rare individuals.
His family history seemed to guarantee he'd
be a motorcycle racer. Shirey recalls that his
father, Rick, enjoyed desert racing in Southern
California's AMA District 37 as well as SCORE
competition in Baja. They're longtime members of
the Checkers Motorcycle Club, whose member-
ship is full of legends in the sport.
In addition, his grandfather was a flat tracker
and Shirey reveals, "That's where I get my number
from, 46—was because of my grandpa and that
was his [AMA] National flat tracking number. He
used to be sponsored by Indian back in the day
for flat tracking."
Neither, however, won championships of note,
though as Shirey points out, "My dad…says he's
beaten everyone that's ever got a championship
but never got a championship himself."
Dalton Shirey focused
most of his attention in
2020 on the AMA Hare
& Hound Nationals and
came from behind in
points to win the series
overall for the first time.
