2020 AMA HARE & HOUND CHAMPION DALTON SHIREY
P102
Interview
THE MINI DAYS
Like many in SoCal, Shirey
went on camping trips to the
desert while a tyke which is basi-
cally where he learned how to
ride, though it wasn't his idea of
a good time at this point.
"My dad taught me how to
ride when I was younger—prob-
ably when I was four or five on a
Yamaha PW50—but I didn't like
riding dirt bikes until I was 12,"
Shirey confesses. "I was scared
of them; I was too scared of dirt
bikes back when I was younger.
"After that, it was like once a
year or twice a year that I rode.
I used to ride a lot of horses
before I rode dirt bikes; I was
always on horses instead of dirt
bikes when I was younger. My
mom had like 30 head of horses
back in the day. We only have
like 10 now, but I just used to
ride them a lot—just rode a lot,
always around them, doing team
sorting, roping and that was
about it.
"One day my dad got me a
Honda 150 four-stroke, and
that bike, the power was a
lot smoother and easier and
more friendly. Something finally
clicked in me with that bike and I
started loving to ride."
THE TRAIL TO THE
CHAMPIONSHIP
The record will show that
Shirey was the very first winner
of the very first Big Wheel race
when the AMA Youth Hare &
Hound National Championship
Series got started in 2013. Since
My dad taught me how to ride
when I was younger—probably
when I was four or five on a
Yamaha PW50—but I didn't like
riding dirt bikes until I was 12.
This is where Shirey made
history for the first time:
winning the Super Mini (or Big
Wheel) class in 2013 at the
first-ever round of the AMA
Youth Hare & Hound National
Championship Series.
