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over on my own. My dad was tired of hauling logs and spending $90,000100,000 dollars a year on my racing program; I was 18 and it was time for me to do my own thing. I pretty much funded my own program in 2011 and when I came home at the end of 2011 I moved in with Ben and moved all my race stuff down here. I've run it from Schenk Racing Enterprises since then. Now I have my own place right next door to them. It's been nice staying with them, but now I'm right next door and we run the deal right out of their shop – our shop – it's like a second family to me." A Local Hero? "I've only lived up here for two and a half years and a lot of time I've been gone. Ben [Schenk] is going to hook me up with the local newspaper and put out an article for that and let the town of Eatonville know that I'm actually here. I know some of the people in the community, but they don't know me like they do down in Lewis County where I grew up. Out in the country where I lived, they take a lot of pride that I'm from around there. And the more I branch off in the different areas of Lewis County I find out that pretty much everybody knows me. I never knew that I actually had a little Let the celebration begin: Baker won the title in style with a victory in the season finale at the Pomona Half Mile. bit of a following and was that popular around there. The Chronicle is the local paper down there and they are always doing articles and updates on what I'm doing. They've done a pretty good job of getting me a following since I was on 50s. We've done two or three articles a year until now. It's pretty cool to have some more support from around here and I think it's good for the sport as well. It's important. Getting DQ'd From Daytona "I had a hard time having fun that night. I'd just put in two really good, solid performances and I was still happy with the hard work I'd put in and the hard work I'd put in leading up to that, so it was a total bummer to go out of there with a pretty good points lead and have it taken away and go out of there in fifth. But it just gave me heated battle with championship rival Bryan Smith. And all of this at just 20 years of age. But wait, it gets better. Not long after winning the title, Baker inked a deal with HarleyDavidson to ride for the factory team in 2014. In the long and storied history of AMA flat track racing, there has been no ride more coveted than the factory Harley ride. Think Jay Springsteen, Scott Parker, Chris Carr, Kenny Coobeth. It's the big time. It's getting a salary to race motorcycles. It also means getting out of the box van and flying to the races. "For probably the last two or three years I take off in midFebruary and I come home in mid-October," Baker says of life on the road as privateer. "There's been times when I've spent less than a month at home and it's kind of hard. I miss my family and I miss being home so I plan on coming home and enjoying a bit more of the summer around here - instead of having to be on the road and banging in 50,000 miles every year by myself in a van." P69 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON VOL. 50 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2013 the eye of the tiger to push harder. I never went and really complained about it. I tried to reason a little bit more with AMA Pro Racing to get my points back, but when the decision was final I just pretty much took it and continued on. I put my head down and figured what's one race when you've got 12 or 13 left. I came out and got second the next round and then won my first National at Hagerstown. So stuff like that happens, it's part of racing and all you have to do is move on. It was nobody's fault and it was just miss-communication between everybody who was involved. It just made winning the championship even better." What many may not realize is that although Baker had the backing of Dodge Brother Racing and Schenk Racing Enterprises in the Twins and Singles races, respectively, he did a lot of the work himself. "One thing this year that will be hard to wrap my head around is not being involved in the motorcycles," Baker said. "I like being involved with my motorcycles and I think it's a big benefit to me to actually understand my bikes and know what's in them and work on them myself. Of course, be-

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