PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM HNATIW
VOL. 50 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2013
P67
I'VE ALWAYS FELT THAT
" ONE THINGME TO THE NEXT LEVEL IS
WOULD TAKE
ACTUALLY NOT HAVING TO DO ALL THE
GRUNT WORK AS FAR AS DRIVING AND
WORKING ON THE BIKES. NOW I CAN JUST
GO OUT AND TRAIN, RIDE MY MOUNTAIN
BIKE, PRACTICE AND FOCUS ON MY JOB
– WHICH IS TO GO OUT AND RIDE THE
MOTORCYCLES.
"
this kid isn't just taking off to go
mess around. He's been doing
this since he was in the second
grade and winning championships since the second grade.'
As long as I gave them my time
ahead of schedule when I was
going to be gone and made up
my work and did well in school
when I was there, it really didn't
matter how much school I actually missed."
And he missed his fair share.
After all, this wasn't a kid with a
factory contract at the age of 12,
flying to and from the races. This
was a true family affair from top to
bottom. And that meant everyone
pulled his or her weight. None
more so than his father, Kip – the
leader of the Baker Boys Racing
team that featured Brad, his older
brother Scott, 23, and even Kip,
who bought himself a few vintage
Bultacos to flat track on while his
sons were racing.
"He'd get up at 3:30-4 in the
morning and go haul logs for
12-14 hours," Baker says of his
father who recently retired as a
logging-truck driver. "He'd come
home and maintain the log truck
and work on racebikes and get
ready to go for the next weekend. When I was on the road during the summer, at 16-17 years
old, I'd be in a box van by myself
and staying at friend's places and
maintaining the motorcycles by
myself. Dad would work all week
and fly out Friday night and get
there Saturday for the race and
fly out Sunday morning and be
back at work on Monday."
But they also had the good
fortune of having a stay-at-home
