As bikes improve, riders look to up their game. That’s what originally pushed Josh Siegel to YCRS. The lifelong rider bought a few of Larry Pegram’s retired race bikes, which motivated him to enroll. And then he saved the school. And started racing, and winning. An R1M is his latest addition.
Fate, luck, blessings, right-place-at-the-right time, your guardian angel…many of us have experienced one of the above phenomena at some point in our lives. Often we can’t thank the helping party, and this is my thanks. If you have someone to thank in this industry, write a quick comment below this blog.
When Freddie Spencer quit the school business in 2008, Miller Motorsports Park and Yamaha picked up my whole crew and we continued as the Yamaha Champions Riding School in Utah. It was a great five years. But in 2013, Miller realized that cars were more profitable and axed the less-profitable riding school.
Ken Hill and I led the school and had been brainstorming for months as we noticed the lack of future planning from Miller’s management team. By the time they sat us down with the sad news, we had feelers out for the Next Big Thing.
Ken Hill started riding at the age of 30. He found a passion and now 40 years later—okay, just 20—he’s coaching others to excel on two wheels. This shot is of us coaching the Expert group at Sport Bike Track Time. The YCRS group does much more than just schools; we’re also available to provide some expertise at a bike night, or at a track day. Josh Siegel’s dream is to expose every rider to YCRS techniques.
We had proved with Spencer and Miller that our brand of riding instruction worked to make riders faster and safer, especially safer. Graduates became wholehearted backers of the school and support was everywhere. A dozen ideas were circulating but it’s safe to say that Ken and I could not afford to relaunch the school with our own nickels.
And then Josh Siegel called. In an instant, the path was clear and the situation right. Siegel is an investment banker from New York, but more importantly, he was a three-time graduate of our riding school. Josh recalls: “No way in hell that school was going to close. This industry needs it, riders need it. There’s nothing out there even close...”
This is Siegel (left) as he appears on television and during university lectures on finance, and then as we know him. One reason he believes in YCRS so strongly is that he just won three out of four races at New Jersey Moorsports Park last month. (Photo on bike by: theSBImage.com)
And then the perfect storm started. Siegel puts together businesses; that’s his business. He knew Ken and I needed to have ownership. He knew we needed a top Operations person who also had ownership. He knew marketing was huge.
Ken and I brought a successful, proven and evolving curriculum that Josh knew and trusted; that box was checked, but we were leaving the excellent operations management of Miller Motorsports Park and needed someone to replace the multitasking expert—Jill Sato.
Months before all this went down, Siegel had met Keith Culver, a Hyundai service writer in New Jersey with a passion for roadracing. Culver had club raced at the expert level but began Evolution Racing, a program that puts kids from mini-bikes onto full-sized roadracers. Culver was underfunded but gamely trying to make it all work. Siegel added some funding and sponsorship to Evolution and admired Culver’s work and moral ethic. Operations guy: Check.
Keith, at left, stands next to Chris Peris, Kyle Wyman and me at Inde Motorsports Ranch. Keith’s racing, street riding, and time spent listening to Champions Habits have put him in an instructor roll many times over the past year. “I’m living my dream,” says the New Jersey native who spends winters in California and Arizona for the YCRS winter programs. Culver has recently taken over the Yamaha sportbike demo program under the YCRS umbrella.
Siegel then made a call to Limore Shur. Shur runs eyeball, a motorsports-heavy marketing company responsible for shows like "Following Filmore." And get this: Shur was also a YCRS graduate, and he leapt at the chance to market the new school. The school had done amazing things for Shur's riding, and the riding of his friends. "I'm in, let's do it." Marketing: Check.
Here’s Limore Shur sampling the package he helped put together for YCRS: Arai helmets, Alpinestars gear, and that Yamaha R6 on Dunlop Q3s. The headlight covers are filled with additional sponsors. Shur’s company, eyeball, runs the imaginative marketing campaigns for the school.
Siegel called Larry Pegram next. “I’ve been helping Larry over the years and I raced an ex-Pegram Yamaha R1,” Josh said. “Larry wanted something to retire to after racing and he got onboard the ownership team, too.”
The ownership team of Siegel, Ienatsch, Hill, Shur, Culver, and Pegram then turned to David Docktor and Martin Vivanco at Yamaha. The marketing Shur produced for those meetings helped convince Yamaha that YCRS was back and stronger than ever. Forty bikes arrived in New Jersey with a full complement of YamahaLube products and GYTR pieces. Dunlop signed up again. Alpinestars was back in. PRS recommitted. Chatterbox too. Arai again. GB Racing came back on board, as did Chickenhawk tire warmers. And then new sponsors took the plunge: Payless Car Rentals, Hang Dry, Yamaha Power Products/Generators, GoPro. All driven by a desire to support the curriculum that has changed so many riders’ lives, and to reach the true enthusiasts who take YCRS. Look behind the sponsoring companies and you will find YCRS graduates stepping up to support the resurrection of this school.
Payless rental vans add a relaxing learning venue to the school as instructors cruise easily around the course, highlighting the amazing similarities between good riding and good van driving. “This is our four-wheeled practice motorcycle,” Chris Peris will tell his relaxed passengers. James Easley of Payless (he is also an owner of N2 track days) made all this happen because he experienced what YCRS did for his riding. “I want to help.” Thanks, James.
There’s passion in the air at YCRS, fueled by every member of the team. The inmates finally have control of the asylum, and damn it feels good. Students find our approach simple and logical, and fast and safe. We chase only one thing: the most possible improvement of our students. Customer satisfaction is job one—and two and three.
We’ve added two instructor/owners with Chris Peris and Kyle Wyman, a pair of fantastic personalities. Ben Walters, CJ Laroche, Dustin Coyner and Rich Stampp also teach for us, adding to the great group we developed at Miller: Mark Schellinger, Dale Kieffer, Shane Turpin, George Grass, Dan Short, and Phil Horwitz. And we have a broad and diverse group of excellent guest instructors from every walk of the two-wheeled world helping at every school. Scott Russell is our permanent Instructor Laureate. We’ve had schools with the superstars of Yamaha roadracing present, and you never know who will drop in. Lawson says he’s coming…
I once asked Scott Russell why he comes to YCRS when he could stay home on his dirt-track-equipped estate. “Hey, I believe in what you’re doing and how you do it. This is the real deal here.” His two-up laps are legendary. Early on, I told him that he didn’t need to go so fast when giving a student a ride. “I’m not!” he replied. Every YCRS instructor has been on the back with him and let’s just say: The boy still has it!
Siegel’s enthusiasm and financial backing made all this possible. For Operations Manager Culver, Siegel’s involvement was life-changing. “My job at the car dealership was horrible. Don’t want to go into detail, but “miserable” doesn’t quite describe it. Josh gave me a chance to work in the industry I love. I had always sent my roadracing kids to YCRS and they came back fast and consistent. I’m thankful the school was saved and to be asked to head the Operations of YCRS is a dream for me.”
Siegel’s involvement in YCRS was a godsend—a man with money and passion stepping up to invest time and effort in a product he believes in. Not only will more students be exposed to YCRS, but future possibilities for this company are practically limitless with the team we have in place. We have become a Motorcycle Safety Foundation-recognized Tier Three school and have caught the eye of other large groups. We’re doing street-riding clinics in Colorado, plus Indianapolis Motor Speedway presentations, and dealership clinics. The future is more than bright.
Although Siegel has helped many racers financially from the shadows of anonymity, everyone involved in YCRS, from the management or student side, needs to tip their helmets to this man. One rider’s passion will now affect thousands of riders. Josh Siegel has made YCRS2 happen. He used money for something. Thank you, my friend.
(Action photo by: theSBImage.com)
More next Tuesday!
And remember: If you have somebody to thank in this great sport of ours, do so in the comments box below, and be sure to tell us why.