A conversation with Duncan Racing's Loren Duncan

Loren Duncan is the president of Duncan Racing International, Inc. the worldwide supplier of Paul Turner Racing Products. Over the last 2 decades Duncan Racing has enjoyed the most successful racing record in the ATV industry! Check this out, Duncan Racing has won over 350 National and International events, including 30 Pro Championships in GNC, GNCC, Desert and Stadium racing. Over 15 European Championships, 5 Pont De Vaux titles and over 100 amateur titles worldwide. In 2000 Travis Spader won the GNC 250 Pro Title, Bryan Shipley won the GNC Open Pro Am Title, Doug Eichner & Paul Winrow won Pont De Vaux , plus Duncan Racing had 2 riders in the top 4 in GNCC (Chad Duval and Matt Smiley). They also won 2 SCORE Desert overall titles and was runner up in the Best in the Desert Championship. To add to this incredible list of accomplishments, Duncan Racing was named ATV Sports Peoples Choice GNC “Engine Builder of the Year” and “Race Team of the Year”. 

ATV Scene: Duncan Racing is and always has been extremely involved in the racing end of the sport. Who and what are you spending time and money on for 2001?
Duncan: For 2001 we have made a few changes. On the racing front our National Team will consist of; Ben Jackson (Pro), Tavis Cain (250 A/250 Pro-Am) and Chad Lohr (Open Pro Am) in the GNC series. As for GNCC racing Matt Smiley (Pro), Brad Page (Pro) and Robin Page (Open A). At the GNCCs we will be working with Team Safari For desert racing it will be Doug Eichner and John Gregory in SCORE and Best in the Desert.

North Carolina's Chad Lohr

We're very involved in ATV racing overseas as well. In Europe we will continue to work with ATV World (formally Philip Charles Leisure). The main riders over there will be Paul Winrow and John Mitchell.  

We have also started a support team, (which was launched at the GNCC awards banquet). It's geared towards helping the ATV racer who is usually over looked by most sponsors. The team will be directed by my brother Leonard Duncan. We'll offer each rider a support package (banner, decals, shirt etc.) plus discounts on Duncan Products and a variety of other DR suppliers like Roll, IMS, Tag Metals etc. Riders accepted to the team will also receive special tech support and on site support at selected racing events. Resumes are still being accepted. Send to Duncan Racing International Attn: 2001 ATV Support Team.

Benny, Lenny and Dougy

ATV Scene: We’re looking at Travis Spader’s record while racing the last 3 years for the Duncan/ Roll/ Golden West team. Out of 54 GNC Pro and Open Pro-Am races he’s won 23 and only recorded 2 DNF’s! That is probably the best win percentage record of all ATV racing teams past and present. With that, why in the world would Duncan Racing not have Travis back in 2001?
Duncan: Good question. It definitely wasn’t our desire to have him leave the team. Unfortunately, there were some contributing factors that we could not control. To start, in 2000 we ran over budget with some of the team’s expenses, which Duncan Racing covered. Secondly, for the 2001 season Travis wanted to make a certain amount of money from the team, a bit more than 2000. We were OK with Travis wanting to get more money. We just had to find the additional funds. The money could not come from our title sponsors, they were already giving all they could to make up the 2000 deficit and get Travis what he wanted without compromising the integrity of the team. What I mean by this is, we have a very long relationship with the majority of our sponsors. We sell their products exclusively in most cases. We needed to find sponsors that did not conflict with our current ones that were willing to put up the funds necessary. It would have been reasonably easy for me to replace Roll Design or ITP for one of their competitors that would have given us the necessary monies required to meet our financial needs. But that is not what we are about, that's a sell out tactic. People always say to just get an outside sponsor to cover the cost. Sounds easy enough, but it's not. We tried very hard; Travis made a very professional proposal, which he sent to over 100 potential outside sponsors with no results. Myself, Doug Roll, Scott Wright, Craig Peterson, worked very hard to make this work. I even had Marty Hart working on a deal for us. But no deals came through that worked with our existing program.On top of all of this my father-in-law passed away very unexpectedly leaving many personal issues requiring a large portion of my time.

So at the end of the day, unfortunately it just worked out where the best way for everyone to proceed was for Travis to go and do his own thing.

ATV Scene: What was the deal Travis got for the last three years?
Duncan: He had a full factory ride without the large salary. The team paid all of his racing expenses. The team owned, supplied and maintained all the bikes, tools, parts, transport vehicles etc. Travis was supplied a practice bike and his main job for the team was to train and practice for the GNCs. He also received a minor salary paid on a per event basis. He got to keep all his winnings from the track and point's funds. He could negotiate and keep all monies for his personal sponsorships (apparel, helmet, clothing etc.) He also was paid race win and championship bonus from some of the sponsors of the team. Granted, he was never going to get rich, but it was a nice supplemental income.

photo by: Eric Putter Travis and Loren at Ashtabula. Both are very much alike in that they both pay close attention to detail, (a must for winning races). Travis is seen here dressed to pay homage to old school racers while at Legends 2000.

ATV Scene: All the thousands of people that see Travis win on Duncan Racing products, c-mon that has to equal big business for you guys. Wouldn’t it be worth it to pay him what he wanted in return for that number one plate and all the paying customers that would want to run what the champion uses?
Duncan: NO. With no disrespect to Travis. That wouldn’t have been the right decision for Duncan Racing. Buying the rider or racing in our ads has never been our style. We race because we enjoy racing. But if we stopped completely we might loose some business but we would also save a lot of time and money. With the GNC factory team we were spending just about all the time and money on that area that we could justify, so spending more was not a good business decision. Keep in mind that the GNC allows for less than 5% of our business. Furthermore, racing in general is less that 50%. Look in the magazines and you'll see a lot of companies that are a lot bigger than ours talking about racing this and racing that. Anyone that truly follows the sport of ATV racing knows that most of their ads are ridiculous. They wouldn’t know an ATV race if it bit them.Our company is very guarded with its integrity. Our customers know this. They know that they can still receive the same products and services that top riders like Spader, Eichner or Jackson have and or will use. People have never come to our company to do business because of one rider. (With the possible exception of Marty Hart). Travis will run the #1 plate in 2001. But in 2000 the #1 plate was earned by a combination of hard work by Travis, his mechanic Paul Turner, the people who work at Duncan Racing, Roll Design, Axis, Douglas Wheel, Hinson etc. It was a total group effort.

ATV Scene: Are there any hard feelings with the situation? Are you still friends?
Duncan: No, I don’t think there are any hard feelings. It was basically just a business deal that didn’t work out the way we all wanted it too. I don’t fault Travis for wanting to make more money. He deserves a lot more that he is getting. All the top riders like Spader, Farr, Gust should be able to make a good living at this sport. But unfortunately it does not work that way. Duncan Racing didn’t make the rules. I think we put more into ATV racing worldwide that anyone does. We just were not going to be the ones to pay him. We felt we did our part by supplying the highest quality race machine in the world for him to ride. I think he knows this and I’m sure he’s frustrated with it. I know that I always treated him with the utmost in professionalism and respect, and when I see him face to face I will shake his hand and always be able to look him in the eye.

ATV Scene: Where do you think Travis will go from here?
Duncan: I'm not sure. I would imagine he will try to race with his own program. Using sponsors that fit his financial needs.

ATV Scene: While we're on the subject, Why do you think it is so difficult to field an ATV race team?
Duncan: Simple, the problem is funding, just like all other motor sports that have successful racing teams. The race team should stand alone and be operated as a separated business with its own location, full time employees etc. We were trying to work into this with our team, but for 2001 we will have to keep it on hold and possibly pick up the factory type team again in 2002. All of the DR 2001 team riders will be riding their own bikes this year.

ATV Scene: What about the other number one Duncan rider, (in the Open Pro/Am class), Bryan Shipley? Is he in the program for 2001?
Duncan: No Mr. Shipley has retired from full time ATV racing. We loved being involved with Bryan. He is a class individual. On a separate but similar note we lost another rider to retirement. GNCC #3 Chad Duval has also retired from full-time GNCC competition to concentrate on his son's racing. Chad was with us for 5 years and won over a dozen GNCC Nationals. Duncan Racing would like to thank both Bryan and Chad for their loyalty and support and wish them all the best in the future.

Travis Spader dominated the 2000 racing season with Duncan Racing as his main sponsor.

ATV Scene: Any parting words?
Duncan: I would like to thank Travis Spader for the 3 Championships (1-GNC 250 Pro, 2-GNC Open Pro-Am) that he won while riding for our team. I also wish him all the luck with his impending marriage to Amy. I would also like to thank the following people for their outstanding effort and support for an excellent season in 2000; Paul Turner, Doug Roll, Leonard Duncan, Mike Hallock, Craig Peterson plus Roll Design, Golden West, IMS, Hinson Racing, Douglas Wheel, ITP, Tsubaki, Maxima, Motion Pro, Braking, Outerwears, Sunstar, Tag Metals, One Industries.

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