Brian Fry 5-7-01
- Updated: May 7, 2001
ATV Scene: How did you get started in ATV racing?
Fry: I had a motocross background with bikes. I later raced three-wheelers for a while, but they weren’t very good for me. I had a lot of blown motors and didn’t have that much fun on them. A friend of mine let me try out his brand new 4-wheeler, the 1985 Suzuki LT250R Quad Racer. That’s all it took, I was hooked. I sold the three wheeler and got a quad of my own and started racing the Golden State Series and Trans-Cal Series.
ATV Scene: You were big into the Speedway scene weren’t you?
Fry: A lot of people remember me for that because it was always on television and got a lot of coverage. Don’t get me wrong it was a blast pitching it sideways at 60 mph, but my true love was and still is motocross. I love the big jumps and rough terrain.
ATV Scene: How did you get the nickname “Animal”?
Fry: Denton gave me that name. He was finessing his way through a whoop section at Ascot one day. He was trying to bunny hop and time the bumps. I came flying through there wide-open and passed him like he was sitting still. He came over to me afterwards and said I was a complete animal in the whoops. That Monday I called my sponsor AXO and told them to put “Animal” on the ass of my leathers. I wanted to mess with his head a little – (laughing).
ATV Scene: How did you get involved with Suzuki?
Fry: I instantly did good on the Quad Racer right from the start. I won a lot of races right from the get go. In only two months of racing quads, I had almost twenty sponsors signed on with me, and I didn’t go after any of them. The aftermarket companies and manufacturers alike were hungry for quad racers at the time. Most of the industry is in California, so I was in the right place a the right time. I knew then the sport was really going to take off big, and it did. Denton and I were the first two to get hooked up with Suzuki in ’86. We didn’t get a full factory ride, but they gave us quads, parts and traveling expenses.
I did it all, drove to the events, wrenched on my stuff and raced just about every single weekend. I followed the AATVA Grand National Championship Series with Barry Calperas and Greg Clark from Arizona. I had some bad luck at a couple of the rounds that really hurt me in total points, but I still ended up 5th overall for the year in the pro class.
ATV Scene: Not bad at all considering all the talent. Earning fifth overall in a series with names like Denton, Hart, Gentry, Banks, McCarty, Turk, Burman and many more is pretty darn successful. Why were you not asked to be a part of the full on Suzuki team in ’87?
Fry: They originally took three riders. Denton was hands down their top guy, because he won the championship and showed great results. To my shock, they picked Jim Putman and Jeff Watts over me. I didn’t understand the theory behind it, but I’m thinking it was a friendship thing rather than a business choice. Chuck DeRan was in charge of a lot of R&D at Suzuki. I know those guys did a lot of testing with him. Chuck happened to be the guy that got put in charge of managing the new race team. My results showed that I competed in more races and did better at the races than those two, but like I said I think it was a friendship decision. I think they made a really bad choice.
AC Racing went through 1.3 million pounds of aluminum last year alone! Brian Fry is a credit to much of the company’s success.
ATV Scene: Is that what made you switch to Honda?
Fry: Absolutely. I figured if they were going to make me race privateer, I was going to beat them on a different brand bike than theirs. I rode an ’87 R and an ’87 Quad Racer 500 in the Open Pro class, but it was tough without any help. I was a full time ATV racer but didn’t have rich parents footing the bills or anything. I ended up quitting racing in 1988 and went to work finishing concrete with my dad. ATV racing was great from ’85 to ’87. There was a ton of money in the sport and everything looked so promising. Purses and contingencies made it possible to tackle the sport as a career. In ’86 I made $43,000 from racing a quad as a privateer. I was still winning races in ’88 and I had a 40-hour a week job to help, but I was still in the hole and couldn’t make any money at it. It was disappointing to go from one extreme to the other. It’s like having a great job, then all the sudden the boss comes over and tells you that you can still work for them next year but they’re not going to pay you at all for all your hard work. Here I was in what was probably my prime and had to quit.
ATV Scene: Is it true you’re the guy who invented nerf nets?
Fry: Yeah actually that is true. I was riding for Graydon Proline, and GSM (who made some aluminum products as well as tie downs). So the webbing and the tube bending was available. We showed up at Ascot Park in ’85. Of course I heard all the comments like, “What are you doing? Trying to get more air off the doubles”, “Those nerf bars are dumb looking, are you trying to make quads look stupid?” I didn’t care. I didn’t want to get my leg caught in the nerf bar. I wasn’t looking to launch a new business from the idea. I only wanted to improve my racing program and give some input to my sponsor Graydon Proline.
ATV Scene: How did you get involved with AC Racing?
Fry: I had crashed on a dirt bike and ended up having surgery on both of my knees. My disability insurance ran out while I was still in a wheelchair. I had to do something fast. Mike Mead, the owner of AC hooked me up. I later worked my way to the Marketing Manager.
ATV Scene: Where do you see the sport of ATV racing going in the future?
Fry: I think the new promoter’s group is great for the sport. It looks like finally people will know when a National ATV race is coming to their hometown. I hear television is on the way too — things look great for the sport. Entries are way higher than they have ever been.
ATV Scene: Do you think we’ll see factory teams again?
Fry: Hard to say. The question is, what is a stock quad going to do up against a $15 to $20,000 Laeger/LoneStar/Roll aftermarket racer? I don’t know if there is anything in it for them. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not sure they would dump a bunch of cash into a market that they cant keep up with as it is. So I’m thinking it will be up to the promoters and aftermarket companies to keep it going.
ATV Scene: Any parting words?
Fry: No hard feelings at all here. I had a blast racing quads and now I’m having fun with my sons Kyle and Blake’s quad racing. I’m tricking out Kyle’s LEM quad and getting him ready for the GNCs when he turns 6 next year.
