Traveling man
Life for Joe Kopp is a constant balancing act. On one side is how he makes a living: straddling flat-track racing motorcycles that rocket him around dirt racetracks across the country.
Opposite that is a young man from down the road in Mica, who tries to inject some equilibrium into career and family.
The recent cancellation of an American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) race in Davenport, Iowa, gave Kopp an unscheduled weekend off and more time to spend with wife, Dee Dee, and sons Garrett (11) and Kody (2 1/2).
Had this been last year the Kopp clan might have been experiencing family time cooped up in a motor home in the Midwest as opposed to the greenery of their backyard with it’s gateway to Mica Peak
“Coming home for 10 days has been kind of nice,” Kopp said of the break that came before last Saturday’s event at Joliet, Ill. That race began a string of 11 straight weeks on the road chasing what has become another elusive AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship.
“Last summer me and the wife and the kids traveled around in the motor home all season,” said the 38-year-old. “We left home the middle of May and didn’t get back home until mid-September.”
This year the Kopps might spend two or three weeks on the road together at most.
The geography of AMA Flat Track racing requires Kopp to be one of racing’s ultimate road warriors.
“I’m one of the few guys who does the circuit who lives up in the Northwest away from every racetrack there is,” Kopp explained. With a huge percentage of riders from the Midwest, “for them a long trip to the racetrack is six hours.” For Kopp, the closest one is around 32 hours, if you throw out Castle Rock north of Portland.
“It was kind of a chore all summer long to say the least,” said Kopp. Enough so that he decided to spend more time in the air this year in order to have extra time with the family. “I’ve been flying (home) pretty much every week.”
“Whether I’m home for two or three days or four or five days. It’s just nice to be home versus being on the road,” Kopp said.
In fact, if there’s anything that’s going to persuade Kopp to quit racing one of these days it’s more the travel than the danger of the profession.
“It’s definitely a dangerous sport,” Kopp said. “My first full season was 1996. Since then I’ve seen six guys I competed with that died in this sport. I was at the track each time. It’s just one of them deals. You don’t want to see that stuff.”
Unlike other types of racing, flat-track motorcycles have no roll cages or fenders. “Just a helmet and good leather,” Kopp said. “You really have to trust your partners.”
Kopp said he likes to have veterans out there riding with him. “When I was younger, a bachelor and just kind of roaming the country, there was no problem racing anybody who wanted to put a wheel against you,” he said.
Now, with a couple of kids, a wife, a family, “it changes things. I want to be safe and get back here on Sunday or Monday and be with them,” Kopp said. “I don’t take the risks I used to. I still take the risks, but I’m more careful.”
Speeds on mile tracks hit 140 mph on straights and 105 to 110 on half-mile tracks. And despite life on the edge, Kopp is driven by the thought of repeating at least one more time as AMA’s top dirt tracker. “We’re going to do our best to get that dang number one plate back on the bike,” Kopp said.
As one of a handful of older riders – multitime champ Chris Carr just turned 40 – Kopp knows his days to be on top of his game are somewhat numbered.
But that’s OK as Kopp has no desire to push his boys into the sport, maybe because he wasn’t either.
“My cousins Lon and Rob and I would get home from school, and within minutes we would be out the door and on the trails riding,” Kopp said.
Kopp dabbled in national event competition starting in 1994. He recovered from a broken pelvis just in time to finish second at a Tourist Trophy event (a short track that has a jog in it) in Castle Rock, Wash., and get a huge boost of confidence.
The next six seasons were a slow progression to the top where he finally captured the AMA national title in 2000, the same year he got married.
The time since then has been a mixed bag of success for Kopp with a runnerup points finish in 2004 and three third-place finishes.
The competition has flat got tougher, according to Kopp. “Last year I won my first race in Greenville, Ohio and I was the tenth different winner in an 11-race span.” That’s the way it is this year. “We didn’t have a repeat winner. It’s going to be a tough year as usual,” Kopp predicted.
Eighth in Twins points and 13th in Singles after two events in each class in 2007, Kopp has plenty of time to make a run. (In 2006 AMA split the Grand National Division into two classes, Twins and Singles. Twins are the Harley Davidsons that had dominated competition for years. Honda and KTM are the prime manufacturers in the Singles class. They desired their own division in order to be more competitive against the more powerful Harleys.)
Kopp thinks he’s finally adjusted to the biggest change in recent AMA Flat Track racing, the split of Twins and Singles classes in 2006. “This year since I’ve stepped up my Singles program it’s helped the Twins,” Kopp said
But his real goal this year is to spend more time with his young family.
“I see what I’ve lost,” Kopp said. “I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done. But you lose a lot of childhood summers.”
Such as going to a parade instead of a race in the middle of Kansas.
“Definitely, I want them to ride motorcycles,” Kopp said. “We can go trail ride. I would rather go trail riding up on Mica Peak than go to the racetrack and pull my hair out worrying about them. I know the risks I’ve taken in racing and I just don’t want to see them do that.”
Kody Kopp is already pointed in a different direction and “is a fishing son-of-a-gun,” said his dad. “He is always wanting to go down to our pond.”
This year Joe Kopp will likely be able to help his youngest son get hooked on a new family sport.