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Features
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The Living ATV legend - Garry Denton
Nov 18, 2005
Words by Cassandra Clawson
When we were young, we dreamed big. None of us wanted normal jobs, we wanted to be astronauts, heroic firemen, or be the best first baseman baseball has ever witnessed. For a kid named Gary Denton, his dream was to be the greatest racer ever. While most of us settled for lesser dreams as we aged, Gary held true to his big dream and became an eight-time Grand National Motocross ATV champion-a feat no other racer in our sport has come close to achieving.
Denton entered his first dirt bike race at the age of 14 and won. He realized his knack for riding, practiced hard, and continued to race and to win. He worked up to 100cc bikes and then eventually 125cc bikes. He received the honor of "Top Privateer" in 1982.
After dedicating 11 years to the extremely competitive world of dirt bike racing, Denton made the leap from two wheels to four in 1985 with the help of Harry Klemm, a renowned engine builder. Klemm recognized Denton's riding talent and offered him the chance to get in on the ground floor of the newest form of racing. Denton's first quad race took place at Corona Raceway in California, and he placed a respectable third. "Two weeks later," Denton said, "I rode the same quad again in the morning and raced it that night and I won." The quad bug had officially bitten Denton.
The decision to switch from dirt bikes to quads was an easy one. To be competitive in dirt bikes, a racer needed a ton of money or factory support. ATV racing, in its infancy, was a fresh discipline that every racer on the starting line had equal chance to dominate. Well, to be more exact, every racer had a chance to win, unless Gary Denton was on the gate.
Denton approached Suzuki in 1985 to help with his new race effort, but at the time the company didn't have a program in place for quad racing. So, Denton searched out other means to support his four-wheel career. "I met with an old friend named Terry Varner and he came into a bunch of money. He was going to buy a motorcycle and sponsor a racer. I said, 'You ought to buy this Suzuki quad. I think I can win.' Varner said, 'Man, I know how to build motors. Yeah, let's do it.' So we did it, and we became 'the team.'" The team lasted one year, and then Suzuki put together a race effort and put Denton on their roster.
Suzuki sent Denton to compete for the National ATV title. "That was the first year of the title. I think it was a seven-race series, and I won three races that year, but I broke down in three, too. So, needless to say, I didn't win the title." Suzuki's full factory team of 1987 turned out to be the short-lived golden days of quad racing. Everything seemed to be in place to make Denton's dreams of being a factory-supported racer come true, but the Suzuki team had to disband after that initial season. "There were legal issues with the three-wheeler thing," recalled Denton, "and the lawyers said we couldn't have teams. So, Suzuki had to back out." Denton was back at square one as a privateer racer. Through the relationships he forged with all his sponsors, and his undeniable racing talent, he was able to continue making a living riding fast.
The sport thrived, despite being neglected by factories, thanks to dedicated aftermarket companies. Denton, with the help of his sponsors, won the national title in 1987 straight through 1994. He was a well-oiled winning machine. It seemed simple for him to line up at the starting gate and dominate a race. "Winning never gets boring, because none of it was easy," he recalled. "I had to train and ride. A lot of people probably thought it was easy, but it wasn't."
Though he no longer competes, Denton is still active in quad racing. He supports racers through Denton Racing, his own bike and quad parts company, and Weekend Warrior trailers, where he is the Director of Sales. Every now and then, he shows up at a National. "Do I ever get the itch to go to a race and show the guys how it's done? You know, I do think that. And then I realize that I don't ride or train, so it's wishful thinking. I believe that I could still be competitive, but I'm older now, and my days are my days and their days are their days now. I think as racers, deep down inside we all feel like we could still win."
For those of us who didn't accomplish our childhood dreams, we can live vicariously through Gary Denton. What is it like to be the greatest quad racer ever? "It was awesome," he said. "It was everything. It was every dream I had come true: national titles, magazines interviews, TV spots, making a living, and making great money. The euphoria was awesome. There's nothing like winning and doing what you like for a living. It's the most fun I've ever had."
Pull quote: "Winning never gets boring, because none of it was easy."
Racing photos caption:
Suzuki ran ads in the mid-1980s to tout Denton's many victories. Denton quickly became a legend and an idol for a generation of racers and race fans. "The secret to success," he told us, "is that you have to have well-rounded talents. You've got to have physical conditioning, you have to have drive, desire, a good team of mechanics, good machinery, you have to know when to back off and not let a guy take you out. And you have to have good starts. I think my biggest asset was I had more desire to win than abilities."
Portrait captions:
"I would lie in bed at night and think, 'Wow, that'd be cool' when I was a little guy, dreaming about being a professional racer."
"I don't think winning that many championships in a row was all that good for the sport or probably all that healthy for me at the end, either, because I think it makes you a little bit complacent in your day-to-day life."
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