I have been involved with the club since the beginning of time and yes that makes me old but not as old as dirt and that’s where we begin DIRT.

A bit of history on me:

I have been PMA president/ vice president/secretary/treasurer and Taylor President/vice/secretary/treasurer.

And so it begins:

Jack Philpot started the Yamaha Cup series in 1978, with 2 races in GP and 2 races in FSJ.

Jack Philpot approached the District of Taylor around the same time and that began the history of the Taylor track.

Bill Miller was the president, along with my Dad, Al Lewis, Evertt Clark, Bob Reid, Stan Donald.

Taylor track is still the only remaining original track within the PMA and that is thanks to the hard work of all our dedicated volunteers and rides.

The PMA started back in 1979.

The PMA was started as a vision for LOCAL riders who could not travel out of the area to compete at a high level. It didn’t take long for other big clubs like the CMRC, etc to want us into their reign.

I remember having the CMRC come to Taylor begging us to join to they could get larger numbers, but year after year the PMA has shown other clubs that we are a strong family. And that is the key FAMILY.

Over the years we all have met new friends, camp out,  kids find new friends, and that was the direction this club was build.

In 1984, tragedy struck so many of us when we lost our sons/ brothers/friends in a horrific avalanche, it sent shock through us all.

Myles Reid and Brian Donald best buddies since they first met had lost their lives hence this is when the Donald and Reid family started the Most sportsmanship trophy for big wheel and small wheel. To know those crazy boys was a special gift to us and let me tell you they LOVED speed, LOVED helping out their buddies and even strangers and I know if they were alive today you would still see them at the track.

I remember back when Prince George wanted to join in(that was the first of a few times) but the one young guy was mad he was going to have a race a girl, yup Shelly Shaman. Well Shelly gets up to the starting line and never looked back, her picture makes the front page of the Prince George paper and the “guy” did come up to Shelly after the race and told her she had a great race.

Times have changed now the ladies/girls classes are huge which excites me so much.

We have had many great riders come out of this area that were fortunate to travel – Scriba boys, Aaron Hommy/Cole Lewis/Russ Fraser/Matt Rowe/Sean Etzera/Rob Furhiman/Brock Leitner/Jesse Dyer/Clayton Dyer/Shaw Berg/Drew Clegg/Cal Boetcher/Greg Morton/Kevin Fraser/Rod Lewis and I could go on. But how can we forget those Dead horse racing boys what a crew that was, or the Hines Creek Banquets.

The PMA is for all riders and it needs to be kept that way, from the little mini dudes that are the most important riders out there as they are the future to ensure that the PMA stays strong.

We have a history here in the PMA and we all should be proud and keep it going, I always would say its for the kids and that is the way it should stay.

 

All of you here tonight should be proud, your ability to get on a bike every race weekend and show off your skills, all of you that volunteer no one would be here today if it wasn’t for you. The flaggers that have the worst yet most important job of the day, you are so appreciated. The Moms and Dads that travel for miles to get your child to a race I so admire you.

I hauled Cole’s ass all over the place for him to live out his passion and I wouldn’t change a thing, PMA truly keeps the family going.

 

Bless you all.

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Joan Lewis