A chat with TT Pro racer Shane Hitt
By Stephani McIntyre
November
9, 2004 – If there's one thing that you will come away learning
about last season's TT Pro Class Champion Shane "Dog" Hitt after meeting him,
he's a pretty straight-forward guy. Often misconstrued as a bit brash, in fact
he's a pretty nice guy who likes to laugh and have fun.
ATVAonline: So, why do they call you ‘Dog?'
Shane Hitt: It's just a nickname my dad gave me when I was little. He had a friend and his name was Shane, and they all called him "dog" and I guess I just kind of got attached to it somehow.
ATVAonline: When did you do your first TT race?
Hitt: It had come about in 1988, I think, and it was at a track called Dream Mountain in West Virginia. It was funny because we would show up at this track and all they would race were three- and four-wheelers. They would get like a hundred of them. And first thing in the morning they'd do an hour and a half cross country, then they would do a TT and then a motocross all in the same day. I'd use the same bike and run all three.
ATVAonline: When you jumped into the GNC series in 1989 you went Pro-Am?
Hitt: The very first year I rode the "A" class on a two-stroke and the Pro-Am four-stroke class.
ATVAonline: Did you ever think you could make a living racing?
Hitt:
No, the factories had pulled out. The very first ATV race that I ever went to
watch was in Columbus, Ohio, at the state fairgrounds. And that was the last
year that they actually had factory teams. Jimmy White was riding for Kawasaki.
I still laugh about it, you know. The first race I went to was the last year
for the factory riders and Jimmy White got in a big argument and they kicked
him out. You know he's one of my sponsors now.
ATVAonline: How do you feel about how the sport has evolved over the years?
Hitt: Well, over the years, up until the last couple years, the sport just kind of stayed the same and for a few years it dropped off a little bit and then it started to pick back up again. But there was never a huge change. The same companies kept it going. So that's all we knew. But in the last few years I got pretty well known and then Timmy (Farr) got hurt a couple years ago when he was testing the new four-wheeler for Honda and they called me to do a little bit for them. They just took me out to a track and I thought I was going to see a 400EX. And there was a 450 and I was like, "Whoa, dude, this is going to change everything."
ATVAonline: So you had to keep it a secret.
Hitt: Oh yeah, that was top secret. Nobody knew about it. I mean, Timmy knew and we had to keep that thing a secret forever it was like, "God, I wish they would hurry up and get that thing on the showroom floor, it's driving me crazy.'" (laughs)
ATVAonline: Why do you think you have what it takes to win at TT racing?
Hitt: I think a lot of it is bike setup. You've got to be able to make the bike work. When you look at me and Timmy Farr, we watch the track and we'll change the bike two or three times (change shocks and pipes and gearing) and never even go out on the track. I'll go back to the trailer and say, "Curtis (Sparks) we need to change the pipe or carburetor," and I'll go back up and watch another race and then come back down and say, "Oh, now we've got to change it back." (laughs) You've got to race the race track. A lot guys will just ride and won't know what to change to make it better.
ATVAonline: Does that knowledge just come with experience?
Hitt: Experience is pretty much everything. That's the one thing you can't buy.
ATVAonline: Last year was your first undefeated season. How did that make you feel?
Hitt: It was pretty good. I knew that Danville (West Virginia) was going to be the hardest because it's a little track and it's rough. I thought if I could get through the next race at Elizabeth City (North Carolina) I thought that I could win there. I was pretty confident about that. And then I was coming into Ohio, which I figured I would have had to race Timmy Farr. But then he decided not to ride the Pro class. Then we went to that new track in Arkansas (Twin Creeks Raceway) and everybody was saying all year long: "Wait till you come to Arkansas. You can't win there. These guys down there, they're going to smoke you." So I went down there and won my heat race in the fast qualifier by, like, four or five seconds. And they said that was the fastest lap times anyone has ever turned, and I did it in the daytime. That was one of the best wins for me that year because everyone was saying there's no way you can win there.
ATVAonline: What would you consider your most memorable race or championship?
Hitt: Probably the most memorable was 1997 when the series was still together and I won both championships: motocross and TT. After that, they are all pretty memorable and there's a lot of really good races that stick out. Some of them are the TT races that Timmy and I have had. I passed Timmy in a race one time on the last lap in the last corner. I beat him by like an inch to the finish line after he led the whole race.
ATVAonline: Do you have any fears?
Hitt:
Heck yeah, I have some fears. This (injured) ankle may never get better.
(laughs) That's about my only fear right now. Well, I'm always nervous when
you're sitting on the line and you've got to go into that first corner with
20 guys. Yeah, that does scare me. But if you use good common sense, and most
of the guys do, then usually we don't have too many pile ups.
ATVAonline: Anything your fans may or may not know about you?
Hitt: I think a lot of people that don't know me really well might think I'm kind of a jerk. But usually I'm just joking around. It's a shame. I'm hardly ever serious, and having fun most of time. That's why we go to the races, to have fun. We're definitely not going to get rich. (laughs)