Obviously you haven’t listened to any of my almost 400 shows the past 6 years. I’ve been adamant about safety in our sport and have had numerous guests on the show specifically to talk about it. Hell, last week I did an entire segment on Baja and how Score, the racers, and the people of Mexico all need to do better. Specifically talking about UTV’s, the UTV community is their own worst enemy. Garbage seats, sub par steering wheels (this is a safety issue as the cheap ones break), garbage safety harnesses, no flameout systems, and lackluster fabrication skills. Don’t even get me started on the garbage $300 helmets, the single layer fire suits, no nomex underwear, and not proper driving shoes and gloves. The UTV industry is notoriously cheap, and no amount of education will convince a guy on a shoestring budget to spend his last $2,000 on 3 layer suit and quality helmet when his UTV needs a new set of axles and a few belts.
For that matter, in regards to Branden Sims, I have done my best to publicize him and allow him to tell his story. We have the largest motorsports show of any kind in the country online (check iTunes), and talk UTV’s to 700 AM/FM networks in 177 countries globally and have had Mr. Sims on the show countless times, and he knows he is more than welcome any time he wants to come on.
As far as “community”, I have been fortunate enough to travel this country from one coast to the other interacting with the UTV community and I have been welcome with open arms regardless of whether I was in Washington, California, Wisconsin, Maine, or Pennsylvania. It’s very unfortunate that you have had bad experiences with the amazing family of UTV enthusiasts that I have been able to meet across this country. Safety in off-road, even at the Trophy Truck level has always been questionable. There is always room for improvement, but if you look at where we are now vs a decade ago, I think that our sport is in a much better place. Do we have a long way to go? Yes, but to downplay how far we have come would be selling the entire sport of off-road short.