In racing there are thousands of components and areas that need to have to execute and past whilst offering overall performance in adverse circumstances. In the sport of motocross and Supercross, wheels just take an enormous amount of abuse and can be the variation among profitable and getting rid of. John and Kristin Anderson started out Dubya Wheels practically 12 decades ago. Utilised by quite a few of the major teams in the field, they have tested their ability to hold up to the demands. John Anderson took some time to explain to us how Dubya Usa came to be.

        For the whole interview, check out out the YouTube movie right below. If you happen to be fascinated in the condensed written version, scroll down just a little bit more.

Jamie Guida – Essential MX: John, how did you get concerned in the motorcycle field? 

John Anderson: Like quite a few of us in this industry, we all began out as riders and then became racers. My dad took me using and then I bought into racing. Regretably, the downside of the activity is accidents. No pity celebration or nearly anything like that here. But I acquired hurt a lot. I was just a racer and then labored my way into the business, I guess.

Vital MX: When you were racing, how far did you get it?

John: It is really amusing, I did rather first rate. I did a ton of the night racing scene. We did Ascot Park and then we did OCIR on Thursday night time, Corona on a Friday and then Saddleback on Saturday and Sunday. I basically labored my way up and became a respectable intermediate. I did switch into a area professional, if you will, did not have a great deal of success, but I acquired to race some little supercross stuff. I just cherished the activity and that is one particular factor that hasn’t modified in excess of the decades. 

Crucial MX: Was your to start with marketplace position with Tom White at White Bros.? 

John: Very well, in the marketplace, of course. Back again in the day when Cycle News was even now a print newspaper, they experienced a area in there for support required and that advertisement changed my everyday living. There was an ad for a pieces driver for White Brothers back again in 1985 and I went and crammed out an application. It can be mad man. But Tom White, he actually interviewed me and gave me a job for $5.50 an hour to be the elements driver. And I was stoked. I just couldn’t believe that it. I pulled out of the parking whole lot immediately after he claimed, “Okay, I’m heading to give you the occupation. We will attempt you out”. I recall pulling out of the parking ton and just on the lookout at the constructing and I explained to myself, “I won’t be able to frickin imagine it, man. I just bought a position at White Brothers”. And I never seemed back from there.

Crucial MX: For the more youthful men and women that never know, that is like a kid now going up to Professional Circuit or Star Yamaha and them getting the elements male job. White Brothers imagined four strokes ended up cool prior to four strokes were being amazing and they ended up famous.

John: It really was suitable. You are proper, a lot of the youthful generation most likely imagine, “White Brothers? What is actually that?” Today anyone is aware about Western Power Sporting activities, Components Limitless, and Tucker Rockys. Tom and his twin brother Dan, they started off White Brothers in the seventies. They made their have items, and they went on to turn out to be fairly a strong distributor. It turned into a massive business enterprise. It was an incredible business to perform for. Some astounding folks came out of that constructing. A pricey good friend of mine, Donnie Luce, who’s with Yamaha now, we worked with each other at White Brothers. He likes to refer to a whole lot of us that came out of that organization as, “Graduating from White Brothers University”. You can quite substantially go anyplace in our business enterprise and people today you will cross paths with have both reminiscences of White Brothers or worked there, like Bob Webber that owns 6D helmets. Things that Tom White taught us again then we now use in our personal company currently. It was an astounding organization. I do not know if there will at any time be another spot like it. I’d likely continue to be there if Tom was nevertheless the owner, you know?

Crucial MX: What are a few of your favored tales or issues you noticed by means of your a long time there? 

John: Highlights would be from a few of many years when we started out our very own race software. We did a whole lot of 4 stroke racing with Doug Dubach and a extremely superior buddy of mine who I was a mechanic for, Spud Walters. We did that for lots of decades. That would have been in the late ‘98, ‘99, 2000s, all the way up to via 2003. So all those had been very good periods for confident. Finding to journey all in excess of the region and racing bikes with Spud and our group. And then a couple of many years after that, anything I am extremely very pleased of, we grew to become the formal exhaust supplier for Factory Honda in the commencing of the fashionable four stroke period. Back again then we had Ricky Carmichael, Nathan Ramsey, we experienced Kevin Windham, and we also turned the factory exhaust provider for Yamaha. So, we had David Vuillemin, Chad Reed, and Tim Ferry. It was an amazing time.  

Important MX: Through that career you fulfill your spouse, Kristin White. Decades afterwards just after White Bros. is marketed you begin Dubya United states with her. What was that procedure like? 

John: Effectively, a good deal went on in that time frame. I’m a good amount older than my wife. So, in the commencing I worked there, I understood who Kristin was. She would just work aspect time on Saturdays and just after faculty and several, quite a few yrs later on she went on to do some amazing issues within just White Brothers. She was Tom’s suitable hand woman. When you happen to be all-around someone for so prolonged we finished up courting and we inevitably got married. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary, and we have two young ones, an 18-year-previous son Zane and our daughter is 17. But in 2001, Tom sold the organization. He was weary and he was kind of burned out. He marketed the business to an investment decision team and unfortunately these big company firms they have their own way of managing issues. And in this scenario I feel it really is risk-free to say that it was the mistaken way. I think inside five yrs the enterprise was long gone. I saw the folks that I work with have been leaving the organization, and I just failed to want to go out like that. I went out on my conditions. I went and labored for a organization that did all the Brembo brakes for Supermoto and a wheel business known as Marchesini, which is a mag wheel. That’s what I did for about four yrs and traveled all around the country and the globe for them like a brand name manager. The opportunity came up for us to start our own organization with Talon Hubs. The chance arrived up to fundamentally be the importer for them and matters have been receiving a very little little bit tough with the firm we labored for. So, we created the switch and lo and behold, Dubya was born. 

Important: And for those people that don’t know, Dubya is in tribute to Tom White.

John: Yeah. If any person asks me, “Hey, how did you arrive up with the identify for W?”. Dubya is a enjoy off the letter W from White. Because John and Kristin’s Wheel Enterprise is not quite interesting. It just isn’t going to have a actual very good twist. All people a long time of operate at White Brothers we had so many great interactions primarily based all-around the actuality that we worked there. We actually wanted to figure out a way to tie the two together. The symbol form of caught and we have not appeared back again due to the fact. 

Crucial MX: You’ve been in company almost 12 years. Was the upward trajectory of the firm reasonably constant?

John: As I talked about, when the option became offered for us to start importing Talon Hubs, White Brothers experienced been the importer for Talon, which is how they realized us. We ended up equipped to get a compact creating in Orange, California. We’re even now in the similar elaborate. We just expanded a tiny little bit and have a bigger site. Tom was kind enough to co-sign for us to get into the building. If there’s a profit of possessing so quite a few wonderful interactions and just doing this business enterprise for so prolonged it’s we were able to quickly  get a phone simply call answered, an email answered, or even some of the regional outlets and mail buy companies gave us a prospect. We are for good grateful for that. I believed in the item. I was not afraid to request a group to attempt it and see what they imagined, and they were receptive to that. In the beginning, Ronnie Renner, who a whole lot might know from accomplishing Step Up and all that, he was our 1st guy and we had neon orange powder coated spokes. And he did that Action-Up issue for Pink Bull on the Santa Monica Pier. It kind of took off from there. The subsequent point you know we were performing with the Deegans and Twitch, and all these unique freestyle athletes. The interesting thing about that is we however perform with most of people fellas to this working day. 

Crucial MX: While you create wheels for lots of of the leading teams and elite riders in the planet, you couldn’t have a small business that only catered to people teams. You also have many goods and traces to in shape quite a few budgets. 

John: That’s an excellent position, and I am glad you introduced that up. At the close of the working day, the dealers, our customers, we treat everybody the identical way. The wheels are all crafted the same way. A ton of periods in our manufacturing area our manufacturing team, they may well not know that they are setting up wheels for Jeremy McGrath or Jason Anderson or Jamie Guida. Or the dude that just goes out to the desert for the weekend acquiring pleasurable with his young children. It is quite essential. And we do appear at it like that. Those are the people, the sellers and those people consumers that truly maintain us in enterprise. Racing’s excellent to be concerned in and we are really grateful for that. But if all we did was count on racing to continue to keep us in company and maintain the lights on, we in all probability wouldn’t have created it incredibly significantly.

Critical MX: I want to end up with the subject of the Entire world Vet Motocross Championship which Dubya sponsors. The 38th annual party is coming up at Glen Helen and your father-in-legislation, Tom White, started out this. Why was he so passionate about this function in specific?

John: The vet race started as the White Brothers Vet Entire world Motocross Championships. Tom loved racing. It’s coming up on 5 many years because we misplaced Tom to most cancers, and we do it to honor his legacy. He beloved this occasion so much. Pre-COVID moments there had been 22 distinctive countries that attended this race and 31 various states below in America. Our motto is we just want most people on Sunday when they pack up to go home, they’re fatigued, they are sore. You know, they may be going for walks a tiny bit funny, but they had a hell of a fantastic time. And they got to practical experience an iconic racetrack in Glen Helen. 

Critical MX: This year it’s November 4th by way of the 6th. Each and every calendar year you have a guest of honor that comes out to the event, and you honor them. Why never you inform most people who this year’s is? 

John: It is termed the Edison Dye Life time Accomplishment Award. This is an award that Tom White established to figure out folks that have contributed to the activity of motocross, the accomplishments on the observe and whatnot. The likes of Rick Johnson and Roger DeCoster, Torsten Hollman, Brad Lackey, you name it. If you go on the site, you can see all these just legendary figures that have been inducted. Mitch Payton, we inducted him a pair of several years ago. Jody Weisel from Motocross Motion, who is a huge part has usually been a substantial aspect of Tom White’s lifestyle and undoubtedly a buddy of ours right now with Motocross Motion. This calendar year we’re genuinely stoked Jeremy McGrath is likely to receive that honor. He is pumped. His mom and father, Jack and Ann, are coming. Mitch Payton is likely to arrive and Jeremy’s heading to race. So which is really sweet. And this 12 months we are heading to do a very little bash Saturday night. 805 Beer is heading to sponsor it. It is really likely to be a small satisfy and greet. It truly is heading to be a good time. If people today want to know additional about the race go on Glenn Helen’s web page. It’s going to describe every little thing. It really is all there as much as exercise and the moto format and all that stuff.