Tracing the Bullet: a Brad Baker Profile Part 1

From the minute Brad Baker's giant, red F-350 arrives at the flat track in tiny Rainier, WA, the kids start flocking. They follow him on mini-bikes, bicycles, and on foot as he drives through the pits to the spot specially reserved for him. Climbing out of the truck, he signs autographs and pauses long enough to make each kid feel special. I've come to Rainier to spend the day with Baker, and it's immediately clear this is the place to see him in his element. It's July 2015 and this is the biggest race of the year at the Rainier track, and arguably the town's biggest event—of any kind.

Brad and I shake hands and get acquainted as he dives into the work of setting up his pit. He raises the easy-up, wheels bikes out of the trailer, hangs tees and sweatshirts for sale, and makes sure the Monster-sponsored cooler is stocked with ice and drinks for passersby. "It doesn't matter if it's Indy or Rainier; this is my job. I treat my job the same," he says as he crouches down to spin tire warmers on his bikes. This man is a worker. Over the course of the day about the only time I notice him stop moving is when he sits to eat a homemade sandwich.

Baker got his first bike, a PW50, at age 5. "My Dad saw it for sale on the side of the road and asked my brother Scott and I if we'd be interested in having a bike. We said yes and, a few days later, I remember Dad bringing it home on the chain deck of his log truck," Baker says. Not a typical kid attracted to the speed or the sound, Brad tells me what struck him most about the bike was the "control and responsibility" it demanded.

By high school Brad was running a full-time race program from his smart phone. “I’d woof down my lunch then spend the rest of the hour on the phone to sponsors. I’d take bathroom breaks just to send emails to sponsors,” he tells me. But with only 28 in his graduating class, it was impossible to hide his racing career. His sophomore year he turned Pro and by the end of the season won the Pro singles class championship, the stepping stone to the premier class. By his senior year, he elevated to the premier class of the Grand National Championship, where he earned the distinction of Rookie of the Year. He missed weeks of class, but took his education seriously and earned the trust of his teachers and principal. By completing his assignments ahead of time, and making up classes, he ended up graduating with over a 3.0 grade average.

Two years out of High School, in 2013, Baker became the Grand National Champion. With great humility and a sense of humor, he sums up the rest of his career: “Then in 2014 I got the offer to ride for the Harley factory, took it, and now here we are…a couple broken arms later.”

Back at the Rainier race, Baker finishes setting up his pit, then discovers one of his bikes has developed an oil leak. He has a little time before his first heat race, so he goes right to fixing the bike. It’s only a backup bike, but “there’s no reason to have a motorcycle here if it isn’t running,” he says.

In short order Brad’s brother, Scott Baker, arrives to help with the repair. Scott is also an AMA Pro flat track racer, and he too is here to race today. Scott and Brad’s original Pro numbers were 11 and 12 (Brad later earned the lifetime right to a single-digit number by winning the GNC championship and he now runs #6). Scott, besides being fast, is also a talented mechanic. As his high school senior project, he built the J&M framed race bike that Brad now owns and will race today. Nowadays, Scott works as a professional mechanic between racing. But today the oil leak proves unfixable with the tools the Bakers have on hand and the short timeframe. This bothers Brad; he blames himself. Even though it’s only a backup bike, to him the issue is being prepared.

Scott, more relaxed about things, ambles out of the race trailer to work on his own bike, and give Brad a little space. As he sets about swapping the rear sprocket, we chat about he and Brad’s dad, Kip Baker. “Dad was a racer, but more of a wheelie king. He always won the wheelie contest,” Scott says with a smile. Kip had been out of racing for a decade but, in the late 90’s, he went to watch the Pros when the AMA circuit made its annual stop at the TT track in nearby Castle Rock, WA (sadly, Castle Rock hasn’t been on the AMA calendar in recent years). That was all it took for Kip to get the bug again. He borrowed a bulldozer and “bladed out a track on the family farm land and Brad and I have been racing ever since,” says Scott.

The family track is still a big part of Brad’s world. He maintains it and is working to buy it from his Dad. Brad considers the track to be a significant factor in his success. “Jared Mees and I are about the only Pro riders with our own practice tracks,” Brad tells me. The track has even become a part of the Rainier track, literally. Danny Cooley, owner of the Rainier track, explains: “This place was originally built as a rodeo in the 1950’s, so the soil was loose and not great for flat track. The surface would break apart and we had a hard time getting it to last all day, so Brad trucked in dump truck loads of the good clay soil from his track. We had volunteer work parties, and the result has been a much better racing surface. Brad’s helped us out a lot,” Cooley says.

By now Brad and Scott are lining up for their heat races, and the steady stream of friends, relatives, and well-wishers dropping by the pit has tapered off. During the lull, I chat with Brad and Scott’s mom, Valerie. She goes on the road with Brad to almost all his races. She is a big part of what keeps Brad’s race business, Brad The Bullet, LLC, running smoothly. “When they started riding I never thought it would go this far,” she tells me. “But after a while, it just became clear this was their calling,” she says with a proud smile. Valerie is one of those heart of gold people who never stops smiling; she gives out a steady stream of hugs to the friends and family who stop by the pit. Most greet her with a “hey Mom!” or “how’s Mom doing today?” When people refer to flat track racing as the “flat track family,” people like Valerie are exactly who they have in mind.

Brad and Scott return to the pit from their (separate) heat races, where they each finished first. Always looking to improve, Brad remarks, “I didn’t get the greatest of starts, but it worked out.” Next up is the dash for cash race. There’s $150 for the winner, but you’d think it was $15k as Brad battles with fellow AMA Pro Brandon Robinson right down to the last turn of the last lap. With Robinson leading, Brad tries to charge past on the inside but Robinson hangs on to win by a wheel-length.

It’s a different story in Brad’s next race, the Pro Framer class. Brad wins handily on the J&M framed bike that Scott built for him back in high school. “The bike’s changed a lot since then,” Brad tells me. He is justifiably proud of all the hard work that he, Scott, and a host of others have put into the bike over the years. “Most people have no idea what it takes to bring a bike to this level,” he says. Later, I ask what his most prized possession is in life. It is this bike. As a close second, he names the Harley XR750 that Tony Dodge gave him for winning the 2013 Championship.

The evening wears into late night and, after a series of crashes and a rain delay, the main event finally arrives. It is a crash-heavy affair. First Brad crashes, then fights back to the front. Then he gets tangled up with Davis Fisher (a teenage phenom in AMA Pro) and spins out. Brad is effectively out of the running, until another group of riders crash causing a red flag and the race is restarted. Brad restarts second-to-last, but passes countless riders and ultimately manages to work up to a fifth place finish. Certainly respectable considering the tiny track affords few places to pass.

Back at their pit, Brad and Scott change out of their gear and plan their evening. I can tell Brad is happy to finally be able to relax for the day. It’s 11:30pm. Little do any of us know that two weeks later at his next AMA Pro race, Brad will suffer a broken leg. A rock thrown from another rider’s bike hits him just above his boot, punching a hole in his leg and snapping his tibia. This effectively ends his 2015 season.