Lifestyle Cycles Interviews Speedway Legend Shawn 'Mad Dog' McConnell

Junior here from Lifestyle Cycles, and once again, I'm sitting here in the presence of Shan "Mad Dog" McConnell, Speedway racing legend. Man, you know, first of all, how are you doing today, buddy?

It's a good day! You know, I feel pretty healthy. I woke up a little bit sore, but all in all, no complaints at all.

Well, Saturday night you did really well. It was exciting watching you! You didn't make the main, but man, you raced like crazy. You put on a great show, and best of all, you didn't go down.

Yeah, I didn't fall. It was mine to lose, and I lost it. I thought for sure there was a good chance to make the main, and I didn't do it.

You were that close! Actually fell short a little bit. Tell us about that maneuver you pulled off that I think only someone with your experience could have done. You were coming out of turn two, right in the middle of the whole pack, and suddenly, somehow you ducked down in between. You went down low and right through the pack. Do you remember that move?

Yeah, I saw a hole and thought, "Okay, this is the time to do it." I mean, I've seen a lot of holes in 50 years, so I think that experience probably got me through that.

That was a moment! I mean, I've watched a lot of Speedway races, and I thought for sure, "Okay, doomsday is upon us," and out of nowhere, it was like Shawn McConnell emerged from a cloud, and there you were, getting right out in front of everybody.

I think you won that race, right?

I don't remember. You know, when you're in that situation enough times, you kind of anticipate what the other guys are going to do. Okay, they did what I thought, so I remember he was going wide, so I stopped, came back, and there was somebody there, so I basically kind of pulled down on him to go where I wanted, and yeah, everything worked. Once you get in front of anybody, it's hard for them to pass you. They can go around me; I'll let them do that. But I'm not going to let you go under me. If you get underneath me, then I've really made a bad mistake.

So now, when you're talking about going underneath versus going around, obviously you're staying as close to the pipes as you can, unless you're trying to get some more speed. So how does that work?

Well, Costa Mesa has the track just changed. It's really oval now, and in the old days, it was more of a paper clip. You know, longer straightaways, so they narrowed it down. It was longer, and you turned sharper. The corners weren't always perfectly round. Now, the track's perfectly round, so everybody can ride it. It's an easy track to ride. Everybody can go fast on an easy track, so that makes it that much harder for us to pass. Even though I might be going a little bit faster than him, I can't get around because he's just using the perfect line.

In the old days when Brad raced, he never made the track like that. He made it to where you could pass, and they don't really do that anymore. So it's harder to pass, but everybody can ride it now.

Now, why do they do that? Is it for safety? Is it to protect the riders? Is there some thought behind this, or that's just the way it is, and you don't know why?

Well, it's easier to ride, less accidents, fewer people getting hurt. You know, the track is a lot different. The walls are pretty much rounded, except for one corner. In the old days, it was basically two straightaways with like a half dome, you know, kind of like that. So you almost came to a stop when you got to the end.

You almost hit a triangle when you were racing before?

Yeah, in the old days, we would really throw it in backwards way more than now. You would go into a turn so hard that you'd go in backwards for a while and then come out.

So now that's part of your riding style? I think that's part of what made Shawn McConnell the legend that you are. I literally used to watch you go out there and go backwards!

Well, all the fast guys did. I mean, you really had to go fast; there you literally went in backwards.

Now, so that's changed. Do you think that's something that's kind of shaped it? Because the kids today don't have to do that, so their riding styles are a lot different. Do you think that's changed? And maybe you're still riding the same way you used to, or is it just that the kids are younger and faster and they don't mind getting hurt?

I'm 65 years old; I shouldn't be showing the kids around the track! You know, when we all raced earlier, I mean, Billy Gray was 50 years old. He went a handicap M once, and I was behind him. They thought, "Oh my God, that's the greatest thing ever!" He won a race at 50.

Now I'm 65, and I still occasionally win, but it's just a different time. Back then, we raced four or five nights a week. Now if we race twice, unless I travel to Auburn, Northern California, if we race twice in a week, that's a busy schedule.

It's a lot!

Yeah, well, it's not, but it is anymore. I mean, literally five nights a week for years. Now when we do the Harley nights—for those of you that don't know, Shawn also races Harleys on the dirt track, flat track, and our hooligan series—and now, Shawn, you're hard to beat.

Well, I don't know if I'm hard to beat, but I enjoy doing that. It's a lot of fun. I look forward to Harley nights. Lately, I've been getting out of the start pretty good, and I just hope they don't figure out how I'm doing it. It's a pretty simple thing, but...

Don't say what you do! I'm not going to talk about it because that seems to be the McConnell way.

It's just going to be... you know, can't last this long. But yeah, there are a lot of fast guys in the hooligans. It's just getting the start. If you don't get the start and you get behind a couple guys, the fast guys will leave, and you're just stuck in a pack trying to get around the guy that can't get around them.

Yeah, the guy that got a lucky start is all over the track, and you can't get around him.

So now, rumor has it that even though you're retiring this year from Speedway, you're still going to be racing Harley-Davidson.

Oh, absolutely! I'm retiring from Speedway. I've got vintage bikes. Yeah, definitely going to race the Harley. I mean, the hooligan thing for sure. I'm going to do that as long as possible. Fortunately, my sponsor, if I don't win, he's okay with that.

I'm more about the show at this point. If there are two lines of guys, I like sitting in the back and passing everybody if I can. That's kind of how Speedway was when you were handicap racing. You start in the back row; people want the guy in the back row to win. So if you're passing guys all the time, you're the one they're watching.

Anyways, it's no fun to watch the guy make the start in an eight-lap race or whatever and just run away with it. That's no fun! You want to see the guy picking off the others; that's more fun to watch.

And you know what? It's like you get up on the starting line where everybody goes to the starting line for the races, and there are eight guys up front, and there goes Shawn pulling up 20 feet behind everybody. We're all wondering, "What are you doing?" And you're right, it's exciting because you just start passing them.

You’re picking them off, and you can almost see you’re just looking at them going, "Okay, you're done." You plan it out for every single one of them. You don't do the same every time; it's not like you're racing the inside of the track or the outside. You actually figure out what you're going to do, and boom!

Yeah, it's analyzing the guys, where they're riding, what kind of a rider it is. Some of the guys are not sure what they're going to do in the next corner, so you've got to go in a safe spot, pick your spot, and go around them if you can. But yeah, some of the guys are just really good and want to win that bad. It's like, "Yeah, I'm not willing to go that far."

Now, okay, this is my opinion only, and again watching you, I almost question whether or not it's a game that you play with yourself, and I call it "Sean's going to spook the [ __ ] out of the next guy." You seem to get right up in there and go, "Hello, I'm here," and all of a sudden they just panic and get out.

Either that, or you just won't let them. You just get underneath them, and they're history. So is that kind of something you play a game in your head going, "Hey, I'm here?"

It comes from mini bike days, basically. All my guys that raced mini bikes at my age, like when we were kids, and we grew up, we still raced them. That's one of the things we always liked—Todd from Team Swollen. It's like you get your wheel under the guy,