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Hello there! My name is Steve Miller and I'm 34 years old. My ATV addiction started at a very young age. While other kids were still playing with Tonka toys, I was jamming gears. I've been riding something since I was 5 years old. I started out on a Honda Trail 50, I couldn't even reach the ground! I had to start and stop using a block of wood to place my foot on.
I really got hooked at age 7 when a friend took me for a ride on the back of his ATC110. I loved everything about it. I can still remember that glorious ride. I begged my parents for several years to buy me a 3-wheeler. Finally when I was 11 years old they bought me my first trike, a brand new 1984 ATC125M. I was in heaven. My father and I began to make trails on the 12 acres of wooded land he had, and I spent every waking moment on that bike. Soon after getting the 125M he decided it wasn't big enough and traded it for a 1985 ATC200M. The 200M was a little to big for me but I rode the wheels off it none the less.
In 1986 while at the county fair in Harrisonburg Virginia, my Dad stopped to look at the Kawasaki booth by a local dealer. He was impressed with the new quads and ended up buying a 1986 300 Bayou. I'll admit it, I ended up putting more seat time in on the bayou than he did (mostly when he wasn't home  ). We did a lot of riding in the national forest (when it was legal) and also on the "pipeline".
That same year I was begging for another ride, as the 200M wasn't quite sporty enough anymore. I wanted an '87 Tecate 3, but they bought me an '85 instead. That thing was WILD. Imagine a 13 year kid riding the wildest thing on 3 wheels?! Of course it didn't take long for Mom and Dad to decide that the Tecate was to fast and to unreliable for me. So back to the Kawasaki shop we went. It was late '86 then, and Kawasaki had just released the 250 Mojave. I test rode it and of course fell in love. We ended up loading it up and taking it home, Mom wasn't to happy about that (only because of the money). I must have ridden that Mojave a million miles during the next several years. I basically had access to several hundred acres of land, and I knew it all like the back of my hand.
While at the Kawasaki shop in 1989 for repairs to the Mojave, I noticed a little flier on the wall. It was advertising ATV moto-cross racing in West VA. A little vol. fire department was putting on a whole series to raise money. That first race didn't go to well as the ball joint fell out of the Mojave in practice. I ended up placing third on a barrowed Warrior. The next month the Mojave held together and I won. That's were it all started, I was hooked on racing in a big way. We raced at that little outlaw track for 2 years before breaking unto the AMA scene.
In 1991 I got my first TRX 250R. It was a sweet 1988 in like new condition. I of course fell in love, again. I was hooked on that 2 stroke power. That winter I began saving for an LRD Gary Denton National engine kit. It was $1200 at the time and came with everything needed to be more than competitive on the MX track. I bought a set of bead lock wheels, nerf bars and a JP axle also.
In 1992 we started racing the VA district 13 series. I won 13 races that year and placed third in the final standings (one point away from second). We missed 8 of the points races due to lack of knowledge, so I figured 3rd wasn't to bad. We also went to 3 nationals that year, Muddy Creek, Red Bud and Southwick. My parents and I were hooked on racing and also enjoyed the many friends we made that year.
In 1993 I begged and borrowed to build a full Laegers Pro-trax T-pin chassis. I used my '88 as a donor quad and the Laeger was born. My Dad bought us a bigger box trailer and we were set to go. I also met my future wife that year, which didn't help my racing career much. Never the less, I went on to place 5th in the Grand National Points standings that season.
1994 was my last full season of GNC racing, I placed 5th in the Super Modified Pro-Am class that year. A massive high speed TT crash in 1997 at Big South Fork Raceway pretty much sealed the deal with my wife and family that racing wasn't for me. My social life started taking precedence over my racing career and the rest is history. I have race at least one national a year since then, a bunch of district races, outlaw tracks, quad wars and the Virginia Beach Cross a few times.
I sold my Laegers in June of 2001 to finance a new business we wanted to open. When I shipped that quad to Wisconsin it took a BIG piece of me with it. I found out through the web that the guy that bought it has placed top 2 in the state for the past 2 years.
I now have 2 kids, five quads and six acres to ride on. My son is 9 years old and has already caught the ATV bug. I hope he gets as much enjoyment out of ATVing over the course of his life as I have mine. My ATV addiction is as strong as ever. The ole box trailer still sits in the driveway, waiting to go to the next race....
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