Scott Cram
By: Scott Parkinson

With the Supercross season quickly approaching I thought it would be a fun idea to sit down with Scott Cram, the author of A Supercross Journey featured here on the PanicRev.org website, for a little Q & A. Scott has been training hard in Southern California in prepairing for the 2007 Supercross season. He seems excited and hungry--it should be an exciting year! Hope everyone else enjoys this months feature of Hangin Out With Scott Cram as much as I did:

PRev: So Scott, I think you have been writing your Supercross Journals for the PanicRev website for a couple of years now. What should our readers be looking forward to for the 2007 Supercross Season?  
Scott Cram: Hopefully a whole new chapter in racing night events and really putting my best foot forward to do well.  I'm going to continue the same format that I used last year, with quotes and scripture, but I am hoping for more of a victorious journal rather then struggling so much as I did in the past ones. I am getting a lot of help from some really good people this year, plus I have a lot of things figured out from the last three years, so I shouldn't run into the same problems I've had before and I am looking forward to improving every weekend.

PRev: What are your goals for 2007?
SC: My immediate goal is to make the night events at all the rounds I race.  After that, I want to get the Racer X Gas Card, qualify for a main event, and my dream goal is to catch the attention of a good team and start doing this for a living. But those are my overall goals for racing supercross and they will probably take longer then a year to accomplish them.

PRev: How is training going?  
SC: It is going really well.  After finding out that I have had exercise induced asthma for the last seven years, training is a lot easier.  I am training a lot harder, at a higher intensity level, and doing it more consistently then I ever have before.  I still need about another month to really get to where I want to be before the first round. All in all, training is a lot better then in the past few years for sure.  Mainly I have more energy all around, my body recovers a lot quicker, and I am able to put in good laps when I go practice. I think the first couple of rounds will still be tough to be at the pace of the night event guys, but I am hoping for the best and training hard. It's actually kind of been a blessing in disguise with the asthma, mentally I am stronger then ever and I am a lot more focused on and off the track. I don't really feel tired anymore compared to feeling tired all the time, so I feel like I can do more and push harder. I am really getting a lot more done with training and riding.

PRev: Are you going to be able to compete at all the rounds?  
SC: I don't think I will be able to go to the ones on the east coast, but you never know what could happen.  I am mainly focusing on dong good at the West Coast rounds and depending on how that goes I will see about making the East Coast rounds happen.  I am planning on making it to the Texas rounds as well as St. Louis though.

PRev: So what are your feelings towards the AMA's new privateer rules?
SC: That is a tough question.  It definitely puts a lot of rider's dreams out of reach.  Under the new rule I never would have been able to race Supercross [Scott made a night even in 2006 at the San Francisco Supercross which enabled him to race Supercross in 2007 and not be affected by the new AMA rule].  It really seems like they are trying to make it more of a "big rig team sport" and they are trying to get rid of the guys doing it out of the back of their truck. The sport won't be the same if they get rid of the privateers.  There are people out there that really like to see local guys get out there and try to compete against the top guys, not to mention privateers are more available in the pits since that is where we stay the whole time and we don't have big rigs to be in.

PRev: Do you feel as though the AMA is fair to the privateer?
SC: Not really.  Taking the Friday practice out really hurt the privateers more then anything.  The factory guys have good tracks they get to ride all week, so they usually have the track down after the second lap. Privateers need more practice to get the track down, dial in the bike, and get comfortable.  I think it is really strange how they made all these new rules on who qualifies for racing supercross, BUT if you get a factory contract from the amateurs or whatever you totally bypass all of them.  The last round in Vegas was a pretty good example of privateers getting the short end of the stick.  At that race they had nice green grass pits for the teams with big rigs, but the privateers got pushed down the way in a totally different and remote small parking lot.  Some of the guys I know from the local Southern California tracks couldn't even find me to say hi or good luck.  So, for the most part privateers fight an up hill battle as far as getting treated fairly.

PRev: Scott, what is your motivation in writing your Supercross Journals?
SC: My main motivation is to let people know that God is working in my life … and how He is working in my life.  Motocross is a big part of my life, but it's not my whole life. The older I get the more I realize that it's important to do something in my life that is meaningful—something that God can use for His purpose and His glory.   I feel like God has put me through some unique experiences with some unique individuals, which gives me a different perspective on life in general and helps me to relate to a lot of people.  

PRev: What is any example of a unique experience or individual that has given you your perspective on life?
SC: Well, I met a guy at Lake Elsinore MX Park one day who just happened to own an investment company in the same town i live in, right down the street actually.  So, after becoming friends with him for a year i started working for him and just learned the whole business world in a crash course kind of way.  I really learned a lot from that experience, its kind of hard to explain without writing a book about it because it was pretty crazy.  Other then that, I went from living in Kansas to California, from living the party lifestyle to living a Christian lifestyle, and from being a Novice at age 19 to racing pro / racing Supecross at age 23. Moreover, I was part of a Christian motocross ministry then left that ministry, for various reasons. In all honestly that whole situation really gave me a clear picture of why a lot of people don't want to be Christians—because of other Christians. With the way I was treated and how things went down I really understand the importance of walking it [living out ones faith] and not just talking it. That experience also really taught me to relate to people and care about their story and what they are going through, rather then just throwing scripture at them. I also learned that some people say they are Christians, but don't act like it and some people that say they aren't Christians act more Christ like then a lot of church goers.

PRev: If you don't mind, share a little about your journey from a party guy to becoming a Christian.
SC: I was always a Christian even when I was going to parties, but I just took it too far too fast for too long.  I started drinking when I was 14 years old and could pretty much drink most college students under the table by age 17.  That whole lifestyle just left me really broken inside and confused about life.  After I graduated from high school I moved out to California with my best friend and just got my life in order one day at a time.  I really had no idea what was wrong with my life at that time. I now see that I was looking for God, I just didn't know it at the time.  It's pretty much the fact that we all have a void in our life that can only be filled by Christ and many times we try to fill it with worldly things.  I think the main thing that I've realized from living in the party lifestyle is that I can't be the person I want to be and do the things I want to do in life living that way. It's a destructive lifestyle that destroys your life, but the kicker is that you don't realize what is happening until your life is already in shambles. At the time you are having fun and it doesn't seem bad, but the main thing is your time can be spent doing a lot better things with your life.

PRev: So what is the biggest difference between the way you are living now and the way you were living before you were 21?
SC: The biggest difference is that I have my focus on Christ and what He wants to do with my life.  No matter what happens in my life now I am always looking forward and moving towards the way God wants me to live.  Before I was 21 I was dreaming, now that I am focused on God I am living my dream.

PRev: Have you had any feed back on your journals-positive or negative?
SC: Yeah, I had a lot of positive feedback on them.  It's really cool because some of my friends from back home read them as well as my family members.  I've had a few people say that they liked them, since I post them as blogs on my Myspace.  

PRev: So what are your Christmas plans?
SC: I'm planning on going back to Kansas for about five days to spend Christmas with my family and friends.  We've all go to the same church service, at the church I grew up in, so I really like to be back for that.  It's a late night service where the congregation lights candles at the very end and they turn out all the lights, it's really cool.

PRev: Well Scott, thanks for taking the time man! Is there anything else you would like to say or add?
SC: Mainly I would like to say thanks to you and your brother, John , for all of your support and friendship.  The last few years have been really rough for me, but I have always had a feeling that you guys were praying for me.  That is always feels good to have people on your side!  

I'd also like to thank my sponsors for 2007 (so far, I am still working on getting a few more);
Pro Circuit
TBT Racing
Performance Motorsports
Maxima Oils
Dunlop Tires
Weapon MX
Hinson Clutch Components
Renthal
Scott USA
N-Style
Works Connection
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