t’s 2008, and once again Team Pro Circuit is dominating Supercross and Motocross in the toughest series and classes in the world; the AMA Supercross, Supercross Lites, Motocross and Motocross Lites with great riders like Ryan Villopoto and Austin Stroupe.
     But where did Team Pro Circuit come from? Factory backed teams that consistently win major National Championships don’t just appear out of thin air. Actually, the story is far more interesting than any fiction.
     Thirty years ago, Pro Circuit was a small local Husqvarna shop in Anaheim, CA., run by former desert ace Mitch Payton. For a while, all Mitch wanted was to promote Husky sales by making them faster then stock. That was why he built his first pipes, but soon the pipe business was doing better then the Husky shop. So, in the early 1980s, Mitch named the pipe business “Pro Circuit” and sold the Husky shop to focus on the aftermarket. He began making performance products for the quickly emerging Japanese motocross bikes taking over racing worldwide.
     Custom-tuned exhaust pipes were the first Pro Circuit high-performance accessory to roll out of Mitch’s PC speed shop, followed by racing silencers. Pipe business was brisk, and pretty soon every PC-equipped racer was requesting PC performance modifications for other parts of their bike. Pro Circuit obliged by opening a suspension shop and expanding the available line of Pro Circuit exhaust systems and motor accessories for different bike brands. With so many Honda-, Kawasaki-, Yamaha- and Suzuki-mounted privateer racers across the nation running Pro Circuit equipment, it didn’t take long for the PC brand to start racking up championships.
     Soon, the factories started to notice. Factory riders, deprived of their one-off “Works” bikes in the off-season, began to run Pro Circuit-equipped production bikes in races like the Bercy Supercross, Geneva Supercross, and the Tokyo Supercross. When the factory riders got a taste of Pro Circuit power, they understood why so many privateers were getting holeshots in the Nationals. Soon, the factory team managers were calling Mitch for a little extra help. Then, the “Production Rule” did away with Works bikes and Pro Circuit’s speed secrets were heavily in demand. Soon, Pro Circuit was “quietly” winning major championships with their “unmarked” pipes under factory stars like Rick Johnson, David Bailey, Johnny O’Mara, Jeff Ward and Ron Lechien, just to name a few.
     But “semi-secretly” winning championships was a little hollow for the PC crew. So in early 1990 Mitch set Pro Circuit’s sights on the Holy Grail in off-road racing: winning a National Motocross Championship under his own Pro Circuit banner. But doing so would mean challenging the Big Four at their own game and would require serious financing. To make this goal a reality, Mitch borrowed a strategy from the auto-racing game by securing a corporate sponsor. By doing this, Mitch changed the way motocross teams would be financed and packaged forever.
     In 1991, Mitch and a two-man team of relatively unknown southern California motocross racers, that included a teenager named Jeremy McGrath, contested the AMA’s Supercross series under the Peak Antifreeze, Pro Circuit and Honda banners. Six months later, that team swept the 125cc (now Lites) East and West Supercross Championships!
     That first major independent effort was not without its pitfalls. Sponsors fell through at the last minute, some others didn’t pay, and PC pioneered the first racing semi to come to Supercross events even while the factories were still working out of box vans.
     But Pro Circuit won Championships with their own team. And, just to prove it was no fluke, Team Pro Circuit came back in 1992 with riders like Buddy Antunez (who would go on to become an Arenacross legend), Mike Brown (who would become a World MX Champion) and Jeremy McGrath (who eventually won a record seven Supercross Championships) to win another AMA 125cc Supercross West Championship under the Pro Circuit tent.
     This was just the beginning, it was the foundation of a legendary racing team and it set the stage for a dynasty that lasts to this day and earns Pro Circuit its reputation for professionalism and winning. Since starting his own team on a shoestring budget, Mitch and Pro Circuit have earned incredible success. From its humble beginnings in 1991, Team Pro Circuit has fielded the strongest most consistent team on the AMA circuit. Starting with Honda and then moving to Kawasaki in 1993, and four-strokes in 2004, Mitch and Pro Circuit has managed to compete for and win major Championships almost every season. The list of riders who have raced for Pro Circuit reads like a Hall of Fame of great champions. In 1997, another pro motocross rookie, this one named Ricky Carmichael, flew Pro Circuit colors to the 125cc National Motocross Championship that Mitch had dreamed about winning for so many years.      Carmichael continued to win titles for PC for three more years and continued the reign of Motocross Lites Championships that Pro Circuit has enjoyed ever since. In 2005 and again in 2007, Pro Circuit swept all three Lites Championships in AMA Supercross and AMA National Motocross.
     Today, Pro Circuit is a racing powerhouse known worldwide. When young racers dream about getting a factory ride, Team Pro Circuit is at the top of their list for that first big contract. And it all started 30 years ago in a little Husky shop with one man’s dream of someday winning a National Championship, a dream that keeps coming true year after year.
     As Pro Circuit celebrates their 30th anniversary we will continue to tell their amazing story. Next issue; 1993-1997–Pro Circuit’s customer demand requires larger production runs–Made in the USA!