He Achieved His World Cup Dreams. But First, He Slept in a Minivan
Dakotah Norton was sitting alone at the top of the Val di Sole World Cup downhill track last August. No mechanic. No entourage. No umbrella holder. Ready to race on a borrowed bike. His own race bike lost in transit. He’d slept in an airport. Around him, competitors warmed up on their trainers. Norton sat on the concrete and waited, his loaner still dirty from practice runs. A passing factory team mechanic asked him if he needed a wrench. He did not.
Norton had grown accustomed to improvising. He raced motocross until his parents divorced when he was 13. With motocross out of the question for financial reasons, Norton rode his BMX bike at a nearby state park and built dirt jumps behind his house.
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In college, Norton quickly fell in love with dual slalom racing. It was the closest thing he’d found to his first love of motocross. Then a second-hand bike bought launched Norton into downhill racing. During his senior year, he traveled to pro races with financial help from friends and claimed his first big win at the pro dual slalom race at Crankworx Whistler.
Along his quick rise, he drew inspiration from his grandfather who poured concrete for a brick company, while holding a second job as a Coca-Cola delivery driver. “Even if no one is watching, he works hard,” said Norton of his grandfather. “He worked hard his entire life.”
Norton petitioned his way to a start at the World Cup downhill races in Mont-Sainte-Anne and Wyndham, driving his grandfather’s Pontiac minivan to the races. “I slept out of that minivan and wrenched for myself, just eating peanut butter and jelly and racing bikes.” He crashed and didn’t make it past the qualifying rounds at Mont-Sainte-Anne and finished 54th at Wyndham. It was a bad start at international racing.
The World Cup tracks are steeper than most U.S. races and wet weather is the norm on the circuit. “What do I have to do differently to stop getting my ass kicked? It was move my stuff into a van and head to Tennessee where it was muddy and shitty like a World Cup.”
Minutes after that lonely wait at the top of Val di Sole last summer, Norton achieved his highest World Cup finish to date and broke into the top 15. He’s since confirmed it was not a fluke. At this year’s World Cup opener in Lo?inj, Croatia, Norton scored his first World Cup podium finish with a fifth and followed it with a ninth at the Leogang, Austria World Cup. A dislocated shoulder mid-season took him out for two races, but he still went on to end the season ranked 22nd in the world And not only is he sponsored by the Unior Devinci Factory Team for next year, he's no longer wrenching his own bikes or sleeping in minivans.
What Dakotah Norton Rides
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