Some of us are old enough to remember a television series on ABC from 1980-'84 called "That's Incredible." For those who aren't in the know, it was a one-hour show hosted by Cathy Lee Crosby, John Davidson and former Minnesota Vikings' quarterback Fran Tarkenton that featured unbelievable true stories about people and the strange or amazing things they had accomplished. Today, the unusual is so common that something incredible slips by as routine. But if the show were still around, Mike Young Jr. would certainly be featured in an episode. His story of triumph over adversity coupled with his can-do attitude and charisma are perfect for television.
Who is Mike Young Jr.? Well, today he is the man behind Big Gun Exhaust Systems, but in the late '90s he was a professional motocross racer. His life was forever changed on April 27, 1997. On this spring day, he was competing in the White Brothers World Four-Stroke Championships at Glen Helen Raceway Park and came up about a foot short on a 90-foot double. The three-time AMA National Four-Stroke champ went over the bar and his bike smashed him into the ground, breaking his back at the T-9 and T-10 vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
For Young, life as a paraplegic wasn't the end of his involvement in the off-road world or even competing, for that matter. It was just the beginning of what could be a great TV movie. His passion for competing drove him forward and giving up was not an option. Within a year of the accident, he was applying the knowledge he'd gained from racing four-strokes and started Big Gun Exhaust Systems, which is now a leader in four-stroke exhausts. But designing and building mufflers wasn't enough to pique his racing interests.
The controls are quite logical; forward for go and back to stop.
Call it dumb luck, but somehow he was introduced to the West Coast Pro Trucks series, and his enthusiasm was channeled into the world of racing, once again. On four wheels he could still be a strong competitor, thanks in part to the automatic transmissions in the Pro Truck series. It took a few years, but by 2003, he had a race team put together and by the end of that season was named Rookie of the Year at California's Irwindale Speedway. In 2004, he became the first driver to win a heat race in a NASCAR weekly racing series while confined to a wheelchair. Young was on fire, almost setting a new Irwindale track record when he qualified for the pole position at the last race of the '04 season. In his first race of '05 he started on the pole, but he competed in only two of 13 events as he decided to take some time off to gear up for the '06 season.