We caught up with Guts Racing's Andy Gregg to discuss how the brand was created and how it came to be the number one name in seat technology. It is a typical old school business, with father and son and in the golden era of AMA racing. The era of Jeremy McGrath and some of the coolest riders the sport has seen.

Guts Racing supply many Euro and AMA teams with their spectacular seats and of course, the Nestaan Husqvarna factory team won this years World MX2 championship with the Guts brand. As a young racer, Gregg used his fathers’ self-made seats and as more and more fathers saw these seats at the races, wanted their kids to also have these cool seats.

Eventually, teams like Chaparral Yamaha, with Jeremy McGrath as the rider and Mitch Payton owned Pro Circuit Kawasaki were also using Guts seats and now many of the leading teams in the sport run with Guts. I hope you enjoy the industry insider interview.

MXLarge: Tell me that era was the golden era of American motocross for me. How was it for a young kid racing in that era?

Gregg: I felt like it was (the golden era). Like now comparative because I'm starting to get back into racing in the vets’ classes and stuff like that. But I feel like, back then, it was just more. There was more racing, less practicing. What that meant was, is that, you know, we are just have more lining up the gates and having more opportunities. A lot of these kids now, they don't get to the gate that often. So, they don't know where they stack up until they get to one of the amateur nationals. So back then, like, you know, like raised in the 80s, it was wild, man. It was intense every weekend. I mean, there was no practice days. You just had raced, a lot of starting gates, you know. I feel like the. Intensity level was a lot.

MXLarge: A lot more tracks too, I think. But there was also a lot of different series being run, with all the leading AMA guys racing those series. Especially in California, I mean, you know, if you think about, you know Saddleback or Carlsbad and so many others. Did you race all those places?

Gregg: So, we are from North California. So, the only time like when we go down South to race. It was usually for the Golden State Challenge series or the Trans Cal series. Yeah, when they were racing at Perris or Glen Helen. Like you raced one weekend. Glen Helen and then you had raced one weekend at Riverfront, which is in Northern California. You would kind of go back and forth and then it got to where it was so big they actually had to split it into North and South region and then we would meet for the finals at Glen Helen.

MXLarge: Did you guys used to back up for the pro riders like Bailey and Johnson and those guys. Who was that? A completely different Golden State.

Gregg: I remember being a kid in like early 90s and being a Glen Helen and racing on a Sunday and Saturday night was the supercross. And, you know, and Sunday morning going up to the watch the pros and you would have Bradshaw and Matiasevich and these guys just raced Supercross and now they're lined up for a Golden State. That was pretty cool.

MXLarge: Would you race the same track as them on the same day. Or was that a different?

Gregg: Yeah.

MXlarge: Why did that stop?

Gregg: It's still the same here in the states, but they (the pro riders) just don't go to those races anymore, you just don't see Eli Tomac showing up Sunday morning.

MXLarge: So, tell me, obviously your dad, I remembered reading a thing where your dad made a seat for you as a kid racer, and how does it progress from that, making a seat for you?

Gregg: It was just because, I mean, that was obviously before the Internet and before social media. So, it just was, you know, just starting gate and another the dad looks over and says, that's an interesting seat. What motorcycle shop did you buy that from? And my dad would tell him, I made it. He would ask if we could make one for his son. Almost every weekend we were getting requests to make seats for other models and things like that. So, then he realized this could be pretty good. He just mounted a sewing machine inside our trailer and brought some fabrics to the track and would just make seats at the track.

MXlarge: Wow, that's fantastic. I mean, as you say, you know without any internet, it was all word of mouth back then. How quickly did that progress as far as starting a business, just not at the track. but actually, a company?

Gregg: Well, I'd say that like. It was kind of slow at first because it's all word of mouth and you're just doing stuff with the track, that all started in like 1985 and so. 1990 is when we officially got a business license and officially set up a location, so I guess you know basically five years of just doing it out of the trailer as like a side business, to where in 1990 it was beneficial for him to break off from my grandfather's business and established the business name and the legal business stuff to operate. You know a real business.

MXLarge: You're working the business that your dad started. You know, I used to work for my dad, and he was also in media industry in the motocross in Australia and then I worked for him and. It seems like that was more so the older generation where that was normal to do. If you look at FMF, you know Donnie's working for his dad and Alpinestars with Sante Mazzaroli starting it and now Gabriele Mazzarolo runs it or Davey Coombs running his dad’s business (MXsports). That sort of all those pioneer companies that that started that way. Are you interested in all that?

Gregg: Oh yeah, that's stuff, that's kind of what drives me. You know, I really enjoy that and it's kind of like, it definitely helps me personally to be more motivated on keeping the dream alive and keeping it moving. You know, in an upward direction. In a way that's going to keep us around, you know, not letting it stale or stagnant. Like my biggest fear would be to sell to an investment firm like some of these other companies do. Because then, they either go away or they just they just kind of lose the vision. I guess, if I'm not here, the vision, the vision might die.

MXLarge: Yeah. Yeah, I totally get it. When did it become that the seats were so well known and factory people started using, was that recent or is that the last 10-15 years?

Gregg: Well, so my dad's personality, he isn’t a talker, he just liked to work hard and enjoys that. He likes to work and he's still here like working. That's his Favorite part. He doesn't like the employees talking to him. He doesn't like, you know, people calling and asking for him. Yeah, he doesn't like, you know that. He just likes to work. We did the Chaparral Yamaha team with McGrath. Like a lot of people don't know that we won the championship with them. We were also part of McGrath Suzuki deal. We supported privateer, riders in the 90s and early 2000s and stuff like that. We were manufacturing for other companies; we were doing 100% of the manufacturing for factory FX and all of their seat cover lines. We were doing, I would say about 60 to 70% of the style brand at that time as well. A little bit for the One Industries brand. We were private labelling for so many companies that we never really never put any effort into the guts brand. It was just locally, word of mouth that people wanted to buy it. That's how we did it. And then, it kind of shifted everything was some of those brands started sourcing their product out of China and only using us for smaller runs. And it got to the point where, you know. I was getting older and could see the business we needed to ship and be more focused and worry about our brand name and our brand awareness and worry less about theirs. Still make their product just basically, don't give them the farm. I guess it would have been maybe 2010, 2011, when I kind of had a meeting with my dad. Kind of said look we either go this direction, or I'm going to go get a real job, a job somewhere in the motor industry doing something, because I started a family and stuff like that. I took it upon myself, I believe it was the 2013 season of Supercross. I literally would just book a flight, and I'd buy a regular pass to go to the race, like just a regular grandstand ticket and I would take product with me, and I would just walk the pits when the fans were allowed to be in there. And I would talk to anybody that would listen to me. I sat down with RCH Suzuki and talked with those guys and kind of got our foot in the door there. Same with Mitch Payton and that kind of started working on some stuff and I just didn't give up. You know, I just kept going week in, week out just kept being there and some of the teams are just basically would give our stuff a shot because I just wouldn’t go away.

MXlarge: That must have taken some serious commitment and patience?

Gregg: Yeah, you know like, that was just there every week. How can I help? What can I do? You know, is there anything I can help you guys with? And as their contracts were ending with other companies, that's what I would just tell them, just give us a shot for one year. And that was one thing too, I'd always tell them I'm not going to stand here and tell you my products better than my competitors, you guys use it, and you tell me what's wrong with my product and I'll go back and make it better. And that's that was one thing I stood out to Mitch Payton with our Phantom lightweight foam was. He didn't want to try it, there was another guy making a really lightweight foam. He was not happy with that guy's product, and I said, well, here's the deal, you send me a detailed e-mail. With an explanation of why you won't use it, what's wrong with it and we will make improvements and send you more. We will keep working on this project until it's satisfactory for you. Then received a phone call and they said that there was nothing wrong with the product. They had more hours on those foams than any other. Mitch said the fact that I asked him, what was wrong with my product is what stood out to him because he's so used to people coming in and you know, overselling their product and then it's not as good as this as it's advertised.

MXLarge: I see your seats everywhere, and it's funny because I know a little bit about the industry because I've been in it a long time and you know a lot of teams. Whether it's KTM or whatever. They have longstanding contracts and they're loyal to those company and I always respect that, but I do see your seats sometimes, I see them on the euro enduro KTM's, I see them on the Nestaan Husqvarna factory bikes, on Roczens bike, they are everywhere. Getting a contract for a team or brand must be tough?

Gregg: I don't not sure when the Red Bull KTM Supercross team’s contract is up with their current seat supplier but, one thing that has helped us with, the Austrian brand know that we're always able to deliver on time or ahead of schedule. And the off-road teams for Red Bull KTM, their current supplier had gotten in a bind of some sort, I'm not sure what it was, but all of 2023 and even late in 22, they were purchasing from us at full price. They were paying full price for us to not brand them that way, because their supplier wasn't able to keep up with the demand.

MXLarge: How did the deal come about with the Husqvarna factory team?

Gregg: As we we've been with Austrian for a long time and also with the Husqvarna GP team, even back when they were on the with the Rockstar badging and I believe at that time it was with ICE 1. We've just been in contract with them and basically, it doesn't matter who their principal is at the factory supported Husqvarna team, that's part of our deal with Austria.

MXLarge: Do you follow MXGP, when you get the chance?

Gregg: I try to follow, you know, to my best. I don’t necessarily get to just sit down and watch the races live, but I keep up on live timing and scoring and then I'll come back and watch the recaps a lot of times. I just enjoyed her bike racing in general, so I try to. Keep up on motocross, supercross, MXGP, to at least know what is happening in the sport.

MXlarge: Now in 2024, where are you as far as where you wanted it to be when you mentioned to your dad about wanting to take another direction.

Gregg: We have exceeded my expectations. I'm more than blessed and more than happy with where we're at. It also creates a whole new set of challenges. So now we're at a point where we have, you know, substantial workforce and they have families and kids and you know, my new focus is just how do we keep the right amount of workflow and the right amount of customer base to be able to support these families. Now I feel more responsible for their families than I even feel for my own.

MXLarge: Tell me, do you do you distribute from America to Europe or the rest of the World?

Gregg: Yeah, we have and where we are expanding our international sales almost. It feels like almost on a daily basis at the current moment. We've always had a pretty strong distributor in the UK, who are Madison distribution, and they do a great job. We've been working with them since I think 2016 or 17. And we have a guy in Chile that we've been working with for quite a while. In the last year and a half, we added New Zealand, we have a really good importer in New Zealand. Australia has been good, although we went through a little bit of growing pains with one importer, and we've transitioned to a second importer now got the ball rolling. Maybe it was about this time last year we started working with the international sales Rep Daryl Atkins, so now he handles all of our international accounts. And he's slowly starting to take on the US distributors as well, but his main focus is our international sales. He's been able to open up some countries. That we you know that we had zero, we actually have a solid distributor in those countries now. And yeah, he's doing a great job.

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