CATCHING UP WITH JEFF TILTON

On Jul 6, 2005

Generally speaking, freestyle motocross riders are a good group of people. Behind the backflips, sometimes baggy gear and metal ramps usually are cool personalities and nice guys. Meander through the short and action-filled history of freestyle motocross and you’ll come across the name Jeff Tilton, one of the nicest guys to sling a leg over a dirt bike. “Full Tilt” as most people call him (because of his textbook whips), has made an honest to goodness living in freestyle. How come? Because he’s smart. Instead of hucking himself off jumps aimlessly to come up with the next craziest trick, he’s begun a tour with his long-time friend Tommy Clowers. The two travel around the country and bring freestyle to new places. The show has been a success, and now Jeff and Tommy are building on their idea. We caught up with Tilton at a one-off freestyle show on the Vans Warped Tour in San Diego last week to catch up with a tried-and-true promoter of freestyle.

What have you been up to since we talked with you last?

Basically I’m out here at San Diego for a stop of the Warped Tour. Fox hired us to come out and do freestyle motocross, and it’s been about two years since the Warped Tour has had freestyle, so it’s cool to do it.

Last time we saw you riding you were on a KTM, but now you’re on a Yamaha. What’s the deal?

Just the progression of the sport, it’s coming full circle for me. I started off riding freestyle on Yamaha’s, but then I went to Kawasaki, then Honda, then KTM, and now back to Yamaha. Tommy Clowers and I decided to get on the same bikes and I’m really happy with the decision because they’re awesome bikes. I’ll probably be on Yamaha’s for the rest of my career.

How is the ?Tilton and Tomcat Show’ going?

TNT Action Sports is blowing up. Tommy and I do the Red Bull tour and so far this year I’ve hired about 11 or 12 riders for all the different shows that we produce. It’s cool that Tommy and I still get to ride and have fun, but it’s also good that we get to help the sport out. We’re giving riders the opportunity to make money.

What riders have you signed on?

My main guys are Ronnie Renner, Jimmy McGuire, the Reno boys, Foster, Burlew, Mason, Jake Windham, Miller?all those guys. It’s a pretty good group of guys that I work with and it’s a lot of fun. I’m a rider first and foremost, and it’s cool to go out and ride with those guys at the tour stops. It’s not someone else telling them what to do because I’m out there with them jumping, but at the same time I’m paying them.

Last summer at your show it was just you and Tommy. How many guys would you say are jumping at your shows now?

Last year progressed and changed a lot. Tommy and I still focus a lot on the Red Bull tour, which for the most part is just him and I. Sometimes, depending on the size of the show, we’ll bring in some additional riders. I also do shows that are totally separate from Red Bull, like at the Warped Tour for example. I’ve also done some stuff for Kicker. It all depends and every show is different.

Are you taking such a huge role in the business aspect of TNT Action Sports? Is that going to be your main focus in the future?

I’d like to definitely keep on riding because that’s my passion, but business takes up a lot of my time. I don’t get to go out and practice very much. I work and travel, which is pretty demanding. I’m still able to pull it off but I don’t know how much longer I can do it because the business aspect of it is growing so fast. I’ve hired a lot of people and I’ve partnered up with IMG, which has helped me a lot.

Is freestyle motocross still growing?

It’s kind of weird with the whole state of freestyle. There’s a demo and show side of the sport with competitions that’s still growing. I’ve tripled the amount of business in the last year and I have more and more requests. People are really starting to take hold with what can happen with this sort of show.

What has happened with the Gravity Games? Apparently no one showed up to watch it live.

Some of the contests aren’t necessarily as big as they used to be, but that’s sort of the trend with action sports in general. You used to be able to turn on ESPN2 any hour of the day and there’d be motocross racing or skateboarding, but now it has kind of switched back to stick and ball sports. Now though it’s coming back. There’s a full network devoted to action sports with the FUEL network and OLN is taking a big role with the Gravity Games and the outdoor motocross Nationals. It’s not mainstream television, but instead it’s more focused on the people who really want to see it.

How many days during the summer would you say that you are out on the road with your shows?

[Laughter] Oh man, between now and October 1^st I’ll probably be home six or seven days. I’ll fly probably 80,000 miles this summer and over the course of the year I’ll fly about 200,000 miles. I’m pretty sure that’s more flying than a standard motocross racer would do. My travel schedule has been pretty gnarly lately.

Doesn’t the travel wear on you? What do you do for fun?

It’s a weird life that I live. With Red Bull being such a big part of what I do, they want to take us out to dinner everywhere and then we go out afterwards. Then I do it all over again the next day. You really just have to get used to it and drink a lot of Red Bull [laughter]. I sleep four or five hours and then go out and work 12 hours.

Where are you headed in the future?

My main focus right now is to grow TNT. Like I said before, we partnered up with IMG and they’re representing Tommy and myself as athletes and then our company. We really have to focus on Europe and Asia, but also there are tons of opportunities in America. Hopefully in the next five years we’ll have ten sets of ramps. We have two sets right now, but we just want to keep growing. This is my passion and I’ve been into this sport since I was nine years old and started racing. It’s cool to be able to give back to the sport that I love so much.