Welcome to Momentum, a motorsports podcast powered by High Gear Success. I'm your host, Heather Wilson Schiltz. Here we share the stories and strategies that keep the world of motorsports moving forward. And I'm excited to chat with Cade Johnson, an accomplished motocross athlete who has won championships at some of the most prestigious events like Loretta Lands, Mineos, and more. He's currently competing in the SMX Next program, formerly Supercross Futures. and recently competed in the Pro Motocross Championship. So, Kade, thank you for joining me. How are you doing? I'm glad to be on. This is awesome. Yeah, I'm really excited to talk to you. It looks like you've had a very accomplished career so far. You're only 18 years old, but you've achieved more than 70 career championships and also an AMA Supercross SMX next win. So when you were growing up, did you envision that you would be where you are now? Um, no, probably not to be honest. I, uh, I've always looked up to, to motocross racers and whatever else. And, I've always been pretty good. Um, but whenever I first started, I wasn't actually really that good, like at all, really. Um, and so, no, I, I, to answer that question, I would say probably not. Um, it was just a lot of training, a lot of grinding. And eventually it was just like, at some point I was like, Hey, I'm actually. I'm actually pretty good at this. Let me keep training. have some attributes that other people don't have and let me keep on going and just kept going and just trying to get faster and faster every year and you have your ups and downs. yeah, no, it's been amazing. It's been amazing. So you grew up in Texas, right? Yeah, actually I was in Salt Lake until I was like nine years old, but I've been in Texas since. At what point did you and your family kind of realize that you had this talent for riding and when did you really like start training, I would say next level? Well, when we moved to Texas, that was the whole purpose of moving to Texas. We lived in Salt Lake and I got into motocross there. since it's a drier climate, doesn't have great dirt bike tracks. I mean, it has some here and there, but not nearly as good as, let's say, Texas or California or Florida, especially. So um we knew that we had to move out of Salt Lake City. And because we were driving to California every weekend. I mean, probably 30 weeks out of the year we were going to California and it was 10 hours, I would get out of because I did public school for a really long time, longer than most motocross racers do. And I would get out of public school at, let's say, three or four, and we'd drive all night to California, race Saturday, Sunday, and then drive all night to get back to work and school on Monday mornings. Once we realized that we were doing that too much, was too much. um We decided, hey, it's time to move to Texas. And we did. even in Texas, wasn't, I mean, I won my, once we moved to Texas, the first year I lived there, I won my first national championship against kids that were all homeschooling, riding every day. And at that point time, I hadn't been doing that. I'd been going to school every day and just riding a little bit after school and here or there. So it wasn't until really pretty recently. mean, not super recently, probably like, maybe just after COVID where we were like, okay, let's go all in and do this. But ah yeah, cuz my parents were always education first and this is just a hobby. So it wasn't really until semi recently where they were like, okay, we have a chance in this. Yeah, it is crazy how many kids are homeschooled for like motocross or, um, just racing in general and going to public school takes up so much more time, right? And you have so much more commitments, but it's really cool that you were able to do that for so long until you finally reached that level that it made sense. Yeah, yeah, for sure. mean, it's not in in motocross isn't a school sport either. So it's not like, yeah, you can go out of school two hours early to do practice like it's not like the track or the field is just right there at school, you know, it's it's completely separate. It's it's the school views. really is a hobby. So it's just it was it was tricky to do tricky to take that much time off. Really. You had to I had to have really good grades at all times or else the teachers wouldn't let me out because I was missing so much time. And so they were like, well, he's missing that much time and he shouldn't be missing that much time, but he has really good grades. So he's fine. So that was definitely a savior. But yeah, it was tricky, but I think it was good to stay in school that long. Yeah, it was good. So you've ridden Yamaha for most of your life, correct? Yeah, for about 10 years now. Once I moved to Texas, pretty much I was in Yamaha ever since, so quite a while. And then you had a last minute switch to Kawasaki team green for mini-o's in late November. So was it really tough to get adjusted to a new bike so quickly? Yeah, yeah, it was it was honestly harder than I anticipated to be honest with you I I got on the bike and I thought a few more things were gonna be similar but they weren't But I did a lot of testing the bike only had Like probably a day or two of actual training on the bike before I had to go to mini-o's I wasn't even playing on race at mini-o's and I had to go to the national And yeah, it was it was it was tricky. I had an opportunity Dan Truman helped me get an opportunity and was like and Michael Byrne and they were like let's do it so we went to Minneos and it was a pretty successful week especially for how much time I had on the bike I won the Dunlop Silver tire which was the award for the for the best a rider there and yeah it was overall great week and especially for like I said how much time I had on the bike so this week Were people like really caught off guard to see you riding green. Yeah, was honestly pretty weird because it was kind of like it wasn't like an official announcement like no one really knew until next you know they're like who's that 177 on the team green stand like it was like it threw off a lot of people and I kind of wanted like that like my mom was like you want to do a little announcement I was like no I just wanna show up on the green bike and do well so yeah that was a plan it was was fun. I love that. That's really cool. um Are there certain moments from your amateur career so far that stand out the most in your mind? Some really memorable moments over the years. There's almost a memorable moment at every single race. uh Man, I don't know. I would say just a few that probably um stand out as super, super emotional or kind cool ones would be first off my first semi-professional SMX next win in the mud in Foxboro. That was an absolute crazy race. the crowd was going to... crazy was like my second or third actual SMX next race because I'm I was semi new to that stuff or really new to that stuff I guess you could say and anytime I would go down a leader would go down the crowd go crazy and so that was just such a special feeling especially whenever I crossed the finish line I was absolutely so muddy I was it was so cool and then I would say that was for sure a special moment. uh On 50s one time for my first championships of the 70 Actually, I think it's 71 now since mini-o's but um of the 70 was on 50s. We had moved to Texas. So we went to Texas dropped off our stuff didn't get moved in and went to mini-o's and uh that was my first national team, my first championship and I came from the back and on our transponder systems, I passed the leader in the very last corner and we literally tied like it was to it was point. zero zero zero gap. And so they had no idea who won. It was it was a crazy race. And they ended up to give it to me. I don't know exactly why if that was because there was a rule of like if you're in the back or what it was, I don't know. I won that race. And so I was I was so special, especially since it was my first one. And that was kind of my first big step into Hey, I'm actually kind of I'm actually kind of not just a nobody, you know, I kind of have to be reckoned with. So um Those two are probably the most memorable. Those were really like, whoa, you know. Do you feel like your confidence has grown over the years? each time that you achieve something and you're like proving it not only to yourself, but to everybody else Yeah, I would say so for sure. I would say especially in the recent since racing SMX Next because it's televised. Like you race amateur races and you could be racing 85s and be absolutely hauling like going so fast, battling with amazing kids. You have to fight tooth and nail to win a championship. You win a championship and a hundred people see you and like, oh, good job, whatever else. You're like, yeah, well, SMX Next, you can do this. You can kind of ride or whatever. And it could be not even as good of a performance or whatever else. But since 100,000 people see you, everybody knows who you are. And so it's like, holy moly, you know, it's such a weird feeling. Like I went golfing after I won the mud race and they're like, hey, were you the one who won that race? I was like, what? How do you know that? Like it was just, it was just such a surreal uh feeling just how kind of broad it gets. So yeah, it was, was really cool. Was it different racing in a stadium environment than the typical outdoor motocross track? And what surprised you most when you stepped into SMX Next? You obviously talked about the TV aspect, but how did it feel with that huge crowd there? Yeah, it was crazy. I would say honestly, more than the crowd was just the stadium. like Supercross and Motocross itself is a very different track styles, really that are different sports. um And so it's completely different. you feel like whenever you first get out there, you feel like you're just crammed in a little box because it's so tight. Like you're never really getting out of like third gear. I would say that's probably number one. And then number two, like the... the lights like racing at dark under the lights and you just like you'll be racing you'll just be focused on the track next you know you'll look up and you'll be like holy moly I'm in it's like I'm in supercross right now like the stands are um you know like right there and the crowd's going crazy it's like you're like you're the people they're coming to watch so it's been it's been really cool How do you handle the pressure of knowing that SMX Next is kind of essentially like an audition for your future career? I mean, it's getting you to that next level, Yeah, yeah. I I appreciate, I love that it's a thing to be honest with you, because before it wasn't, and I think it'd be tricky because like you can be the very top amateur kid, and it's happened many times before SMX Next was a thing. You could be the very top amateur kid and go to pros and you're just kind of, it's kind of sink or swim and a lot of people do sink. So I think that SMX Next being able to get like a foot in, get in. not fully submerged but kind of get a little taste of the tracks or whatever else and being a battle in that environment with not the full on dirty old grown men pros has been so amazing. And just being able to get kind of a feel of that and all that good stuff is a really cool experience. So I appreciate that the most. How many SMX next rounds are there in 2026? Do you know? For Supercross like the SMX Next Supercross, there's five. It's Anaheim 2 and then it's Houston then very next weekend and then it's Daytona Beach, Florida at the Daytona 500 and then it will be Birmingham and the championship will be in Philadelphia. So that'd be really cool. Will you be racing all of those then? All five, yep. We're training Supercross right now this week. um I mean, we've been training Supercross for a while. We're changing up the Kawi in a few ways, doing some suspension changes, just here and there changes, trying to get it really comfortable and ready to go for Anaheim. I will unfortunately not be there for A2. I will be out there for A1. I live in Ohio, but I'm going to be out in California for A1. But that sounds really cool. Stepping back a little bit to August, so you made your first professional motocross start at Ironman in the 250 class. So what was that experience like for you? And did you have any expectations going into it? No, absolutely no expectations. So I just had to race Loretta's and I wasn't on a team at the time and I did pretty well Loretta's. got second at Loretta's. So it was a pretty good week and I was like, hey, you know what? I wanna race pro. Just get my feet wet, get a feel for it. you know, cause it's always like my entire career, I always raced kind of up a class. Like if I was, let's say eight years old, I would race the eight year old class and the nine year old class and the 10 year old class. So after I get done racing those big strong boys or whatever else, you come down, you're like, these kids are weak and slow, you know what I'm saying? Like it just is compared to what you're riding with. ah it was, that was kind of the goal of it. And it was, was exactly what I wanted. Like it was such a learning experience. The first moto, I ended up getting a flat tire, so I couldn't finish that one. But I made a few mistakes before I even had the flat tire so we could uh fix those for the second moto. And the second moto was, was great. mean, I got a terrible start. Like it was so cool to see how aggressive they get in the first corner. It's like they forget they're on dirt bikes. They'll just like they'll just like slam you, they'll move you though. It's whatever they want to do. They they they are so aggressive. They're getting that paycheck because they're grown men, you know. And so I slowly was coming through the pack and eventually I'd pass a person and get all mad that I'm either a rookie or whatever. I shouldn't be beating him and it would try to slam me the next corner and you got to get away. So I came through the pretty much the whole pack and I got to 16th or 17th, I forgot what I got, but it was a great race. I I beat a ton of factory riders. I was like, it was a really, really good situation for me. So it was, I rode great. was such a fun experience, especially the long motos, like, and the fans were going crazy. Like I wasn't even in the main race, but it was so awesome. Yeah, I feel like starts are probably, well, I've never been much of a racer. So I've ridden some off-road like family Enduro style stuff, where you're starting like four or five people to a row and it's go. It's not like a crazy mass start. And so the motocross style starts are just nuts to me how, like you said, people just dive into those, like no fear trying to get to the front. It's crazy. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, and the difference, you know, it's funny because like the difference between amateur and or like amateur pro versus pro ah is like, let's say in the corners, not that big of a deal, like maybe a little bit here and there, like, and the kind of that goes for everything. It's just like a little bit here and there that, that makes them the pros of pros. However, the starts is, I don't know what, if you, when you go pro, they're like, okay, here's the deal. You got to. You gotta be super, super aggressive or they're giving them something. I don't know what's in the water up there, but it's actually crazy. Like they will go into the first corner. And it doesn't matter if you got a better start than them, you shut them down, they will slam you. They will clobber you. And if they might be going flying off their bike, who knows, but they are so, they get their elbows up and they're so strong in the first corner. And so I'm just focusing on trying to do that and trying to compete, you know? um But yeah, they're ferocious. They're ferocious, sure. Do you have more plans to do Pro Motocross in the future? Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna do, I think I'm gonna do, I have up to three rounds before I have to go full pro. So I'm gonna do like three rounds. I don't know which ones I'm gonna do, but just here and there, I guess. And then race the SMX next, and then probably go pro sometime, I don't know, later. Can you tell us a little bit about the dog pound? I saw a lot of this on social media. That was formerly Chad Reed's training facility, correct? But now the Lawrence Brothers own it. you get to train there. So tell us about that. That's such an awesome experience. mean, first off, the Lawrence brothers are so awesome for having us riders out here. I mean, it's a super small group. I think there's like nine out here right now, but every single one of us are tight and we all like each other. um And it's a super sweet situation. all have the same goal and that's just to be better on the dirt bike, know, become better people, whatever else, you some other training facilities. They'll take people's money, but they're not really there to be better. And so it's really, really cool here that everyone's trying to become better racers, better riders. And it's been sweet to be able to ride with such fast riders. I mean, it's not just the Lawrence brothers. There's a ton of other fast factory pros, just normal pros. It's just been so sweet to learn and just get better. mean, the brothers and Dazzy, the dad, are super nice. They'll just come up to me and be like, hey, you need to it like this, mate, or whatever else. hey, you're going to like crap, you know what saying? But it's super sweet having them out there. Is there like a vibe check that everybody has to pass to be able to train there? I'm sure, I mean, you're, there's tons of great riders, like you said, right. And some facilities will take anybody's money, but is there like a personality or like a, attitude aspect that they kind of look for when they invite riders there? Yeah, I mean there's a lot of criteria to come here to be honest. And then the guy, Dan, that runs the facility goes through and says, talks to everyone, like, hey, do you like this kid? Do you like this kid? Do you like to everyone? And for the most part, if someone doesn't like him, he's not coming here, you know what saying? So you gotta have a good record with not making a ton of people mad and just being a good person. then once you do get here, you have to be set a good example, not be lazy, be be trying to be like, you have to actually trying to better yourself in the sport. I mean, it doesn't really matter how fast you are, as long as you're trying to succeed and not drag everyone else down. It's it's a it's a good thing, because whenever you're whenever you're training, but with training with everyone else, it really likes to do it. Training doesn't really feel like training. It feels like just a fun activity. When everyone else just doesn't really want to do it, it feels like training. So it's really cool having a close uh circle of people out here that are awesome. kind of a no drama facility and you gotta work hard to be there. Yes, exactly. So with racing, school, training, travel, like you mentioned golf, do you get to do anything else fun in your downtime? No, I wouldn't say but the fun thing is the training. I mean seriously like I On a normal training week Changes depending on what season we're in right now. We're riding Monday Tuesday uh Thursday Friday, but uh Wednesday and Saturday we're riding uh We ride bicycles so it's literally Sunday's technically the only off day I guess you could say but most Sundays that are either filled up with school or getting activities done like right now I'm trying to put a new seat on the bike and Getting all that stuff getting all that stuff ready. So it's not a whole lot of time um No, and and it's a lot of uh eating refueling drinking and sleeping to be honest because sleep is so important in the sport especially when you have to be so laser-focused so often it gets tiring so um so other than golf no, not a whole lot of stuff, Who have been some of the people, whether it's coaches, teammates, family, that have had the biggest influence on you in your career so far? There's been so many people that helped out. mean, just even the super small like, like for example, a guy this weekend, I did a race this last weekend and my clutch went out and he just came up and he just, he helped. had no, no skin in the game. He just was super nice. I mean, you just, it's that type of stuff that you just kind of see in the motocross industry. He just came up, helped, and then just walked away. I probably will never see the guy again. Like he was just, it was super nice. But, um, Like my family first off mom dad sister my sister's in a huge part of my program a lot more than uh Most siblings I guess are she she sacrificed a ton And she loves coming to the races still she's in college right now, but uh yeah, I'll have to say obviously my coaches here at the dog pound They've been super helpful since I've got here BJ Burns has been amazing amazing help He was my coach in Texas forever. Whenever I first got on big bikes, he helped me get the basics of kind of the big bike, my technique, how I could get that down. He was an amazing coach and used video analytics, which I really enjoyed. He helped out a ton, like I said. Other than that, there's just so many small people that just do super kind gestures that just makes you want to do the same, you know? take it and pass it along. So many people doing things that they just don't have to do and they just do because they're super kind people. That's just the motocross community, I guess. uh they've been super awesome. I've met so many nice people along the way that helped me and pushed me forward in my career. it's more of a team sport than people realize, right? Like you are on the bike solo, but there's so many people behind the scenes that are making things happen. Yeah, for sure. mean, yeah, like you said, there's it's it's it's a team sport for sure. um I mean, just being out here, there's it's awesome. I mean, you have this suspension guy at the races, you have your entire family. mean, my mom is literally at the races working to non stop more than me. Like she's she's trying to predict every move. She's like bringing out sandwiches so I can have it right in my face so I can eat, drink. She's keeping track of my track, excuse me, my hydration. I mean, she has my computer there so I can watch my lines, autographs. She has everything. My sister does the same. I mean, it's just, everyone's just such a, it's such a group effort. the circle that I have is not a huge circle uh at this time, but it's such, of those people that are in it. I mean, the Castlemans, uh The Prime Star Home Health, they've jumped on board since this uh SMX next season and they have helped so much. mean, they've come to pretty much, I think every single race, no matter how big or how small, they're more than just a sponsor at this point. I mean, they're family. But they've been so awesome. They do whatever they can to absolutely help me. It makes me feel really special and makes me... really like doing what I'm doing and just going out there and representing them. I really have the easy job. So yeah, it's awesome having these tight knit of people. What is the biggest skill that you're working on right now? Something that could make the difference between just having a good ride and really having a breakthrough ride. Yeah, so right now just as far as technique is uh concerned, since I've gone to the dog pound, mean, it's it's a ton of simple things, but it's just kind of tricky because we're so engraved in our memory is keeping both my fingers, my uh index fingers, both of them on the controls at all points in time. So not just corners, straightaways, whoops, anything could be. um Keep it on my, one on my clutch and one on my front brake, and then also rotating my hand out a little bit so it kind of helps the the square of my body and then third, ah right now that is probably the most I'm focusing on the most for as far as super cross is for the whoops, missing the first actual whoop with my front wheel. And so like all the best whoop riders do it. uh It's tricky, it's hard, but it helps you get flat in the whoops and fast. So that's what I'm working on right now. It probably requires a lot of thinking until it becomes like habit, like you said, like you're constantly thinking about it. And then once you do it so much, it'll just be natural. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's funny because it was so much thinking, so much thinking, so much thinking, kind of natural. And then now I'm back to the point where I'm trying to focus on going fast. And so sometimes my technique slips up just a little bit. So I have to focus on going fast and keeping it on. So yeah, it's been super fun to work on those things. You were also recently highlighted as a quarterfinalist for NFL quarterback Russell Wilson's year three brand youth athlete of the year. So how does it feel to be recognized, not just for your riding, but representing the next generation of athletes? Yeah, I mean, it's amazing. uh I was so happy how far we got in that. yeah, I mean, as my mom always said, as me, the faster I potentially get and the more um recognition and more people look up to me, I need to use that, I guess you could say, power, I guess, that's probably not the right word to do good, you know, to, I always thought it was super special and of the fast racers. um they were super nice and humble. I don't understand why you'd get super cocky. I I understand why someone would, but I don't think it's, I should do that and just stay humble and just uh try to spread kindness and good. Cause so many people look up to me, know? And so it's so cool seeing a kid that really admires me and I talk to him for a little bit longer than I probably need to. And it's really cool for that kid, you know? So. Just trying to spread kindness and joy and using my platform with my Instagram or whatever else and KOKO and keep on keeping on for anything that happens in life, you know, to spread kindness and help people achieve their goals or whatever else. You know, I enjoy doing that. I enjoy putting smiles on people's faces. So with that KOKO that you just mentioned, the KOKO, keep on keeping on, is that something that you came up with or is that, how did that come about? Yeah, it was me and my grandpa. were at a race and I was really young and I was like, got like second to dead last or something. I don't know what it was, but I was like, I just kept on keeping on, you know? So the full slogan is actually KOKO SV, but the brand is just KOKO and SV stands for stay vertical. So the two things you need to win a race and do well in a race, know? So, but yeah, it's... become, we've always uh followed that KOKO my entire life and eventually we're like, hey, let's spread this word, you know, it's, it's really helped to me, you know, just got to keep on keeping on in life. I mean, no matter what life throws at you, it's going to throw you some crazy curve balls and, whatever else. And it's important to, you know, keep on keeping on and stay vertical involved. So yeah, this is, it was super cool. yeah. And do you sell apparel with that phrase on it? Yeah, yeah, so we sell apparel right now. We're trying to expand the business, I guess you could say a little bit. uh Expand the word of KOKO. And yeah, we're selling we got um T-shirts. I mean, we have just merch for just Kade Johnson just in general is kind of a cool Miami T-shirt. We're about to do hats. We're expanding as much as we can. So hopefully it'll be like a kind of my brand and expand as I get faster potentially and go the pros. I'm a marketing and PR person, so I love branding and this sort of thing when athletes develop their own line of apparel and accessories and it has cool meaning behind it too. So I think that's really awesome. Yeah, it's been super sweet. It's been kind of tricky because that's not oh our expertise. But yeah, it's been fun. mean, the slogan and the business model and the name and all that stuff came super easy because we've been just doing it our whole life. So that part was easy, though. You mentioned kind of talking to the younger riders and that kids look up to you. If you could give one piece of advice for kids that want to follow in your footsteps, what would that advice be? I mean, I think the obvious answer would probably be keep on keeping on to be honest. I mean, just no matter what, when I was younger in California, mean, were every race, I was on like a stock bike against everyone else's mods. I just had so many challenges and so many, and I have a terrible AMA birthday. And that pretty much means I was always the youngest in the class. I was always a challenge. So I wasn't quite doing probably as well as I should have been doing. It's always just tricky things, and you just gotta keep on keeping on. And those challenges when you're a kid and anytime in life just make you a better person. I mean, it just helped out a lot. Being the younger kid in the class is, now that I'm older, it made me tougher and probably made me faster. And it was cool, know? Looking ahead, what are some of your goals? And I know you kind of have a big announcement to make too. So what are the plans for this upcoming year? Yeah, so I'm gonna be racing the SMX next again, uh which is I guess formerly called futures and then the Combine motocross Combine uh it's kind of all the same program but kind of named different things but uh Yeah, I'm gonna race those two and then probably the SMX next playoffs. We'll see uh on the Kawasaki so that was that was it turned in from to like one race thing to uh kind of the future for my year. I've been really liking the bike and whatever else. yeah, that's the plan. I might race a few pro nationals. Like I said, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to develop myself as a rider and see whenever I can, I'm ready to go pro whenever a team wants to pick me up. Awesome. Well, let's tell people where they can connect with you or follow your career online. Kade Johnson 177 on Instagram. Well, thank you so much for joining me and I wish you the best of luck this upcoming season. And thanks to everybody for tuning into Momentum. This has been a production of High Gear Success. If you want to connect or recommend a guest, head to MomentumMotorsportsPodcast.com. Until next time, keep the momentum rolling.