Russ Pearson Biography
Name: Russell Pearson
Born: November 29, 1979
Hometown: Henderson, NV
Dimensions: 5 feet 9 inches
Poundage: 165
Brothers: 5 (Nate, Nick, Axel, Tuffy, & Otto)
Sisters: 5 (Beth, Maggie, Emma, Laura, & Ava)
Pets: YZ- Siberian Husky
What gets me from point A to point B: 2006 Ford F250 Crew Cab
Hobbies: Mountain/Road Biking, golf, relaxing
Years racing: 18
Know what a barky is? Yes
1st Bike: JR 50
Personal Heroes: my Dad
Been bucked off a horse? Yep
Helped brand and casterate cows? Yep
Herded cows in snow and rain? Yep
Greatest Racing Accomplishments: 2 time AMA National Hare and Hound Champion (2003 & 2005), 4 time ISDE Gold Medalist(Australia, Portugal, Spain, France), 2 time ISDE Top American, 5 time MRAN #1 plate holder, Several AMA National Enduros Overall wins, WORCS race Overall winner, 4th Overall at GNCC race
Funniest Race Memory: running over my older brother Nick when he crashed in front of me & being too scared to stop because I thought he would put a major thumpin' on me, so I just kept my 50 pinned...
Funnest time riding: up at the Ranch riding side by side on two track jeep
roads with my brother Nick
Advice for up and comers: have fun, keep practicing and the speed will come!
Thank you to all of my fans and supporters over the last 18 years!
The Russ Pearson Story
Russell Pearson was born November 29, 1979 at the Pearson Ranch. The Pearson Ranch is located north of Ursine 20 miles of dirt road which is 20 northeast of Pioche, NV.
Russell’s dad and uncle’s used to play around on dirt bikes chasing coyotes and having fun and did a few races of which we still have one of my dad’s picture trophies where he’s wearing some jeans and cowboy chaps, work boots, a flannel shirt and leather gloves that they used for bailing wire and hay bails. He had on a goofy helmet and some rad goggles. Anyways, for Christmas when Russ was 4 he got his first motorcycle. He would play with his dad and 2 brothers, Nick and Nate on weekends when they had the chance. They would switch off with living with their mom sometimes and then with their dad.
Russ got to spend 2 years living in Cincinnati, Ohio with no motorcycles and definitely a different scene. Anyways, back in Las Vegas is where he spent most of his younger years before Middle school. Russ’ dad got remarried and they wanted a change and something more than just Las Vegas and the trailer they lived in, so they moved back up to the ranch. Russ and his brothers would travel 55 miles to school for a total of over 100 miles of driving just to go middle school and High school which were located in Panaca, NV which is 15 miles south of Pioche. They started out with a Toyota 4 wheel drive truck. They would get up and fire up the generator so they could see and then go throw on some clothes and load their truck up with hay bails and feed the 100 or so head of cows they had. It was cold and I remember you knew it was cold when you had a runny nose and your snot would freeze before exiting your nose. Then they would come in the house and Ellen, their step mom would usually have oatmeal for some quick breakfast and off to school they went. There are a lot of animals out there by the ranch as Russ and his brothers found out. They saw elk, deer, cows, wild horses, red-tailed hawks, and golden eagles just about every day on their way to school. A couple times a Bald Eagle would migrate and hang out for a while and one morning on the way to school they got to see it about 50 feet away catch a pretty big fish from the Eagle Valley Resevoir and it struggled to climb out of the water with it clinching the big fish with it’s claws and it turned and saw us and dropped the fish and cruised away. It was cool and one other day got to see 2 huge bull(male) elk fighting in a field.
Well, one night after football practice, they were driving home and Nick was driving with Nate and Russ snoozing. All I remember was Nick slammed on the brakes and I looked up and my eyes widened as I seen a heard of Elk running across the road and well, let’s just say we weren’t going to stop in time, so bamm, fur flying and we skidded to a stop. We were all awake now to say the least. Crap man, as we looked at the front of the Toyota which was now a bit scrunched now. Well, there was one big, dead cow elk(female) on the side of the road. Well, they were raised not to waste stuff, so ‘let’s load it and at least so we can get some food out of this whole deal. Well, with 2 high school kids and one middle school kid, all they could stir was to lift one leg off the ground. They tried again, but learned that night that Elk are big huge heavy animals. Well, they feed cows every morning and traveled through anywhere from 4 feet of snow in the winter with freeeezing temperatures(never really had a thermometer, but just a winter or 2 ago, we went up to the ranch for Christmas and with new trucks, they have the temperature gauge and it read a nice negative 20 degrees) to sloppy muddy roads in the spring.
One time I remember the thermostat went out in the Toyota, so that meant there was no heater. After a couple days of wearing coats and freezing their butts off they invented a cool contraption. Take a cardboard box and rip off one of the sides and put it over the radiator so there is no air flow. Well, it warmed the truck up and magically, the heater worked and it blew out warm air.
They were the only ones who didn’t get stuck one muddy spring with their dad and everyone else who traveled the road getting stuck and not making it through one section of the road that was just awfully mud. Well, they had fun too and learned that when the mud is bad, your friend is the gas pedal and you learn to feel the truck and mud and gas it or you have a long walk. Russ would bag on his brothers saying they didn’t know how to drive and stuff, just being a little wise ass, so one day on the way home from school when Russ was about 13, his brothers had enough and so fine, let’s see how you drive.
Well, I was doing good, but my brothers were like ‘come on wimp gas it, go faster’. I was only doing like 45, so I picked it up to 55, 60, then 65, then 70. Well, this turn crept up on me and it got tighter and tighter, so we were on a dirt road and the truck pitched out sideways. I remember being like aahh, oohh, as I tried to correct it and of course, I overcorrected, so we were in a full drift the other way heading for the other side of the road, I turned back and overcorrected again and this time was a bit scarier because we drifted all the way to the side of the road and hit the edge and the truck went up on 2 wheels and there was a big old wash to the left like 5 feet over with about a 20 foot drop to the wash. Ahh crapp as I left it turned to the right and this time just stayed straight and we headed off the right side of the road into a field. My heart was pounding and I was like I’m done, you guys can drive. Well, after we fixed the tire that the bead got blown off in this whole pitching and 2 wheel thing, then we were back on our way home with me as a passenger.
The ranch was cool though and eventually we got hot water and a shower and a TV. (Shoot, now it’s almost like your in town because they had an antenna put up where you have cell service with Verizon at the house and they also have satellite internet). We went on through high school, hitting and killing many animals-elk,a wild horse, deer, a cow, and going through a couple trucks. Russ’ parents always stressed getting good grades, so after Russ finished high school with 3.8 gpa and with his big graduating class of 46 he moved to Las Vegas and moved in with his brothers. Russ worked and wanted more than anything to be the best at Off-road Racing.
Nick and Russ worked and tried to practice and race as much as possible. Nick won his first National Hare and Hound at a young age of 16 and got a Factory Ride shortly after. At the MRAN races, Russ tried and tried, but Nick would always win and he would be 2nd. Russ got a factory ride when he was like 17 or so and him and Nick kept working on being the best. Nick got a couple bad injuries that slowed him down and Russ kept working away and got a ride with Yamaha in 2001.
Yamaha and Russ have been a winning combo as Russ has won many races and reached one of his lifetime goals in 2003 when he came home with the AMA National Hare and Hound #1. In 2005, he backed it up with another AMA National H & H title.
For 2006, Russ’ main goals are to win every race he enters and a championship in the AMA Hare and Hounds and the WORCS series. Russ would like to thank all his loving family and friends and sponsors that have helped him get to where he is at. Russ now lives in Henderson, NV and has a cool Siberian Husky dog with her name being YZ.
Any time your at the races, come and say hi to Russ and YZ and ask for an Autograph Poster.
Russell Pearson