CASEY’S CHRONICLES - Adventures Shared

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Casey’s Chronicles feature stories and tall tales about our founder, Casey Folks. In each feature we share a bit about the man himself and some of the key moments in his remarkable career that went into creating the legend that Casey became. Each one is presented by a different member of the BITD family and staff. Some are funny, some are serious, some are just designed to fi ll you in on some amazing history and facts you may not know about the man. Welcome to Casey’s World!

Casey Folks and Tom Scales, Desert Racing Legends

By Jeff Phillips

It all started in the late 1950’s. Tom Scalesm a high schooler at Las Vegas High, transfers to the “new Rancho High” and meets up with Casey Folks, and a friendship that would last over the next 60 or so years was formed. This friendship would change the off-road industry and be a large part of what all of us

off-roaders know today. What started as a high school friendship, soon grew to the two of them working at the Las Vegas UPS delivery service. During their time at UPS, Casey and Tom, nurtured their new hobby, off-road motorcycles. In those days Las Vegas only had 60,000 or so residents, a lot of “dirt bikers” in a few local motorcycle clubs who needed parts and mechanics, and there was only a couple “motorcycle shops”. First, around 1965, Casey and Tom tried to join one of the local bike clubs. As Casey once told me, they were at the meeting and they asked Casey and Tom to wait outside so they could formally vote on them joining. So, Tom and Casey walked outside, said “Screw this!” and they left! According to Tom and Casey, they left that day and never looked back. It was at that point they came up with the idea to form their own club, the Groundshakers MC. They would race the local TT’s and scrambles,

Tom Scales (left), Casey Folks (right)

and would travel the deserts of Southern California and race District 37 Desert Races which had become very popular at the time. With the local association only interested in TT and scrambles, Tom and Casey came up with another idea; start their own racing association. In 1968 the Motorcycle Racing Association of Nevada (MRAN) was formed and the fi rst desert race in Southern Nevada was held out in the desert near Pahrump, Nevada. Both MRAN & the Groundshakers MC are still going strong today and are run nearly the same as Tom and Casey had envisioned. During these formative years, Casey and Tom continued to work at UPS while trying to race as much as possible. Soon, they had yet another of their big ideas; start a Motorcycle Shop! Unfortunately, this idea had one big problem; money! So, around the same time as the infamous meeting of 1965, the pair went to Tom’s dad, Kibby, a master mechanic himself, and asked for a loan, while also approaching the local Suzuki distributor about forming a second dealership. Casey and Tom never really came clean on the actual specifi cs of the “dealership deal” but this was the start of Sportsman Cycle. The fi rst location was the back of Marvin’s Woodshop on Nellis Blvd and they sold parts and service. Soon the shop grew out of the small location, and they moved to Lake Mead Blvd, where soon after, they added Suzuki and later Husqvarna Motorcycles. A few years later, again the shop outgrew their location. They searched far and wide and settled on land and constructed a

Tom (left), Casey (far right)

building on Boulder Highway. Then in 1972 they moved into the new building, the same location where Sportsman Cycle and Best In The Desert operate today. Before the rise of Best In The Desert, Casey and Tom started the Sportsman Cycle Racing Team. They would become big time racers and participate in some of the most iconic races of the day, Barstow to Vegas, Baja 1000, SNORE 250, Moapa to Vegas (GS MC) and of course the original Mint 400. As the years went on, they would sponsor some of the biggest names to come out of Las Vegas: Max Switzer, Jack Johnson, Scot Harden, Daryl and Bryan Folks, Scot Morris, and many others. In 1967 they linked up with Edison Dye and became the dealer of the Swedish Husqvarna brand that would take over desert racing for many years to come. As time went on, Tom the business man, would run the shop and Casey would put on tough races to “wear-out and break equipment”, which would bring in the customers to buy products and new bikes at Sportsman. Both the Groundshakers and MRAN thrived under Casey’s leadership and soon Casey was looking to go bigger and the Las Vegas 400 professional desert race, along with partner Sam Bass, was created. Another few short years later, Casey began to promote more and more professional races, the Whiskey Pete’s World Championship, the Mesquite and Ely Gran Prix’s, and soon the

need for a professional racing association was imperative. Thus, with this knowledge, Best In The Desert was started in 1984. In 1986 Tom and Casey decided to split the dealership into two different shops while staying in the same building. Casey kept the Sportsman Cycle name along with the Husqvarna and KTM dealership, and Tom created Nevada Suzuki, keeping the Suzuki dealership. They remained friends and business partners until Casey’s passing in 2017. Tom closed Nevada Suzuki and retired a few years ago. Unfortunately, last month in February, 2022, Tom Scales passed away. I hope all of you reading this, understand that all of off-road racing owes a huge dept of gratitude these two pioneers and all they did for our sport! With this, I say with deep sincerity, Casey and Tom, thank you for all you did.

Casey (left), Tom (right)