What were you doing when you were eight years old? I?think I?was playing with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, watching Full House and asking my mom to make me apple slices with peanut butter. Sound about right? Maybe Tucker Hibbert did these things too (minus watching Full House), but he was also competing in his first motorcycle races in Noies Park, Idaho.
One year later—at the age of nine—Hibbert had competed in his first snowmobile race in West Yellowstone, Montana. Superstardom seemed inevitable. In 2000, at the age of 15, Hibbert became an instant celebrity when he became the youngest athlete to win a gold medal in snocross at the Winter X Games.
From there, he blasted into the snocross and motocross scene, earning nine Winter X Games snocross medals, 55 National Pro awards, six Canadian Motorsport Racing Corporation (CMRC) MX2 moto wins, seven AMA?Motocross 250 top-15 moto finishes and four AMA Supercross 250 top-10 finishes.
A racing prodigy
Hibbert mainly focused on snocross in his early professional years, but in 2003, he retired from national snocross to race motorcycles full time. It was during this time that Hibbert became one of Monster Energy’s first sponsored athletes. However, Hibbert soon realized that he missed snocross and returned to the national snocross tour in 2006, while forming team Monster Energy/Arctic Cat and becoming the only athlete to compete in snocross and motocross at a premier level.
Why the nickname?
From the get-go, Hibbert has had his best friend, Robby Dahlen, by his side. Even now, Dahlen is working on Hibbert’s team as a mechanic and designer and he is the one who dubbed Hibbert T-Train—a nickname that has stuck.
“Growing up (my best friend Robby Dahlen and I) used to race motorcycles, ride and do everything together,” said Hibbert. “One day he decided that I needed a nickname and he started calling me all sorts of different stuff. He went through a couple of different ones that I didn’t care for and one day he called me T-Train and I said that one is all right, so it kind of stuck. One that didn’t fly was T-Bone. It was weird and didn’t quite sit but he started calling me (T-Train) and now a lot of people do.”
Still holding the solo title
To this day, Hibbert is still competing at a premier level in both snocross and motocross. When asked where his motivation comes from, Hibbert said it simply comes down to his desire to be better.
“For me it’s about trying to find ways to be better,” said Hibbert. “I really love what I do—that is the core of it. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t do it. From a racing aspect, it is just so challenging and there are so many things that go into racing and there is a lot of opportunity to progress. That is what drives me, to figure out how I can become a better athlete.”
Hibbert has no plans for slowing down. In the future, he said he would like to work on his supercross skills. Just this year, Hibbert was invited to compete in the supercross event at the Summer X Games 16. This year, 16 riders will compete for the gold at the Los Angeles Coliseum from July 29 to August 1.
“I feel that I have the skills and talent to be a winner at supercross racing,” said Hibbert. “So, I really want to find the time to put focus into that.”
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