The History of TUF Racing

In the early 1980’s, founder Dave Antolak began brainstorming how he could justify spending money to go racing and support his lifelong passion for motocross.  In 1983, TUF Racing was born as one of the first mail order companies in the industry.  Starting with selling closeout items from Torsten Hallmen Racing through ads in Motocross Action Magizine, Dave soon after was able to buy a small Kawasaki dealership in Dekalb, IL.  Along with running the dealership, TUF Racing was a distributor for many companies including Sinasalo and UFO Plast.  TUF Racing Kawasaki would soon became one of the most reputable and innovative companies in the motocross industry.

As a way to promote the dealership, TUF Racing started as a professional Supercross/Motocross team with rider Alan King 1985.  TUF Racing was one of the first privateer teams on the professional circuit.  Known for their flashy colored custom bikes and gear, topped off with a catchy playoff: 1-800-CALL-TUF, TUF Racing was noticed everywhere they went.  Throughout the next 10 years, TUF Racing scored many top privateer SX/MX finishes with riders like Keith Bowen, Todd Dehoop, Mark Barnett, Ron Tichenor, Ron Leichen, and John Dowd.  But, as the motocross industry began to take off in the early 90’s, the ability for privateer teams to race SX was becoming harder and harder.  TUF Racing would race its last SX season in 1995.

With the time and funding restrictions of running a dealership, going to do Supercross and Motocross was no longer feasible. However, a new and fast growing indoor race series would fit the bill for TUF Racing; the National Arenacross Series.  After winning the championship and about 90% of the races in their 1996 inaugural season, TUF racing would become the most successful team in Arenacross history.  With 5 national championships from riders; Jimmy Gaddis, Buddy Antunez, Danny Smith, Chad Johnson, and Jeff Gibson, the TUF racing team enters each season as a top contender for the title.

Today, TUF Racing’s business model is quite different than it was in the 90’s but their passion and continued innovation for the sport remains unchanged.  In 2005, the Kawasaki dealership was sold in order to focus more on racing and other ventures such as their distribution of UFO Plast and various product development projects. Most recently, in early 2009, TUF Racing began developing for their newest division, TUF Performance Products.  With state of art technology and the vast knowledge of engine builders Ron Hamp and Scott Venning, TUF Racing now provides to the public the same quality and performance motor modifications, parts, and accessories that they use for their own factory race team.