It doesn’t happen often – Cycle News choosing a dirt track racer as its Rider Of The Year. It’s only occurred three times in the last 24 years: Our own Chris Carr in 1999, legendary Scotty Parker back in 1996, and the late, great Ricky Graham in 1993, when RG won a dramatic Grand National title on a Johnny Goad-tuned Honda after being written off as a has-been.

Like Carr, Parker and Graham, this year’s winner very definitely earned his stripes, all of which turned out to be as blue, rubbery, melted and gritty as the streaks left behind by his Indian FTR’s rear Dunlop as it tore into the blue groove at Sacramento or Springfield.

Yep, Jared Mees tore things up in 2017. He tore into the competition, tore into the racetracks of AFT’s 2017 season, and tore into the record books, posting a number of firsts. He won the very first Daytona TT. Won 10 of 18 races in 2017. Was the first to win on the new Indian, and the first to capture a championship for them. Mees became one of the few to win a Grand Slam – winning a TT, Short Track, Half-Mile and Mile in one season. And Mees recorded the most podiums in a season – 17 of 18. Epic stuff.

And then there’s Mees’s tuner, Kenny Tolbert, Chris Carr’s longtime tuner, owner of 11 Grand National Championship titles. Talk about a tough team.

“I wanted to go out and be the first guy to win the Daytona TT,” Mees said. “I wanted to be the first guy to win the first race on an Indian, to win the first Indian championship. Be the first guy to win the all-twins Grand National Championship, like it once was back in the day. A lot of first things happened this year, and I wanted to accomplish as many as I could.”

Well done, Jared, and congratulations once again.

With his 2017 Cycle News Rider Of The Year award, Jared Mees joins some pretty elite company - including our own Chris Carr.

Be sure to check out the excellent Cycle News issue here: http://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/917325-cycle-news-issue-50-december-19-2017

Next up for the stars of American Flat Track is the Bigger, Better and Faster DAYTONA TT on March 15, 2018, at Daytona International Speedway. Tickets start at just $29, and are on sale now via Daytona International Speedways’s website at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Events/2018/DAYTONA-TT/DAYTONA-TT.aspx or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.