The Kids Are Alright
Growing up in the Dyer home means learning how to boot and rally.
My first vehicle was an Arctic Cat minibike that
I pestered my parents into buying when I was
10 years old. I didn’t yet know the term “whiskey
aU_\aaYR³Oba6Re]RVR[PRQVa¼aUN[Q\[Zf\[R and only ride, in which I rocketed across the lawn N[Q V[a\ NR]aVP YRNPU ¼RYQ DUR[ 6 dN N YVaaYR OVa older, if not wiser, I had ATVs—a Kawasaki Mojave and then a Honda 250X—and a ratty 1977 Scorpion ?N[TRDUV]@aV[T!! [\dZ\OVYRdUVPUdN basically an engine with handlebars. I just wanted to drive something, and when you’re a kid, power- sports machines are your best hope for hurtling f\b_RYSNP``aUR]YN[Ra<\ßVaN6YRN_[RQ\[ the Mojave. Turns out that when you’re attempting to summit the biggest wall at the local gravel pit, second gear isn’t quite enough. In third, though, f\bP\[aV[bRf\b_NPR[aY[TNSaR_aURaR__N¼ZN
has ended, arcing in a graceful parabola across the
Maine sky and ultimately ending up with a single rib
that juts out at an odd angle to this very day.
Given my fond memories of riding adventures,
I encourage my own kids, ages seven and nine, to
get out there and tear it up, probably to the con-
sternation of our immediate neighbors in the cul-
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that’s slowly going superleggeraN]N_aSNYY\ßN[QN
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looks as if it were co-owned by the Knievel family
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kids are learning the basics of vehicle dynamics, imprinting the
codes for car control long before they can see over a dashboard.
The only challenge is that room to roam is a little tight in our
corner of North Carolina, where every trail ends with a fence.
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of Las Vegas. The drive itinerary spanned 80 miles, running the
Silver State trail system from a base camp that also included var-
ious dirt bikes and a youth-size ATV. So I brought the kids out to
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look like, hopefully stoking their interest in cars in the process.
And the Talon, especially the Fox Live Valve model, is the
most carlike side-by-side out there, which is perhaps unsur-
prising since it’s built by a car company. It’s got a paddle-shifted
dual-clutch transmission, adaptive dampers, and launch con-
trol. It’s naturally aspirated, but there’s a dealer-installed Jack-
son Racing turbocharger that boosts horsepower to around
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disengage the front axle for drift antics. If you’re feeling more
overland than safari, the four-wheel-drive system features a
low-range transfer case for picking along technical trails. Base
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nearly as comfortable dropping into a dry wash at 60 mph.
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The kids were loving it through most of the day. But some-
where around mile 60, my older son declared, “I don’t feel so
good.” I immediately slowed down, but it was too late: Moments
later, he barfed all over his clothes, the inside of his helmet,
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a nosebleed, so by the time we reached the
Delamar ghost town, the lad was a walking
Jackson Pollock. I felt horrible, because
violent nausea doesn’t comport with the
car-positive worldview I’d hoped to encour-
age. Fortunately, we parked for a bit in Dela-
mar, taking a fun educational break to learn
about death by silicosis. I also spent a lot of
time saying, “Hey, get away from that!”
I cut our ride short and headed back to
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to sit still for a while. But within minutes,
he’d changed his clothes, made a beeline for
a CRF110F, and headed onto the adjacent
mini motocross track. I’d planned to call it
a day, but if he could puke and rally, then I
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gears a few times before dusk. Hurtle your-
self across the planet now. Rest later.Eating dirt in a side-by-side is how Dyer teaches his clan to drive.
22 JANUARY 2020 ~ CARAND DRIVER
ILLUSTRATIONBY^ BRETTAFFRUNTI