Racer X Illustrated — October 2017

95

t’s early
June, four
days after
the Thunder
Valley Na-
tional, where
Baggett, 25,
earned his fi rst career 450
Class victory. A rainstorm
has central Florida seek-
ing shelter for a second
day. Blake won’t be riding,
but that’s okay with him;
he has plenty to keep him
busy. Wearing a camoufl age
baseball hat and cowboy
boots, he looks more like
a geographically confused
construction worker than
a racer. Technically, he is a
construction worker—and
a foreman, day laborer,
electrician.... If you ask
him, he identifi es as a farmer,
and he has the tractors and
trucks to get any job done.
The incalculable amount of
sweat equity poured into his
property, one hour northwest
of the Orlando airport, has
come entirely from Baggett,

his family, and Ghis Pereira,

the only employee on the

ranch. Blake’s father, Tom,

estimates the amount of dirt

moved alone—to build the

supercross and motocross

tracks, the latter of which

features a steep 72’ climb—

is worth $1.25 million.

Blake has a smile on his

face ten feet wide, and he

immediately goes into tour-

guide mode, showing off the

most recent work he’s done

on his nearly 100-acre plot

of land, which was a hayfi eld

four years ago. Before the

fi nal sale in the spring of

2013, he held the property

up in escrow for nine months

while he dug soil samples, did

extensive sound tests, and

fi led a 6,000-page proposal to

the city of Leesburg, Florida,

to have the land rezoned. By

a vote of 7-0 on March 21,

2013, the city’s planning com-

mission voted to recommend

approval. In short, Baggett

isn’t on a conditional-use

permit. “Personal moto-cross

[sic] training track” is written

in Exhibit A of his case fi les.

He was careful to ensure he’d

never have to go through the

battles other riding facilities

have experienced.

Over the course of

three hours, the talking

never stops, but not once

do we discuss the previ-

ous weekend’s race—also

the fi rst major win for Team

Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-

KTM-WPS. He points out

details as we walk, like the

steel curb caps on a build-

ing’s foundation that can

withstand the pressure of

a 20-ton bulldozer driv-

ing over them. He motions

to the back of the building

and explains why it’s facing

south (most of the storms,

like today’s, come from that

direction). Even the layering

of the steel siding is carefully

calculated with protection

from the elements in mind.

I

SHEPHERD