Troy Dog
Yep, this heading could be written for a bit on Saturday Night Live, but it’s real life for Iowa privateer Deegan Hepp.
First, before we dive too far into this story, we have to give a shoutout to our buddy Checkerz from Race Tech who wrote about Hepp’s San Francisco SX experience on Twitter.
Apparently Checkz won’t let Hepp sleep on his desk or allow him to use the break room for nourishment. Sad.
Hepp has actually attempted several rounds of Supercross. In 2023 he attempted Daytona, Detroit, Nashville, and Denver. He made the night show in Nashville in the 250 class and then the 450 night show in Denver.
To prepare for the 2024 season, Hepp has been riding at a track that was built by Justin Brayton, just outside of Fort Dodge, Iowa. On his friend Josh Amunson’s property.
“To be able to ride a supercross track from September to the middle of December was huge for me,” Hepp said. “To just build that confidence and know how to jump everything.”
The real story here is that while the series is out in California, this man is seriously living out of his van. Hepp works full-time doing construction and during the summer he saved up as much as he could and at the same time he was gathering sponsors to make the “trek to California to see what he could do!”.
Hepp said he’s equipped with a mini fridge, microwave, a little Blackstone grill, and a cooler. He has an Anytime Fitness membership where he goes to workout (anytime) and shower (anytime). The gym is less than two miles from the Race Tech shop, so he could technically run to the gym if he wanted to.
For the first two rounds, Hepp’s girlfriend was there to help, but she had to go home to attend another semester of college. His brother will be flying out for the next two rounds to help out the program. He plans on racing the next three rounds, skip Glendale, using that two week break to go back to work, then hit the next four rounds. He also wants to hit St. Louis and Nashville if the budget allows, but wants to hit more.
The 17th place finish was more than just another race for the 21-year-old. It was his first main and he made quite the charge in the LCQ to secure his spot.
“Honestly it didn’t feel real when I first looked up at the screen coming from 16th,” Hepp said. “I thought I was around the 6-8 range, I didn’t believe it! It felt like a movie lining up on that line with all the big names.”
As of Tuesday night, Hepp had just finished putting his bike back together to put some practice in on Wednesday.
“The thing was trashed,” Hepp said.
Then, as we finished up our conversation for the night, Hepp said he was going to eat some supper…in his van…down by the Race Tech shop.
