Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Stay off drugs, stay out of gangs, stay in school and if you’re going to push the limits of your vehicle do it at the racetrack. That’s the message carried by Team Sheriff Racing, a not-for-profit community education and outreach program endorsed by the Los Angeles County (California) Sheriff’s Department.

Conceived by Deputy Bill Chaffin in 1993, the program is made up of full-time Deputies who volunteer their free time to go racing, then use their racing, their race machines and their racing equipment to capture the attention of and deliver their message to driving-age youths at various school and community events throughout Southern California.

The program has used various drag racing cars over the past decade, but recently added a 2004 Honda CBR600RR, provided by American Honda and backed by numerous motorcycle industry sponsors, to its fleet of vehicles.

The rider will be Deputy Michael Churney, 28, a long-time motorcyclist, an eight-year veteran of the Department and a member of Team Sheriff Racing for several years.

“I’ve been helping out with the team for the last few years. I liked the program but drag racing wasn’t really my thing,” said Churney, who said he has lost several friends in sportbike riding accidents on Southern California’s canyon roads and has had to respond to several serious motorcycle accidents as a law enforcement officer. “We saw what kids were doing with motorcycles. We started seeing an increase in popularity with sportbikes, stunters and what not. So we toyed around with the idea of doing a road race bike, and it went from there.”

Deputies involved in the program find that racing helps them counteract any negative perception of uniformed police officers and to better connect with children, according to Churney. When dealing with driving-age kids, the racing program allows the L.A. County Sheriffs Department to offer a better, long-term alternative to would-be street racers.

“Rather than be the jerk cop who cites them, tows their car, tells them to take it to the track, we kind of take them there, show them the ropes, show them what’s going on and let them get bit by the track bug,” said Churney. “When local drag strips have their test-and-tune nights, we’ll have what we call ‘Beat The Heat,’ where we get the kids out on the track. We basically hand walk them through the procedures for getting on the track. What we’ve found out, the kids don’t necessarily want to race on the street, but they just don’t know where else to do it. They see it on TV, they know about the track but it has that mystique of, ‘It’s a Pro-only venue. I don’t belong there. I can’t go race there.’ So they don’t know where else to do it.

“What we’re trying to do now is carry that over to motorcycle track days. We get teens between 16-21, who are out there riding the canyons, being canyon racers, (and) we’ll take them to a track day, have some MSF instructors (and) some Expert-level riders. We’ve even got a couple of AMA racers who are wanting to help out and participate. We’ve got Jason Curtis from No Limit, and there’s a possibility that (Jake) Zemke and (Miguel) Duhamel will be able to come out for a couple of the events as well.

“It won’t so much be a cornering school. The riders are there to give them a few pointers and have fun while riding on the track with them at a reduced cost. That’s their reward for doing the right thing, and at the same time, it’s exposing them to the track environment so they can see if they want to take their bike to its limit or above the limit, with regards to the street, the track is the place to do it.”

Churney said he is currently working with Willow Springs International Raceway, the proposed Learning Curves test track in Riverside, California and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s (MSF) Motorcycle Training Center (MTC) in Colton, California in hopes of holding the first Team Sheriff Racing motorcycle track day in the summer of 2005. In the meantime, Churney is working toward competing in his first motorcycle road race in January 2005 by attending Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding Schools and other track days in the Southern California area.

For additional information, go to www.sheriffsracing.com.