Independent Turk Travels Off Road to Career Success

A privateer is a romantic figure, a throwback to Errol Flynn swashbuckling through “Captain Blood.”

Such a fellow would be wearing a plumed hat, brim pulled down over an eye patch. A flowing mustache would cover a scar on his cheek. He would have a billowing shirt and tight breeches, a sash holding a glistening saber in place.

Shoes?

Would a man this tough need shoes?

I met a privateer this week. He even had a name to fit the role. Almost, anyway. His name was Don Turk. I was sure I would learn he had abandoned the name Don years ago, unless maybe he was going by Dangerous Don Turk.

Frankly, I figured his business card would say Terrible Turk.

It turned out that this Turk is a privateer--and maybe even a pirate--in a different sense. Call him an off-road highwayman, excusing the incongruity of such a description.

Turk, a 21-year-old La Costan with reddish-blond hair, races four-wheel all-terrain vehicles. He is called a privateer because he does not race for a factory-sponsored team.

“I call myself an independent contractor,” he said. “If I was on Team Suzuki, I’d be owned by Suzuki. I’d have to wear Suzuki shirts and eat Suzuki food. I have a good deal with Yamaha in that we work together, but I have my independence. I like it a lot.”

So Turk will be driving a Yamaha, but not racing for Yamaha, in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix tonight in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Turk had a similar arrangement with Suzuki a year ago, when he won the individual series championship, at the same time earning the points that gave the Manufacturers’ Cup to Suzuki. He beat them without joining them and then had the pleasure of watching them ride the tail of his comet to a win of their own.

Indeed, this privateer is after more than what might be considered his share of the loot.

His approach to sponsorship is an example of his flair for individualism. He drives the Yamaha ATV but does not join the team. This way, he can use a Klemm Research motor and Quad Dynamics handling and White Bros. parts and accessories and O’Neal boots and gloves and a Shoei Helmet. And his list goes on.

Turk doesn’t dance to a different drummer . . . he plays the drum.

It has been that way since he first climbed aboard a motorcycle at age 12. He did the conventional and played baseball and soccer in junior high school, but the unconventional would win his heart.

“The excitement and thrill of going fast and twisting a throttle overtook soccer and baseball,” he said.

In his junior and senior years at San Dieguito High School, Turk got out of school at noon for work experience. In what had become his line of endeavor, his work experience was spent on the back of a motorcycle. He was a state motocross champion at 17, and not state high school champion, either. The champion.

The switch to four-wheel ATVs was a natural progression.

“You ride it like a motorcycle,” he said, “and you drive it like a car. It’s a combination.”

And it’s a wild ride, a perfect fit for an individual who describes himself as adventurous and aggressive. It’s a nice match of machine and adrenaline.

The races last for maybe six or seven minutes on the tightly wrapped course, which probably looks a little bit like an intestine when viewed from a blimp. There is little margin for error, and the next curve is just around the one you’re in.

“It tests every sense in your body,” Turk said. “The intensity level is incredible. After a race, you’re in a full sweat and your body and mind keep racing for another 10 or 15 minutes.”

The only comparison he could come up with was snow skiing.

“Imagine going wide-open through moguls with other skiers all around and a crowd roaring,” he said. “Imagine doing that for seven or eight minutes.”

Snow skiing, as might be expected, is another of Turk’s loves. He also likes to surf, play racquetball and, of all things, do aerobics. After all, he does things his way, and he figures anything athletic helps his conditioning.

Jogging?

“I do that,” he said, “but I don’t have any plans to pound out five miles a day. That’s not my style.”

The weather is turning warm these days, so Turk is ready for the beach. He has bought a 1963 Buick Skylark convertible, all the better to bag rays and, well, be consistently different from the next guy.

“I enjoy old cars and ‘50s and ‘60s music,” he said, “but mainly the older life style. Kind of a James Dean style.”

No, not Errol Flynn.

And where will Don Turk go from here? He will worry about today and next week and next month, and take care of business on his four-wheel ATV. But new challenges lurk for this Turk.

“Possibly cars,” he said. “I don’t really know for sure. Let’s just say that, if it goes fast and has wheels, I’d like to drive it.”

In the meantime, he should be looking into a line of Terrible Turk posters. Errol Flynn and James Dean would approve.