Jim “Hacksaw” Severt is a bad ass. He’s into Southpark, racing bmx, digging trails, watching grandma’s boy and now he’s the man behind the Squaw Valley mtb bike park project. No more speculation, get the info from the man himself.
Name? James Justin Severt Jr aka: jimsaw, hacksaw, saw, bone saw (cam zink) and any other saw combo
Hometown? Reno , NV
Sponsors? Atomlab , Smith Optics , Kali Protectives , Sirrius XM Liquid Metal,
Years riding? 36
Who do you ride with? Mostly Jason Caufield, Brooks , Cortney , Steve and the rest of the NTTC, Cam Zink and the Peanut
Who are some of the riders you look up to? Lately umm, wow, Cam Zink is def one of my fav’s also and of course my son Peanut he is a beast on a 20 and 26
What mtn bike or bikes are you rocking for 2010? Atomlab Hardtails and Corsair Suspension
What bmx bike are you racing for 2010? I am currently on a GHP XXL frame and I rock a DK R/T at the trails
Riders to watch out for? Cierra Smith a 14 year old young lady who straight up rips the 26 , and this 14 year old Cole Proctor he is a great kid and starting to shine on his BMX Bike.
How long have you raced bmx and why? I have raced since sometime in the mid 1976 so that is right around 36 years I believe, Why you ask ? well I guess it is the feeling I get when I lock into the gate and the rush of hitting a corner with 7 other worthy people all looking for a way to win that one particular race.
What type of music do you listen to? Favorite bands? I listen to everything under the sun ( and a lot of Metal) my favorite band would probably be Hatebreed this week.
I’ve read that you you don’t like the governor of Nevada, Why? I try to stay away from the politics, when the Governor of the State you live in is so F-ing incompetent not only as an elected official but also as a human, you have to take a stand. Nevada ranks I believe 46th in education and that Idiot cuts Education spending while giving himself and his staff raises, there is a definite problem .
After years of riding, what makes you want to keep riding? My passion for the bicycle. I still have the drive and asperations of going to the Olympics and racing BMX . And the progression of BMX (race and freestyle) and Mountain Bikes (Race and Freeride)
What is something most people don’t know about you? I am an avid Baseball fan (Giants and Braves) and I really like building Cabinets and such for kitchens and offices.
What have you been up to lately? Not a whole lot …building at my trails a lot, working a lot , doing gates and sprints for BMX , dirt jumping , a little dh, karaoke , supporting the Adolph Coor’s company , watching Grandma’s Boy and Anchorman way too much, chasing pretty women around, Facebooking , Tweeting and Myspacing, making prank personal ads with my friends phone numbers on craigslist, air guitaring with my shovel at the trails, doing some videoing , trying to perfect my Cartman voice, training BMXers and Mountain bikers, living the life of a Rockstar on a bike riders budget, and well just having a plain old good time. Oh and watching Cam Zink pack jumps with his shovel.
I heard some talk about something huge in the works for Squaw Valley? Can you give us some insight to what to expect? Well Kyle Crezee who was at Northstar is now at Squaw , (part of his move was for a MTB park I believe) . My good friend and a woman I help train Cortney is real good friends with Nancy Cushing (Squaw owner) ,Cortney has been telling Nancy that Squaw should open a MTB Park for awhile . Nancy finally said ok and asked Cortney who should run it and Cortney told her about me, Cortney had me call Nancy and she had Kyle set up a meeting , me and Kyle discussed the park , he got it budgeted in, and “BOOM” he has hired me as MTB Park Manger. We plan on it being huge ..Think “BIG” is our motto.
How long has this been in the works? Off and on now for about 6 months.
Is there any plans to have any contests? If so when? Well if I can have it my way I want another World Cup Race on the old “99″ World Cup course and then I want to do a Bike festival with all the bells and whistles like Slopestyle , XC , Dual and 4X , DH and Trials within 2 years.
Who are some of the builders? Well at the moment there is only me and Kyle (haha) I am pretty sure I have a guy Taylor Embree who is going to be onboard and hopefully Jason Caufield and Nathan Blades but nothing is locked down as of yet. I have received about 100 calls and emails of people looking also , so there is some talent to work with there also.
When is the grand opening? We are shooting for a July 4th weekend opening , it will be on a limited basis this season and the Tram to High Camp will be the only access up for this year, next year we will have hopefully Squaw 1 lift and 12 trails open with at least a partial jump line that will hopefully be able to be finished mid season next year.
Thank you for taking the time out to do this interview. Any last words? Last words huh? Thanks to the people who believe in me and all of my friends and Family who always encourage me to chase it and live it. Thank you to Nancy for opening up this Beautiful mountain to the MTB world. Thanks to you for the interview. And last but not least thanks to Ron Burgundy for these words “don’t act like your not impressed” … Stay Classy my bike peeps and come check out Squaw Valley and say hi.
