R.A.T. History

From 1984 to 1986 the Rothmaier family resided in Sri Lanka, a small island-country off the southeast coast of India.

It was in Sri Lanka that the Rothmaier's were introduced to the sport of motocross by a family friend, Ralf.

On any Sunday, you could find the boys out riding on their practice track, built on a property in the outskirts of Colombo.

One particular Sunday, after putting in a few good motos, Ralf and the boys were reliving the ride through stories that all started out with, "Did you see me when..." and usually ended with, "...and then I bailed so hard!"

Realizing that the Rothmaiers would soon be returning to Canada and that the good times in Sri Lanka were not to last forever, Ralf's thoughts turned to the future. He leaned over to Ewald and said, "You know, you can't let this end here. When you return to Canada, you have to build the best motocross track in Canada and start up R.A.T. racing!"

"Well," Ewald replied with a grin, "I can build the best track and with three sons, I don't see a problem building a race team, but I refuse to name a team after a rodent so vile as a rat! Why would you suggest such a name?"

Ralf roared with laughter and finally answered. "Ewald, I don't mean rat as in 'squeak, squeak'. I mean R-A-T which stands for Rothmaier Action Team!"

The boys enjoyed many more afternoons like this before returning to Canada and fulfilling their dreams.

Fourteen years later, the R.A.T. Track lives. We host three CMRC sanctioned races yearly at the Rothmaier homestead in Ontario, Canada.

And today, the team has grown from a father and his three sons to three generations of racers and fans!