By Chris Officer
Associate Editor
Tracy McIntyre isn’t just in the business of selling powersports vehicles from his Moto El Paso dealership, he’s in the business of setting records — and he’s not doing it alone. His latest adventure… a border-to-border motorcycle ride from Mexico to Canada with his daughter Ashley, who happens to be just 14.
The story of Tracy and Ashley’s record-breaking ride actually begins in 2010, when Tracy first caught wind of Scooter Cannonball, a competitive, multiday, point-to-point touring rally for street-legal scooters. He proposed the idea of competing in the event to his son, Matthew, who was 14 at the time. But both Tracy and Matthew had bigger ambitions and decided to do their own cross-country scooter ride.
Tracy’s father also joined the trip, and the three traveled to Florida, put their wheels in the ocean, and made their way to California.
“My son and I rode Honda SH 150 scooters, and my dad rode a [CFMOTO] 800MT,” McIntyer recalls.
The five-day, 102-hour trip started in Jacksonville, Florida, and ended in San Diego, California. The trio set several world records, including most generations riding cross country on a motorcycle, the youngest motorcyclist to ride ocean to ocean, and others.
During their cross-country excursion, Ashley was still too young to make the trip. However, that’s not to say she wasn’t preparing for what was later to come. Ashley says she was first introduced to two-wheel power when her dad would take her for rides on the front of his scooter when she was just two. By age five, she already learned how to ride her own motorcycle.
“My favorite thing about riding is that it’s very relaxing,” she says. “Whenever I get on, I feel less anxious — it’s very freeing for me.”
By the time she was old enough, Ashley had her own ambitions to do a similar long-distance motorcycle ride, and since her brother had already gone coast to coast, she figured, why not this time go border to border.
“Ashley has been riding two-wheel motorcycles since she was five, and riding regularly since then, but riding 1,500 miles is a whole different animal,” Tracy says. “So, what we did to prepare was go on weekend rides, 300-400 miles to get used to it.”
After around five weeks of preparation, Tracy mapped out a route, connected with a friend who would follow with a truck and a trailer carrying five backup bikes, and marked the calendar.
On July 16, 2025, Tracy, riding a 2024 CFMOTO 800NK, and Ashley, on a CFMOTO 300SS, started their ride at the Mexico-U.S. border crossing in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Their route would take them up through the tip of Texas, back through New Mexico, up to Colorado, and across Wyoming and Montana, before ending at the Morgan Station border crossing in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The ride throughout the Southwest part of their trip went seamlessly, Ashley recalls.
“The most memorable part of the ride was definitely the views,” she says. “The skies were extremely beautiful, and the weather was great the whole way.”
Well, that is, for the most part.
Heading into Colorado, Tracy and Ashley both remember mentioning how great the weather was the entire trip. But, as irony would have it, that’s when the weather started to turn.
“The only part of the ride where I was concerned was in Colorado,” Ashley says. “We were getting hailed on and were freezing. We had to pull over and wait it out in the chase vehicle.”
But the bad weather eventually cleared, and the two were back on the road without feeling too much deterrence.
“Even then, we were positive. We weren’t going to turn back, so I’d say I stayed confident the rest of the way there,” Ashley says.
But weather wasn’t the only hurdle on their way up to Canada. Construction work throughout Montana caused some road congestion, and a little off-road riding was mandatory. Ashley also avoided a couple of close calls — running over a large pothole and knocking off her side mirror on a road pylon — both incidents, she was able to hold on and not fall off her bike.
“My 14-year-old daughter is one tough cookie,” Tracy says.
When the two eventually made it to their Canadian destination, the total trip time — not just ride time — was under 56 hours. Tracy says the ride broke several world records and he is waiting on adjudication from RecordSetter. Some of the records Ashley set include: Fastest motorcycle ride across America (Mexico to Canada) by a female driver; fastest motorcycle ride across America border to border by father and daughter, each riding their own motorcycle; and youngest person to ride from Mexico to Canada, at 14 years and 53 days old.
When Tracy isn’t riding coast to coast or border to border with his kids, he’s moving metal and managing his El Paso, Texas dealership. When he took the time to speak to PSB for this interview, Moto El Paso was just wrapping up its annual holiday party for employees and customers. And even during our conversation, we would pause the interview so he could field phone calls and direct prospects to his sales team.
Like Ashley and Matthew, Tracy also started motorcycling at a young age. He began riding dirt bikes at nine and even told his father at age 11 he wanted to be a motorcycle dealer — a goal he eventually achieved at age 21. Today, he’s the owner of a 70-000-square-foot powersports dealership, which has been recognized as the No. 1 dealer in America for brands like Aprilia, Hisun, and Tao. Tracy says he’s currently seeing a lot of off-road machines moving, with CFMOTO becoming a major manufacturer in his region.
“CFMOTO is the strongest brand for us — might even be the strongest brand in El Paso. I’ve represented nearly all the big brands, and CFMOTO is right up there with the best of them,” he says. “Off-road has been smashing the last five years but think it could be headed for a soft spot, with street-bike sales still clinging on.”
As for Ashley, she says she’ll continue to ride motorcycles but is also pursuing other interests — like Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.— but hasn’t ruled out any other cross-country touring rides in the future.
“I think the only other long ride we would do would be coast to coast, but we’re not currently planning on anything.”
As powersports dealers head into 2026, many are doing so after a difficult and transitional year. Margins have tightened, inventory strategies are under scrutiny, leads have softened in some markets, and shifting interest rates, credit conditions, staffing challenges and consumer expectations continue to test dealership operations.
Against that backdrop, Powersports Business Accelerate 2026, held Jan. 18–20 at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs Resort in Orlando, is positioning itself as a strategic reset for the year ahead. Once again, Accelerate will run alongside Boating Industry Elevate, bringing together powersports and marine dealers for a combined leadership summit focused on strategy, peer learning, and practical execution.
Rather than a traditional trade show, organizers describe Accelerate and Elevate as a deliberate pause from day-to-day dealership pressure — a setting designed to help dealers step back, reassess, and prepare for what’s next.
Accelerate intentionally avoids the scale and distractions of a large expo floor. There are no aisles of booths or competing noise, allowing attendees to focus on discussion, education, and connection.
“It eliminates all the barriers of a trade show,” says Brendan Baker, editor-in-chief of Powersports Business. “Nobody’s trying to sell you something. It’s about profits, processes and real conversations.”
That smaller, more intimate format is central to the event’s value proposition. Speakers and panelists are accessible, and conversations often continue well beyond scheduled sessions.
“Everybody is accessible,” says Madelyn Hubbard, managing editor of Boating Industry. “You can show up with questions and get real answers from people who’ve lived it.”
One defining element of Accelerate and Elevate is the cross-industry format. While marine and powersports dealers sell different products, many face the same operational and economic pressures — from inventory management and staffing to financing, digital retail and succession planning.
“It’s rare for a boat dealer from Ohio to sit down with a powersports dealer from Idaho and realize they’re dealing with the exact same challenges,” says David Gee, event master of ceremonies. “There’s value in learning from each other.”
That shared perspective often surfaces solutions that dealers can adapt directly to their own businesses.
The 2026 agenda reflects what dealers are facing right now, with sessions focused on finance, operations, digital retail, leadership, and economic conditions.
Monday’s general session opens with economist Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, known as “The Bowtie Economist,” who will deliver the 2026 Economic Forecast, translating macroeconomic trends — including interest rates, tariffs, housing and consumer confidence — into practical insights dealers can use to plan inventory, staffing and capital investments.
A cross-industry leadership panel follows, featuring executives from powersports and marine brands, including Chris McGee, COO of Moto Morini USA, offering perspective on market conditions, dealer relations and brand strategy heading into the new year.
Dealer-focused sessions dive deeper into real-world execution. A finance session led by Harrison Heron of Foothills Motorsports will address F&I performance, lender behavior, rate volatility, and current credit challenges.
Another standout session, “The Turnaround Project,” features Max Materne, owner of Ownex.io, who will share his candid account of a 90-day attempt to stabilize and improve a struggling dealership.
Additional programming covers workforce development, succession planning and dealership valuation, including a session on securing long-term legacy and exit strategies.
Digital retail, data and artificial intelligence play a prominent role in the 2026 agenda. Sessions explore improving website lead performance, response times, CRM usage and where AI is creating real operational efficiencies — versus unnecessary noise.
Another session, “The Customer of 2026,” examines how AI is already reshaping sales, service, inventory management and customer experience across dealerships.
Accelerate also serves as a stage to recognize leadership and excellence across the industry. Monday evening features the Powersports Business Honors Awards, celebrating Best-in-Class Dealerships, Under 40 and Women With Spark recipients. Concurrently, Boating Industry will host its Top 100 Awards Gala by invitation.
Tuesday’s programming shifts toward culture and leadership, beginning with “Power Up Your Workplace Culture,” followed by a Women in the Power Trades panel highlighting executive insights and career development strategies.
The event concludes with a closing keynote from David Gee of 3 Second Selling, addressing the forces reshaping retail in 2026 — economic pressure, demographic shifts, inventory challenges, cooling leads and the growing influence of AI.
“It’s not just a headwind — it’s a full reshaping of our industry,” Gee says. “If your strategy is to ‘wait it out,’ you may find yourself permanently on the sideline.”
With the event just weeks away, registration momentum is building as dealers look to start 2026 with clarity and direction.
“You’ll walk away with pages of ideas and new friends,” Gee says. “Your presence doesn’t just help your dealership — your experience helps move the entire industry forward.”
For dealers navigating uncertainty and transition, Accelerate and Elevate 2026 aim to provide something increasingly valuable: time to think, peers to lean on and perspective to lead.
Gold sponsors
Dealer Spike
Find It Now (FIN)
Performance Brokerage Services
PowerChord
RecSystems
Rider’s Advantage
Synchrony
Networking sponsors
Ekho
National Powersport Auctions (NPA)
Sheffield Financial
More information and registration details are available at powersportsbusiness.com/accelerate.