A few weeks back we sat down with the mystery man behind the wonderful @AncientWarriors instagram account. While we were originally looking forward to learning more about the creator of the account and who they are, it quickly became a better story to keep the mystery alive.

If you're not already following @AncientWarriors, head over to instagram to get a daily dose of flat track porn on your feed.

Welcome to Flat Track News! I have to say, you have the coolest account on Instagram.

Thanks man! It's just a fan page but I'm a fan of it myself. I really enjoy finding cool bikes to post and I'm glad to help promote flat track simply by sharing other's bikes and some news/opinions about the AFT guys and Hooligans on occasion.

Who is @AncientWarriors? Where are you from and what do you do?

I'd really like to stay anonymous. Some people have met me in person and I hope to be racing again soon so the guy behind "Ancient Warriors" probably won't stay too anonymous for too long. That said, the reason that I want to stay anonymous is because I'm a nobody in the flat track world and the motorcycle world. I'm not fast on the race track and never accomplished anything in the world of flat track either. Who I am and what I do related to flat track and motorcycles is that I'm simply a fan just like anybody else. Ancient Warriors is a fan page of flat track motorcycles from the past and present. It's not about me the person...it's about the bikes! The second I start attaching a person to the page is the second the page loses some of it's appeal. I like that it's something that can technically be ran by anybody and that it's a fan page of a culture and way of life...instead of a fan page of a person.

Ancient Warriors was originally started by a guy named Scott Shoup who is now in his mid 60's. I think Scott, myself, and my younger brother were the only ones to ever put Ancient Warriors on our bikes and gear. Scott used to race Ascot and Corona back in the 1970's and early 1980's so that's our tie to the "glory years". He moved and raced a lot of central California stuff in the 80's. He's an old friend of my father's and both he and my dad got me into vintage flat track as a teenager in the early 2000's. I've never actually raced a modern flat track bike! I raced with the Eddie Mulder series and did a lot of TT racing at Tulare Cycle park for a few years in the early 2000's. I have not raced since then. I recently became a father almost 2 years ago and thought hard about what sort of life I wanted to give my daughter. My current lifestyle wasn't suited for kids. I thought back on my youth and wanted to raise my daughter with camping and hiking and motorcycles...especially flat track! I got my bikes out of storage after about 15 years and started working on them to go racing. My business hit some hard times right after my daughter was born and we moved as a family. I went back to school, finished my degree, and I'm just getting started in a new career. I hope to soon purchase another house for the family (no easy feat in the Los Angeles area) and get back to building the life I want for my daughter. I'm real close to having the money and time to finish my race bikes and start racing again...just in time too as I plan to have my daughter on a motorcycle in a few years. Flat Track and the Ancient Warriors page have given me something to focus on and enjoy as a hobby as I make this transition into fatherhood, moving, new career, etc. I haven't had the time or money to go racing yet while I focus on the more important things...so Ancient Warriors has given me some participation in the flat track world as I make this life transition!

Ancient Warriors founder Scott now lives up in the sierra's by himself and his old race bikes in his living room. He doesn't have internet, tv, or anything like that. I keep him up to speed on the flat track world and it's been a cool rejuvenation in an old love for him. I took him and my dad to watch Eddie Mulder's Willow Springs double header this year and it was great to watch them see old friends and bench race about the glory days! I let Scott know about how the Ancient Warriors page is growing, etc. He sends me old newspaper clippings from the 70's about him in his hey day and sends me pictures of all of his old memorabilia. He sent me a newspaper clipping about him placing second to a young Wayne Rainey at Ascot one night. Things like that are really fucking cool to a younger (32yrs) guy like myself that grew up idolizing the flat track glory days.

What's your involvement in the sport?

I am just a fan and I run the Ancient Warriors page. That's where I'm at right now but I hope to be more and more involved as time goes by. My ultimate goal is to someday sponsor a rider or two and have an Ancient Warriors team racing in AFT in production twins. I love the diversity of bikes and grass roots style of that class.