Cadence Cowan Always Fights for the Gold
Story By: Cody Carney
Photos Provided By: David Cowan
It’s a new year and the beginning of a new decade, and as we are approaching the upcoming season, we are continuing to see more and more racers coming out of the woodwork with each individual bringing their own pizzazz to the racing world. One of those individuals to be noted is this month’s Girls Ride Too candidate, Cadence Cowan. Cadence is just fourteen years old and is already making a BIG name for herself. She’s currently living in the high desert of Hesperia, California, and is learning everything about racing directly from her father, David. David has been involved in every aspect of racing, with over twenty years of experience gained from competing himself, to being a crew chief for Factory Honda’s truck team as well as multiple other teams—putting Cadence right at the forefront of racing for her entire life.
Cadence’s initiation into the off-road industry began with riding a quad and a dirtbike at a very young age. Because of injuries that her father endured by racing in the same sport, even having to be airlifted in one case, they decided it was best to get her off bikes and quads and into something safer; a RZR. Together they’ve had many great opportunities to compete and win in various side-by-side events, both earning spots on top of the box. Cadence’s successes in 2019 consisted of seven first-place championship wins, two second-place championship finishes, and also winning both days in the two-day event at WORCS World Finals—incredible!
All of these successful wins don’t come without great effort from both Cadence and David. David was unfortunately hurt and has been off work for two whole years. He’s had nearly a dozen surgeries (some of them going wrong) and is still recovering. He’s sold his car and constantly faces ups and downs, but being Cadence’s biggest supporter, he fights through the hardships in order to keep her racing. Cadence is such a diehard for the sport, she made the choice to continue pushing forward with it and make many other sacrifices. They have lived in a trailer, stayed with friends, and cut way back on their usual way of life to keep racing. Cadence will do whatever it takes to continue racing, including getting A’s and B’s in her schoolwork.
This drive to continue racing started back in April of 2016. There, Cadence had her first race at Dirt Series in Hesperia, California, and has been hooked ever since. Today she races in two cars: a 2012 Polaris RZR XP 900 and a 2019 Polaris RZR RS1. Cadence uses both these cars to race competitively in WORCS, Dirt Series, SXS Regionals, and the UTV World Championships. If you know anything about racing, you know it takes a ton of work to make sure the cars and the racer both are prepped for events like these. Cadence does all the prep work herself, including rebuilding motors, replacing parts, and performing general service. Meanwhile, she pushes herself to stay physically fit by going through vigorous endurance training regiments.
Unfortunately because of so many races and events scheduled, it’s hard for Cadence to find time to practice. That fact alone doesn’t deter her from devoting her time to the sport. A great majority of her hobbies revolve around racing and these hobbies have helped Cadence make amazing friends. She’s very thankful for what she considers her race family and is especially happy when she gets to go to the river near home, or Glamis to spend some quality time with them.
Between Cadence’s father and her sponsors, they believe she has a bright future in the industry. This last season, Cadence earned twenty-eight podiums. Looking toward the future, her goals are to start racing in SCORE and BITD. It is going to take a lot of hard work and dedication for her to continue racing, but with the help of friends Kristen and Wayne Mattlock, Cadence strives toward gaining experience in desert racing. We are looking forward to seeing what this next season has in store for her.