OUR STORY
4 Liberty Motorsports is a race team passionately conceptualized by Doug Henline and Mike Cafro with deep roots in various successful Motorsports careers.
For almost 20 years up to 2009, the revered DOUGLAS WHEEL/DWT, had sponsored a fantastically promoted event held each year in Pont Du Vaux, France—the “Mondial du Quad 12 hours Endurance”. Doug had come to appreciate and know the efforts of the promoters, the family Maingret. Each year, Doug would make the trip to one of the most bountiful and beautiful regions of France to enjoy the carnival atmosphere and support both the event and the teams he sponsored—Teams from around the whole world. Year after year he witnessed the drama unfold and the incredible hard work the Maingret’s put into making this the most difficult and most international of all Quad races in the world. Made up of 100 Teams, with 2 to 3 riders per team, Pont du Vaux (or PDV) has become the “world championship” for ATV racing.
Until Doug sold his company in 2009, DOUGLAS WHEEL/DWT supported both the event itself, and many of the riders, he refrained from fielding a team. Doug felt it was unwarranted because his support riders stood on the top step of the Podium virtually every year.
PDV has persisted for 30 years, and riders from USA have won the event many times. Doug Eichner has won it 7 times!! But after the Global Economic Crash of 2008, USA participation came almost to a complete stop. It is an expensive venture to send USA riders and equipment to France, and the whole Industry had cut back on the support necessary. But the event itself continued and has become even stronger.
In the period between 2009 and the formation of 4 Liberty Motorsports in 2015, Mike had been winding down his career as a prominent Quad racer in the SCORE series (which included a number of Baja wins), and WORCS series, which Mike had won with his MCR Team. Quad racing had become a bit stagnant due to the poor economy, and the increasing popularity of Side By Side UTV’s. Mike and Doug both love the Quad scene, but sponsorship had dwindled substantially. Mike was considering stopping altogether, and Doug was feeling disconnected after selling his Company.
One day, Doug had an idea—competing at PDV had always had an attraction. Mike had the knowledge to put together a good machine, and Doug had the overall Management skills, previous racing experience, knowledge of PDV, freedom from conflict (after selling DWT), European contacts, and financing to do it. Doug was listening to Mike complain about the grind of racing so many events, and suggested “why don’t we form a Team specifically to do one event each year-PDV? Mike said okay—what do we name the Team? That was easy! The French gave USA its most famous landmark—the Statue of Liberty. Out of respect for all the years the French Family Maingret have worked so hard, 4 Liberty seemed perfect for this event. A perfect name for an All American race team to attend this fantastic French event.
We were first based near Barcelona at our great friend Jordi’s shop – Ventura Racing. He was kind enough to offer us space inside his shop…next to all that great Douglas Wheel product he’s been importing for years. We have since moved to Nümbrecht, Germany where we rely on facilities, logistical and engineering support from Toby Lenz of TLO. TLO’s dual throttle system was developed by Toby specifically for our team and has become the most sought-after thumb and twist throttle system in quad racing. It’s reliability and speed of change over has made selecting riders easy, regardless of which type of throttle they prefer. They also make our 21.5-liter carbon fiber fuel tank. Each year, we arrive in Nümbrecht, to prepare the machine, then trailer 6 hours to the race.
