here has always been a little confusion around Kevin Windham’s first professional race. Many remember it to be the 1994 High Point 125 National on Memorial Day weekend, when the 17-year-old Kawasaki Team Green rider famously led the entire first moto before being passed at the very end by defending AMA 125 National Champion Doug Henry. But the truth is that, 25 years ago, Windham actually made his professional debut a couple of months earlier at Gatorback Cycle Park in Gainesville, Florida.

“I wanted to stay amateur another couple of years, but I also don’t want to miss out on a good opportunity,” Windham told Cycle News on the morning of the race. “Today will be a test to see if I’m ready or not.” Windham looked pretty good in practice but found the going a lot tougher in the race—especially the 30-minutes-plus-two-laps motos. He posted a 12th in the first moto and was running in the top ten in the second when he went down and then dropped off the pace. Cycle News’ Donn Maeda described Windham’s hands as having “horrific” blisters.

“I was really nervous,” a humbled Windham said after the race. “I held on too tight and got blisters. I just couldn’t hold on anymore.”

Team Yamaha’s Jeff Emig won the overall, followed by Honda’s Steve Lamson, Suzuki’s Ezra Lusk, and Kawasaki’s Robbie Reynard.

The Windham family went home to Louisiana, and Kevin got to work on his pure speed and strength. He also went ahead and entered his Area Qualifiers for Loretta Lynn’s. With his Regional set for the first weekend of June, they decided to make the trip north to Pennsylvania at the end of May and try another outdoor national. At High Point, Windham grabbed the holeshot and stayed there for more than a half hour. The veteran Henry finally ran him down with only half a lap remaining.

“It would have been great to have won it,” Windham said, “but at this stage of my career winning really isn’t that important; proving I can hang with these guys is. I tried not letting the pressure get to me but it’s hard not to when you come up to the starting gate and line up next to Henry, Emig and those guys. I’m just happy I kept my head and didn’t let them influence me on the track.”

One week later, Windham went back to amateur mode and qualified at his Regional. Later that summer, he rode into the record books at Loretta Lynn’s with his eighth career title and an 18-moto winning streak, surpassing Tim Ferry and Kevin Foley—tied at that point with seven career titles—as the winningest rider to that point.

“The records were always in the back of my head, especially when I almost messed it all up,” Windham said after mistiming a whoop section. “Believe it or not, there’s a lot of pressure on me to do well this week. I really wanted to do something special here because this is my last year for Loretta Lynn’s. What could be better than to go undefeated?”