CMT's "Gone Country" Features CanAm ATVs in Episode
John Natalie & Krista Marie Instruct the Cast on Riding

CMT "Gone Country" Cast experience ATV riding with John Natalie & Krista Marie instructing the Cast on ATV riding & safety

At this point you are probably wondering what this has to do with ATV’s; the answer to that is simple. The producers of the show wanted to introduce their motley crew of musicians not only to country music, but to the “country” culture and life style as well. Many artists in country music are avid ATV riders and some even feature ATV’s in their videos, such as Gretchen Wilson’s video for “Redneck Woman”, so quads seemed to naturally fit right into the picture.

“The whole idea of putting our stars on ATV’s came about when we were scouting locations,” stated executive producer, Jay Renfroe. “We went out to Gretchen Wilson’s ranch and the main mode of transportation out there was ATV’s.” Unbeknownst to the cast, the bus that was to be transporting them to the ranch was too big to make it up the long gravel driveway, so when they arrived, they were greeted at the gates with Can-Am ATV’s, ready and waiting for their final leg of their journey. “We thought it would be a great way to really get them thrown into the “country” life style,” said Renfroe.

Mark Warnert and the Warnert Racing Team, who are working closely with Can-Am for the upcoming 2008 race season, went above and beyond when asked to help furnish ATV’s for the show. Not only did they provide Can-Am Outlander race quads for the entire cast, Warnert also provided their race rig and head-mechanic Levi to help out on the set and keep the quads maintained. The ATV’s that Warnert lent to the show were the actual race quads they have their racers use in the WPSA and GNCC series’.

John Natalie Jr won the 2007 WPSA Pro ATV Championship & Signed with Can-Am for 2008 to race the new DS450	Krista Marie races ATV Motocross whenever she is not on Tour as a country music singer

The first episode is not the only time the cast will experience riding ATV’s. In another episode, the cast is taken to a track where they see two riders out tearing it up on a MX track. The cast members were in awe of how well the two racers performed, and were also a little intimidated, knowing that they were expected to get out there and ride.

When the racers pulled up to the cast and removed their helmets, it was none other than WPSA Champ, John Natalie, Jr. and WPSA Women’s C racer, and aspiring country singer, Krista Marie. “Mark Oswald, one of the executive producers, had some contacts with Can-Am and the whole deal with Can-Am and John (Natalie) grew from that,” stated Renfroe in regards to how they decided which ATV’s and racers to use on the show. Oswald, who is also Krista Marie’s manager of her music career, thought Krista would be a good fit for the show because of her involvement in racing, so she was brought on board as well.

Krista Marie instructs the cast before they hit the track	Carnie Wilson geared up and ready to ride Can-Am Outlander Utility ATV

“It went really well. They were all really good sports and I think they genuinely had a great time,” said Krista when asked how things went on the set. “Basically, we divided them up into men’s and women’s teams and we showed them some basics of how to ride and had them practice.”

“Some of the cast took to it better than others, but they all seemed to have a good time. It was really cool to be able to show these stars what it’s really like and how demanding racing can be,” stated John Natalie.

Sisqo, Julio Iglasias, Jr, Bobby Brown, & Dee Snider cruising around the track on CanAm Outlander Utility ATVs