I had the pleasure of riding with Dowd for an afternoon back in 97 when he was riding Ya'mama'ha's.
Keith Johnson who was the NESC Champ for several years in a row brought John here to Plymouth,MA(about 2 1/2 hours east of his hometown Chicopee,MA) to do some track and trail riding.
I was in my second year of being an A rider back then and was pretty fast on the home-made JoJo Keller tracks around my home/area....Dowd shows up,and completely smokes everyone,making all 6 of "us" look like the ones from out of town!
An absolute awesome guy to talk to/ride with....so laid back and just an overall happy person.
He won the flooded out swampfest at the Southwick National that year too....man did it F'n rain that day!