What’s your job outside of racing?
I sell and do business development for a battery recycling nonprofit.
How does a typical race weekend look for you and who works with you on your team?
I’m usually the first person there with the trailer on Thursday morning and the last one there Sunday evening, closing the door on the trailer before I drive out. I do as much as I can, but there’s obviously times where you have to ride the bike and other things need to get done. In those cases, my wife helps me for most rounds, and I have a couple of friends who, they don’t race, but they’re interested in motorcycles and they’re mechanically inclined, who volunteer to spend the weekend at the track with me you know, filling in wherever I ask for help. Outside of a race or qualifying or practice session, I’m doing as much as I can and then asking them to lend a hand here and there.
Who’s your racing hero?
We named my first son Nicholas, so I call him Nicky. The first race I could ever remember watching on TV was the Daytona 200 and Nicky Hayden won that year. He won the 200 and he’s about the same age as me. He immediately became my favorite rider. Then I obviously followed him through the years, and you know he was always kind of my idol.
How did you get into racing
My first motorcycle road race would have been in I think maybe 2002. I had a streetbike for a couple years and then I crashed it and I was like, I could take the insurance money and get another streetbike or I could take the insurance money and ride on the track. I had already done a track day with my streetbike before I crashed it, so I knew racing was a thing. So, I decided to take the insurance money and buy a race bike. I bought a 1989 Yamaha FZR400. I’ve always liked the idea of the Lightweight Twins class. I didn’t know anything about racing, there weren’t any resources online to learn about it. I showed up to Blackhawk and I took the Learning Curves Road Racing School that Saturday morning and then I raced the next day.
What other racing have you done/do you do?
I raced CCS in 2002-2003. From late September to late April my entire net worth was sitting in my parent’s garage gathering dust. I thought, ‘I’m gonna get out of the sport, get a job and get back into it once I can afford it.’ Fifteen years went by and then I decided to get back into the sport. I race with WERA because they’re kind of the major road racing down here in the southeast.
By Graham Williams
