The Story Behind the Numbers

I used #242 because it comes from the name of my favorite industrial band from the era of bikes I raced in (eighties-nineties) : Front 242.
They just announced their current tour is their last one. i believe their signer had some health issues. I missed them in September but I've seen them live quite a few times.

 

And if the bike fails to stay rubber side down...

LOL

 

That's right...I think Buzz had let Brian run the Ascot, and I remember doing an endurance at BHF with them, and it had 119 on it.

 

My # is 12. Has been my baseball, and hockey number since I was a kid. I honestly don't know why, it just was. I've had a couple different #'s on a few teams over the years, but maybe only a handfull. Always felt right wearing #12.

 

The few times it has been LOL was not very funny, to me anyway

 

WERA gave me 167 when I joined them around 2005... my birth month and year.

 

I got # 116, because it reads 911 automatically if I need it to be called

 

403 is my exes birthday - April 3rd.
Every time I look at a racing pic from my amateur daysI get a reminder...
At least I didnt get a tattoo of her.

When I moved up I wanted a two digit and 75 was the best choice at the time for no apparent reason.
This was mostly CCS. IF I recall correctly Wera was 175 or 751

 

At my first CCS race in 1998 I wanted 2 numbers that were close so my brother and I could use the same bike and only change 1 digit. We got 230 and 330. Then he quit and I shortened it to 23- I squeaked out a points paying finish last year in MA, got to keep my 23......I took that as a sign I need to keep racing twins for one more year. As if I needed the excuse.

 

Glad you are out there still having fun!! How did you like the racing overseas?

 

It was a hell of an experience. The size and professionalism of the Italian CIV series is impressive, I imagine it's what the AMA paddock was like in the early 90's. Lots of semis, and cubic dollars being spent.

It was more of a bucket list experience for me of course, an opportunity I just couldn't turn down. But that being said, I really didn't belong there. Those kids are 20 years old and they are 15 years into a professional racing career. It's no joke and it will give you a new perspective on why Americans struggle to succeed over there.

One thing I thought was funny was the FIM riders meeting. It was an hour long and included slides on how to not make dickhead moves on other riders. Contact is a big problem over there, they all think like Marquez.

Of course, all of the meeting was in Italian and Tomasso Marcon was supposed to be translating for us. A couple of times, they showed a flag I'd never seen before- so I would ask Tomasso "what does that mean?" He would then reply with his Italian accent "Don't worry, you will never see that flag." He was right, thank god. So at least an international incident was avoided.

 

I could've sworn I read a race report. Did I imagine that?

 

When I re-joined the moto racing scene in 2004 at Willow Springs, I was already old and wanted a number that I wouldn't forget. 800 was available, so I jumped on it. Always wanted #250, but Jim Race had that one locked up. In the AMA, for some crazy reason #3 XR1200 was available, and since I am def a poser and #3 was my number back in my SCCA car racing days, I took it. I'm sure the spectators always wondered why #3 was always circulating in the back half of the field.

 

when I started racing in my teens, with ama disctrict 14 MX they gave us our numbers, it was the last 3 digits of your ama number... Mine was 128. everyone but, class top 10 riders had triple digit numbers. I kept that up until I got back into dirt bikes in 2017, and wanted a 2 digit number like the national guys, so I dropped the 1, and run 28 now.

It used to be, to truly get a double or single digit number, you had to place that place overall for the season. now many people "buy, or reserve" numbers for brand recognition. Ski

 

The winter before I started racing I ran into Donald Jacks and was telling him about my plan. I told him I wanted a cool number so he suggested his, so 59 it was. That was one of the last times I saw him. Fast forward to when I heard about the unfortunate passing of Ron Perry (well digger from Florida, not Dr. from Georgia) I decided to take his number, 36.

 

I chose 608 in memory of my Dad who passed at 59. He was a volunteer firefighter and 608 was his radio number.

 

Kinda related but we had a new girl ask for 22 today.

<myself and director of lacrosse>?“No!”

“what? Why? (On the edge of tears)

(The few lacrosse nerds will understand)

 

This ain't Syracuse....