7 years gone, tell us yer Dane stories

What a shame. Hard to believe it's been that long.

 

Interviewed Dane at Road ATL when I was contributing to MotoPod. Very cool and easy to talk to. Such a huge loss...

 

Thanks for sharing!

I`m not crying, you`re crying....

 

He came with $cott Russell to Road Atlanta to a Nesba BBQ event. I think it was a early Air Fence fundraiser. Got to chat with him a bit. Liked him before that as a racer. Liked him even more as an incredibly bright young man with an even brighter future at that time.

Gone way too soon.

 

The WERA Endurance days.

He finished a race or two with steel showing on the rear tires.

Miss him for sure.

 

CMRA has an Annual Westby Classic every year at Hallett. So happens it's next weekend at Hallett
Tryg usually shows up in one of his classic cars and gives T-shirts away and on Saturday after the races a big BBQ feast

 

Loss of talent at a young age is always a gut punch

 

I was at Colin's boot camp with him. It was only a week after Marco was killed so Colin was still quite broken. Dane was very low key, nice kid and easy to talk with. It was different story when we were doing the super pole though. Racing is racing, even when it's for joking rights. I still have a picture of him holding the 50 cal on his hip and grinning like the cheshire cat.

 

Such a cool tribute. Amazing how fast time flies past us all... but a memory returns us to the past as if it just happened.

 

After my Novice year club racing with WMRRA in the PNW I was looking to get sponsors and Pilot leathers offered me a great deal on a custom set but I didn't know anything about them at the time so I checked online to see who wore them and the first images I saw were of Team Hammer riders wearing them so naturally I logged onto the Beeb and messaged JU, he replied quickly with his number so I called him and spoke briefly, then he said my best bet was to call Dane so he gave me his cell number.
I called the number, explained I was a Canadian guy looking to work a deal with Pilot and he spent 15 minutes with me on the phone telling me everything he could. He joked that my timing was perfect as him and (I think) his Dad were just working on some old truck and he was looking for an excuse to take a break.

I keep both of those cell numbers in my phone to this day and when I scroll past them looking for someone's # I love being reminded of him and the fact that he took the time to offer help to a nobody club racer.

My Avatar has those Pilot leathers featured - Dane was bang on about what they had to offer and what their drawbacks were (he said "don't run their sliders, you'll burn through 'em on the out lap").

 

Damn, what the f*ck is wrong with my eyes....

 

good song choice - tough to watch.

 

I met Dane in 08. I was working for a team that year that had Shane Narbonne on a Triumph 675 in the old Formula Extreme class. Shane was also racing big bikes and he had a bad off at the Mid-Ohio round during the SBK race. Crashed in Neil Hodgson's oil spill, if I remember correctly. Took a few bikes out. Alastair Seeley was supposed to fly over and race the Triumph the following round, but there was some issue with his passport (or something?) at the last minute and he never made his flight. So we showed up at Road Atlanta with no one to race the bike. The guys on the team knew Chuck Giacchetto from Loudon and Chuck plugged us in with Dane, who was doing maybe his first pro round on his own R6 at the time. (Or maybe he had done one other round, I don't recall. Either way, it was pretty early on in his pro racing career.) Dustin Meador was there helping him out. All really nice people. Some arrangement that didn't have anything to do with me was made and Dane took the 675 out in FP1.

Dane comes in after doing a few laps and as we're putting the bike up on the stands, you can just feel the heat radiating off the rear brake assembly. Like, a lot of heat. Shane wasn't a rear brake guy (at least he wasn't then), and the rear caliper and underslung mount was a lot more a functional part of the quick change setup that was on the bike from the Daytona round instead of a real rear brake. It kinda did rear brake things, but not really. The rear rotor on the bike was also cut down and the caliper used these really tiny pads. I remember things being discolored they were so hot. The crew chief checks the whole situation out and looks up at Dane and asks him if he's a rear brake guy. Dane, smiling, said "Yeah, I really like backin' her in." Someone ended up sending us a pic after the round of everyone staring the smoked rear caliper.

We had to rework the whole rear brake setup to accommodate him hammering on it. And he went fast. He was a pleasure to work with and he finished 10th in the race; and that class was absolutely stacked that season (Hayes, Zemke, Cardenas, Chaz, Pegram, Rapp, and so on). We had dinner with the guys and Tryg and the whole thing was a very pleasant experience and a fun racing story to look back on. He was always very friendly in the years after, shaking hands and smiling. Had a calm cool to him. Just a good kid. I'm glad I met him and, like everyone else, I was bummed to hear of his passing.

 

That's a great story.

 

I first started track riding in 2011 and went through the Team Hammer stuff years later. Dane was there, and I asked him if I could follow him for a bit.

I was on my 09 R1, I think he was on a 600 GSXR that day. I followed him a bit, riding way over my head and doing everything i could to keep up around Daytona. He looked back a few times, gave me a thumbs up and into turn one he put the hammer down. I lost him before turn three.

Afterwards we talked a bit and he was incredibly humble but honest. His advice for me was “take some more schools, you’re on the right track.” That was a really nice way to say I’m trash

 

I never met him but did have a long talk at Livengood Motorsports with Brian about him
It was very sad. They still had so much of his stuff at the shop.
Very sad story. RIP racer. Wish I would have known you

 

Just found this when scanning old files...

 

My girlfriend just surprised me by winning a fan contest from Westby Racing.
They sent us both an awesome packet from the owner who's name I can't pronounce.
We get special pit credentials at Moto america and get to hang out with the team.
They sent t shirts and a bunch of cool stuff and passes.
Can't wait!

 

Nothing particularly personal.....just remember the first time I ever saw him on track was @ NJMP in 2009 on the Gulf [Westby] liveried R6 he rode that year.