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My SportsI Like: Drifting, Formula, Grand Touring, Off-Road, Rally, Solo / Autocross, Vintage, Dirt Jump, Park, Vert, Freestyle, Hillclimb, Roller Derby, Ultimate FightingI Compete: Side CarI Do: Stunt |
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Q&A - Personal
What inspires you to compete?
Being on the bike is the main reason I compete. I enjoy the calmness and focus that comes during intense stress. I enjoy the technical aspect of the bike, making it faster or smoother or just keeping it in fighting shape. I love sitting on the grid waiting for the flag to drop. Most of all I enjoy the chance to set goals and achieve them.
Why do you like this sport?
Racing in general is a natural progression from riding in the canyons. At some point you get so fast that the road is now the limit. In this case you let your skills grow stale or move on to something new. Open track days let you broaden your skill set, but it is through competition that we find our strengths, fight past our weaknesses, and discover our true potential.
The argument for sidecar racing comes down to two points: economy and insanity! Racing sidecars means auto tires are mounted to a machine that weighs 500lbs. While parts have to be custom fabricated, it's really the tire cost that pushed me out of racing solo-styled bikes.
Also, the pure craziness of taking an asymmetrical machine- with another person on it- through a set of corners is a great payoff. Doing it right means you share a great triumph with someone, failing means there's someone there to help you pick up the pieces.
Describe your style...
I was known for being the madman when I rode on the street. I was the wheelie riding maniac who got to the top of the hill with pieces of shrubbery stuck to the bike. On the race track I'm far more methodical. I don't need to prove anything; there is no need for macho heroics. I find a section of the track and I work on it. When they are comfortable, I link the sections together. This approach allows me to judge my progress- not with a stopwatch- but by how things "feel". The teachings of Kieth Code are the bedrock of my racing philosophy.
Employment / Experience Summary
I joined the Marines from high school and served 4 years driving trucks. I got out and was a truck driver for 3-4 years. I joined the National Guard and trained as a turbine engine mechanic. At this point I was deployed to Iraq and worked on Blackhawk helicopters. I went to college to study journalism and composition, but I felt too old to be a starving student. I went to work in the aviation field (working mostly with composites) and it gives me a stable work schedule, and access to the equipment I need to repair crash damage.
As far as odd jobs, I've worked the county fair, worked a drive through, worked the parts counter at a motorcycle dealership, stocked the bars on a riverboat casino, and remodeled houses. I'm glad I've been able to do and see so much in my life, and I hope the trend continues.
Do you like to travel? What's your best (clean) road trip story?
I mostly travel by motorcycle. I remember being at the Grand Canyon in January and having Japanese tourists take pictures with me and my friend. Here they are, all the way from Japan, with the Grand Canyon in front of them, and they were mesmerized by the two Americans in 8 layers of clothes getting off their motorbikes.
I can remember so many rainstorms, sunrises, valleys, switchbacks... so many cups of coffee and conversations with gas station attendants. The greatest moment in travel though was the moment the wheels touched down in California after our deployment in Iraq ended; I could have wept. It was so good to be home.
Inside Johnny's Headwww.johnnykillmore.comwww.myspace.com/johnny_killmore
My life is a series of lists, dreams, and sunsets. I am always trying to organize the little time I have on this planet to maximize every experience, every emotion and interaction; often I feel overwhelmed. I am always thinking of a way to go faster on my race bike, or a new side project to become obsessed with. This conflicts with a naturally lazy disposition. I'd like to lay in a hammock and do nothing, a whiskey sour next to me. Something inside me is always driving me forward though, like an inner power source pushing me toward greater things and new levels of understanding.
To escape this conflict within myself I need only set out on my street bike for a long weekend ride, or plug in my bass guitar and get lost in the sounds and emotions I create. Making music is the relief valve that levels me out... keeps me sane. Creating an emotion with sound in time is a miracle. It's easy to take for granted, but I'm no rock star. I make emotion, and music is the medium. It lets you be in all places at once.
The opposite is to be intensely in one place only, which is where racing comes in. The focus required to move myself and the machine at speed is intoxicating. To stay calm under such stress is one of my favorite things to do. It's like driving convoy through Iraq, without the chance of a road-side bomb blowing you up.
All I want is everything I think of, and the things I haven't thought of yet... Push forward or fall behind.
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