Hall of Fame

Nicky (nicknamed "The Kentucky Kid") was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006. Hayden began racing motorcycles at a young age. He began his road racing career in the CMRA before progressing to the AMA Supersport Championship and then to the AMA Superbike Championship. He won the AMA title in 2002 and was approached by the Repsol Honda team to race for them in MotoGP.

Roger is an American professional motorcycle racer, the younger brother of both 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden and AMA Superbike Championship rider Tommy Hayden. In July 2007, Hayden made his MotoGP début as a wild card for Kawasaki at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. He piloted the Kawasaki ZX-RR to a tenth-place finish, scoring six points for Kawasaki Motors Racing. On September 16, 2007 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Hayden clinched the AMA 600 Supersport championship after finishing runner-up twice during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.[1]

Tommy is an American professional motorcycle racer and oldest brother to racers Nicky and Roger Lee. Tommy was born and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky, where he currently resides. Hayden turned pro in 1994 and is still a regular competitor in the Grand National Flat Track series during weekends when he is not road racing.

Their father, Earl, was a dirt track racer for twenty years. Hayden's mother, Rose, also rode the Powder Puff class for five years.

Dane won his first race, on that same Yamaha PW50, at the age of 7. It was the Gold Rush Cross Country Race in Hallett, OK. When he turned 16, he began road racing as an amateur. In 2005, in his first year as an Expert road racer, Dane recorded 25 podium finishes out of the 30 races in which he competed.

In 2007, Dane won three WERA Championships, four AMA Sports National Championships, and he was also nominated for the AMA Horizon Award. In addition, 2007 was the year that current team manager Chuck Giacchetto started working with Tryg and Dane.

2015 was poised to become the best year ever for Dane, for Tryg, and for the entire Yamalube/Westby Racing team. And, when Dane passed away on March 23, the team was devastated.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, the youngest son of Bob and Frances Martin, with two older brothers, Robert and Richard, who he says taught him everything he knows today. In 1972, Bob started a company called Tube Forming Inc., or TFI. Bob and his three sons worked closely together for close to 25 years running TFI. They sold the business and tried to retire Bob, but that wasn't going to happen, so together they started M4 Performance Exhaust in 1997. 

After 10 years of riding motocross in Texas, then a year of Formula Renault car racing in France, Michael started road racing motorcycles in 1986. He quickly became a frontrunner in CMRA, WERA, Formula USA and Suzuki Cup contingency racing, and his list of racing accomplishments are impressive. Michael won multiple WERA national sprint championships from the late eighties to the early nineties. While with Team Suzuki Endurance, Michael co-rode in 63 endurance races, winning 51 and taking 5 National Endurance Championships. During that period, Michael had a win-to-crash ratio of 51 to 1, the best in motorcycle endurance racing history to date. Michael also competed in Formula USA Series on a Team Valvoline Suzuki GSXR 1100, finishing 2nd in 1995, 4th in 1994, 3rd in 1993, 2nd in 1992 and 6th in 1991.

Today, Michael is a riding coach and instructor for the Kevin Schwantz School and the Team Hammer Advanced Riding Schools. He lives in Sherman, Texas, competing in local and national Moto Trials events and riding anything with two wheels as much as possible.

Ty Howard was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Ty grew up in a family with a horse riding and rodeo background. His father steer wrestled while his mother and sister raced barrel horses. Ty was attending a rodeo with his father, Leland, when he discovered an old Honda Trail 50. He would not leave the bike and his father was forced to purchase the junk before they left. Leland got the bike running and Ty began riding his first motorcycle at the age of 4. It wasn’t long before Ty and Leland were attending MX and Flat Track races a couple of times a week. His main focus was on flat track racing and using dirt bikes as a training tool. Ty turned pro at 16 and won the AMA Springfield Mile Pro AM event that season.

The following season, Ty was given the opportunity to race the AMA 883 Sportster series. This series took combined points from AMA dirt track races and roadraces to crown a National Champion. Ty’s first race on asphalt was on the high banks of Daytona in an AMA National. Ty needed more experience with roadracing and turned to the CMRA. He raced select CMRA races on the 883 while continuing to focus on the dirt track series. After a successful 1995 season in AMA Dirt Track and earning National #35, Ty decided to switch gears full time to roadracing.

Ty followed the professional series of WERA, Formula USA, AMA Superbike series and the DMG Moto-ST until 2009. Along the way winning numerous WERA National races and finishing top 10 overall many times in both Formula USA and AMA National classes. His AMA highlights being a 4^th at Mid Ohio and 8^th in the Daytona 200. Ty was the lead rider on the Championship winning 2007 and 2008 DMG Moto-ST factory backed Aprilia Racing Team. He won 7 AMA Sports National Championships.

Ty continued to compete in the CMRA ever year, except an injury plagued 2003 season. He won the CMRA #1 plate in 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2011. Those were the only years Ty was able to compete a full season. He set track records on 13 different tracks around the country and Mexico. Many of those records he lowered numerous times. Ty rode on two CMRA overall endurance championship teams in 2000 and 2011. He stopped roadracing shortly after winning the 2014 USNE 8hr at TWS while riding for the P1 Racing KTM team. 
Ty spent most of his free weekends teaching roadracing schools. He worked for the Skip Barber Superbike School in Laguna Seca, Ridesmart Motorcycle Schools, Lone Star Track Days, and his Typhoon Roadracing Academy. He has taught numerous AMA Supersport champions and AMA Horizon award winners. He still coaches many CMRA racers.

Ty served on the CMRA Board of Directors from 2010-2014. He also served as the chairman of the CMRA Safety Committee and is still a member of the committee.

Today, Ty works for KTM North America as a District Sales Manager. Working for a company with a dirt bike heritage has Ty back to roots. Although he doesn’t roadrace any longer he has switched gears again and follows the Texas Enduro series racing his KTM dirt bike.

David Hirsch started riding motorcycles in 1973, and began road racing in 1981 at the Austin Aquafest. He started racing with CRRC that same year. He rode everything from a Suzuki GS450 to an RG500, and did both Sprints and Endurance racing. David began working with Michelin in 1984, supporting the CRRC, and he stopped regular competition in 1989 as the business took off. He raced occasionally for several more years, and stopped racing completely in 1996. David only missed one race event in 31 years. In 2006 he took over as the Western U.S. distributor for Michelin racing tires.

David competed four times in an international competition for police officers who road raced. There were over 20 agencies from around the world, including Russia (cold war and all), that participated. They raced in California in 1988, Canada in 1990, France in 1993 and in England in 1996, with David's highest finish of 5th at the Canadian round. The French and Italian teams had World Endurance riders on their teams, so the competition was stiff. 

In real life, David Hirsch has been a police officer since he started with the Hays County Sheriff's office in San Marcos in 1981, and received a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Southwest Texas State University in 1983. He went to work in Galveston in 1984, working in Patrol and then graduating to a Detective. David started the Emergency Vehicle Operations training for Galveston (a fancy way to say how to keep from running into stuff while driving fast!), and has worked with special units from local to federal agencies. He retired from full time police work in 2006, but he is still a Galveston officer and works with the Marine/Dive unit.

Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jamie raced local motocross and flat track in Louisiana and Texas for a few years, then got a street bike. In 1983, Jamie's friends convinced him to try road racing, and he worked on tug boats on the Mississippi River long enough to make enough money to purchase a Yamaha RZ350. In 1984 Jamie started racing with CRRC and did well in his first season. Towards the end of 1985, Jamie received a call from Yoshimura for a tryout as Kevin Schwantz's teammate for 1986, but he crashed at Oak Hill, breaking his femur and his collarbone and the tryouts were canceled. Jamie recovered and had three successful seasons running the new Suzuki Cup Series and selected AMA Superbike races. In 1989 he was given a tryout with Yoshimura to be Scott Russell's teammate. He got the ride and won the AMA Superbike Championship and the 600 Supersport Championship, as well as the 600cc & 1100cc Suzuki Cup Championships. From 1991 to 1996 Jamie rode on the Vance & Hines Factory Yamaha team and won lots of races. He lost the AMA Superbike Championship in 1996 by one point to Troy Corser, but won the 600 Supersport Championship. Jamie retired at the end of 1996, but joined the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School as an instructor in 2000, and went on to build his own custom motorcycles and run his own school at Barber Motorsports Park.

Norm grew up in Southern California, doing desert racing, hare scrambles, flat track and TT racing. Norm started K&N Motorcycles with Ken Johnson in 1957 and K&N Filters in 1964. Malcolm Smith started working for K&N when he was 16, later became the service manager and after making the movie On Any Sunday, he bought the Riverside store and the McDonalds moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1971. Norm and wife Lucy have four kids: Phil, Pat, Sam and daughter Terry. The McDonald boys raced to many championships with K&N sponsorship, as well Sam’s son Tyler McDonald. Norm has been an integral part of the CMRA for years, serving eight years on the Board of Directors, three of those as president. He has spearheaded many projects and improvements with the CMRA over the years, and remains an important resource to the CMRA today. On receiving his CMRA Hall of Fame award, Norm said, "We've stayed in the motorcycle industry for over 50 years because we like the people involved in motorcycling over the other businesses we've had". In 2013, Norm was also inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

The Brothers family were the heart and soul of the CRRC/CMRA for over 20 years, building the organization to the success that it is today. Connie Brothers was the CRRC/CMRA for over 20 years. Before the internet, your first contact to start road racing was with Connie on the phone. She was the first person you saw at registration. She was the primary manual scorer, so you saw her every lap of every race. She knew your competition number, your kid's names, what kind of bike you rode and how you did in your last race. Charles was a racer first, and went on to become the newsletter editor and scoring computer programmer among other positions, and finally, the Race Director. Robert, Aimee and Aaron grew up at the CMRA races, and learned to do every task and cover every position that there was, being trained by the best!

Britt started racing with the CRRC in 1981 on a ’79 GS750 he rode from McAllen to Texas World Speedway on, raced, and then rode home on. Over the next few years, he won multiple championships with the CRRC. He moved on to ride for Team Suzuki Endurance with the likes of Jamie James, followed by the Yoshimura Suzuki factory team, where he won the 1993 AMA 750 Supersport championship. He retired in 1995 to surf and run his own business in south Texas, but re-joined the sport as an instructor for the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School.

Brooks grew up in Tyler, Texas and was involved in a wide variety of businesses, including concert promotion, beer distribution, real estate syndication and oil and gas production. Brooks started racing with the CMRA in 1999, winning several sprint championships as a Novice. He served for five years on the CMRA Board of Directors starting in 2000, bringing a wealth of wisdom and experience to the organization and creating new processes and procedures that brought CMRA into the 21st century. In addition, as co-owner of Shogun Motorsports, Brooks contributed over $100,000 in purses and prizes to the CMRA, provided more than $1 million in sponsorship support to motorcycle racers in the U.S., and was one of the top contributors to the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund. In 2009, Brooks and wife Rese bought the crumbling small town of Ben Wheeler in East Texas, and turned it into a thriving artisan and music venue. Brooks passed away in January of 2014.

Ben started riding motorcycles at the age of five and racing with CMRA at the age of eight in 1993. In 1994, he won a YSR championship followed by an 80cc championship the following season. At age 12, he started riding 125 Grand Prix bikes, traveling to WERA races outside of Texas. At age 14, Ben started riding 600s, winning more championships. He signed with Suzuki at 15, riding for Valvoline Suzuki and Attack Suzuki before joining the Yoshimura Suzuki factory team and winning the 2003 AMA Formula Xtreme championship on a GSX-R1000. Ben moved to the AMA Superbike championship, winning three consecutive titles against arch-rival Mat Mladin. He won the World Superbike Championship for Yamaha as a series rookie in 2009, then moved to the MotoGP series the following season. Three seasons with Yamaha in MotoGP and a win at Assen in 2011 then saw him move to a Ducati in 2013, but shoulder injuries forced him to retire from professional racing in October. Ben currently splits his time between Texas and Italy.

Ronnie started road racing with the CRRC in 1979. He was an involved member from the beginning, doing everything from stuffing newsletters and licking stamps to being the tech inspector. He also served nine times over the years on the CMRA Board of Directors. He was a sponsor, a mentor and a common-sense voice of the membership throughout his time with CMRA. Ronnie always raced under the banner of the family-owned Northwest Honda dealership in Houston (which he continues to run today), winning 6 overall and 12 class CMRA endurance championships as well as 28 sprint class championships.

Doug started road racing with the CRRC in 1977. He retired after a race at the Austin Aquafest in 1982, where he was injured in a start-line incident. He came out of retirement in 1986 to run the Suzuki GSX-R Cup Series, which re-launched his career. He moved on to win multiple AMA Supersport and Superbike championships, two Japanese national championships, the Suzuka 8-Hours and the Endurance World Championship, along with two World Superbike championships in 1991 and 1992, traveling with his wife Dianne, who was one of the CRRC’s first club secretaries. Today, Doug, Dianne and their son Adam live in California and Doug does on-on-one riding instruction as well as promotional work for Ducati.

Originally known as the CRRC (Central Road Racing Club), the club's founder was University of Texas law student and racer Lou Linden, who incorporated the organization in 1974. Lou's vision was to organize the casually structured road racing community into the intense road racing scene we have now with the CMRA. Outside his professional life as an attorney his interest has for many years focused on sailing, old sailing ships and their historic preservation, most notably leading the restoration of the Constellation in Baltimore. He serves as a historical and restoration consultant for buildings, vessels and museums. He has worked on several projects for Smithsonian. In the summer of 2012, he single-handed his 35-foot sloop Barry Duckworth across the Atlantic.

Born into the McDonald racing family of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sam learned from father Norm and brothers Phil and Pat, racing with the CRRC long enough to get his AMA license and winning the AMA 250 Grand Prix championship in 1982 and finishing second in the AMA Superbike championship in 1984. He rode for both the Honda and Yamaha factories helping them develop their Superbikes. After retiring, he continued to race with his son Tyler McDonald in CMRA endurance and tuned for Tyler on his sprint bikes. He co-manages the family-owned Yamaha dealership, K&N Motorcycles, in Sapulpa and continues to provide training to new riders and racers.

Coming from the dirt track scene in Shreveport, Louisiana, Freddie raced with the CRRC, going pro in 1978 at the age of 18. He won many AMA races before moving to MotoGP and becoming the youngest 500cc World Champion in history at the time in 1983. In 1985, Freddie became the first and only rider to win both the 250cc and 500cc World Championships in the same season. He retired from MotoGP in 1988, and competed in the AMA Superbike championship for several more years. Freddie operated the Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding School for many years, and now does TV commentating and promotional appearances around the world.

Motocrosser-turned-roadracer Colin Edwards II raced with the CMRA for two seasons before winning the AMA 250 Grand Prix championship in 1992. The Conroe, Texas resident moved to AMA Superbike and then was off to World Superbike, where he won two World Championships in 2000 and 2002 for Honda. He moved to MotoGP in 
2003 with Aprilia, then joined Yamaha in MotoGP with teammate Valentino Rossi in 2005. Known throughout the paddock as an excellent machine and tire development rider, Colin had many successes over the next few seasons with Yamaha, moving in 2012 to the fledgling Forward Racing team. In early 2014, he announced his retirement from full time professional racing, turning his attention to his successful Texas Tornado Boot Camp training facility and programs, as well as testing for Yamaha and Michelin.

Kevin used his diverse background in trials and dirt track along with blazing speed to impress the AMA road racing crowd after racing with CRRC in 1984 and 1985. He won many U.S. races with Yoshimura Suzuki before moving to 500cc Grand Prix in 1988. Kevin became one of the most competitive and popular Grand Prix riders in the world, winning the 500cc championship in 1993. Since ‘retiring’, Kevin has continued to pass on his knowledge to students at the Schwantz School, and races occasionally in international events and with the CMRA. Kevin lives in Austin, Texas.