Photo: Yamalube/Westby Racing
It’s the start of a new year, and we are all planning on what to do with our lives from now on, no matter how easy or hard it was so far. Such is the case for motorcycle road racer Josh Day, who decided not to quit on his passion after he suffered three really bad accidents in 2016 that left him with brain concussions.
If you’re not familiar with the subject, Josh Day’s life took a sharp turn in the first round of the 2016 MotoAmerica Championship at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, TX, which set a chain of events that he didn’t realize at first, but had a great impact later.
“That crash at COTA essentially contributed to the crash I had at Road Atlanta, and to the crash I had at Road America, which ended my season,” Josh said. “After the Road America incident and the brain injury I suffered there, my treatment and rehab revealed that the concussion I sustained at COTA was exacerbated by the second concussion I suffered at Road Atlanta, and what happened at Road America was basically ‘three strikes’ for me, to put it in baseball terms. And I was out, not only out as in knocked unconscious but out of the sport of racing motorcycles.”
This means his racing career is pretty much done, but when asked if he will retire from motorsport, Josh said that “‘retired’ is for people over the age of 65, and I’ve got almost 40 years left in me before I reach that point! So, I’m just going to say that I will no longer be racing a motorcycle professionally.”
But that doesn’t mean the former road racer will walk away from the paddock. No, Josh’s passion for motorcycles and the beautiful sport that has been created around them gives him the strength and determination to remain in the MotoAmerica paddock either as a rider coach, or a member of a crew or race team.
On the side, his experience with head traumas determined the young racer to fight as an advocate for baseline testing of other riders so that a formal concussion protocol could become a required safety procedure in motorcycle racing.
“That crash at COTA essentially contributed to the crash I had at Road Atlanta, and to the crash I had at Road America, which ended my season,” Josh said. “After the Road America incident and the brain injury I suffered there, my treatment and rehab revealed that the concussion I sustained at COTA was exacerbated by the second concussion I suffered at Road Atlanta, and what happened at Road America was basically ‘three strikes’ for me, to put it in baseball terms. And I was out, not only out as in knocked unconscious but out of the sport of racing motorcycles.”
This means his racing career is pretty much done, but when asked if he will retire from motorsport, Josh said that “‘retired’ is for people over the age of 65, and I’ve got almost 40 years left in me before I reach that point! So, I’m just going to say that I will no longer be racing a motorcycle professionally.”
But that doesn’t mean the former road racer will walk away from the paddock. No, Josh’s passion for motorcycles and the beautiful sport that has been created around them gives him the strength and determination to remain in the MotoAmerica paddock either as a rider coach, or a member of a crew or race team.
On the side, his experience with head traumas determined the young racer to fight as an advocate for baseline testing of other riders so that a formal concussion protocol could become a required safety procedure in motorcycle racing.
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