Local Motorcyclist Achieves Dream of Road Racing

By Bruce Wilkins
Breeze Editor

Racing at VIR

No doubt Darrin Talbott rode his first tricycle in the showroom of his dad's Southside Virginia motorcycle shop, literally growing up surrounded by motorcycles. Now, as a 37-year-old dad himself, Talbott has fulfilled a lifelong dream and has begun a bold, breath-taking hobby of racing motorcycles at nearby Virginia International Raceway.

While his wife Diane, their three-year-old son Christopher, and a new baby on the way take the highest priority, Talbott found a way to achieve his goal in a sensible, yet effective manner. Even if racing inches away from other motorcycles at over 120 miles per hour is not the majority of folks' definition of being "sensible."

Three generations of motorcyclists: Ed, Christopher, and Darrin Talbott

Working as the parts manager at Ed's Honda-Yamaha in South Boston and surrounded by gorgeous, brand new F4i Honda and R6 Yamaha sport bikes, Talbott went to a motorcycle junk yard to get his racing bike. Then it took a lot of searching on E-bay for the obscure parts for his vintage Yamaha. But pretty soon, and with the household finances still intact, Talbott built what is politely referred to in racing circles as a "Clubman" or "Vintage" racing machine. However, judging by the smile on Talbott's face when he comes into the pits after a race, you'd think he was having as much fun as champion road racers Nicky Hayden or Colin Edwards.

"I never had any plans to be like those guys," Talbott pointed out. "But road racing is something I always wanted to do and I gotta admit, I'm having a ball!"

Talbott's shop

In addition to the knowledge obtained from his dad's dealership, two other business entities evolved into the equation for Talbott to be able to take up the club level version of motorcycle road racing, he said. "Saturdays are a busy day of the week for us at work, so I can't make those far-off trips to the other tracks on the East Coast like many of the club level racers do," Talbott explained. "But when they re-opened VIR, just 20 minutes from the shop, that was essentially my go-ahead to race."

The second equation was learning how to safely race and having a good group of racers with which to race. The re-opening of VIR has brought club-level schools and racing organizations such as Cornerspeed and WERA, a highly-popular club level road racing organization (visit www.wera.com) that fosters a safe and supervised system where such bike enthusiasts can participate in the sport.

Talbott's shop

"Those WERA folks have been great," Talbott said. "I couldn't start in my very first race because of an electrical problem, but some fellow WERA racers I didn't even know jumped in, sorted out the problem within just a few minutes, and got me out there to race. That's how close-knit they are."

On his second WERA weekend at VIR, Talbott's wife, dad, and son arrived to nervously watch, but definitely cheer on his efforts.

"Yes, I'm a little concerned, of course," commented Ed, who is considered ‘Mr. Motorcycle' in South Boston. "But Darrin's doing what he wants and he's doing it in a mature, sensible manner. I'm proud of him."

Asked what he thought if young Christopher someday wanted to race, too, Darrin replied, "Well, sure. In fact, I hope to still be out there to keep a good eye on him."