Main image courtesy of Pat Stott Designs
We close our eyes and another year goes by….
On the last day of every year we take time to remember some of the friends and fellow motorcycling enthusiasts we’ve lost along the way. With a nod to the New York Times’ annual requiem about the lives others lived, we offer our thoughts and condolences to all of those who lost someone special in 2021.
Twenty years ago, Brian Gray was one of the top amateur prospects in American motocross. Growing up in Florida in a family of fast guys—his uncle Alan Andreu won at the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch a couple times—Gray earned himself factory support from Suzuki as an amateur, then a spot on their SoBe Suzuki factory team when he turned pro in 2003. He immediately rewarded Suzuki’s faith in him by earning AMA Pro Motocross Rookie of the Year honors (now called the Marty Smith AMA Pro Motocross Rookie of the Year). But that was really as high as Gray would be able to ascend in the pro ranks, and by 2006 he was done with motocross. Gray then found his way into diesel drag racing, and through his own Gray's Diesel Performance in Middleburg, Florida, Brian posted a world record for the fastest 7.3 Power-Stroke Diesel. By this point, he and his wife, Lynn, had also started TK, and their two boys, Jase and Tyler, soon added BMX racing to the family’s track activities.
In November, just days before Thanksgiving, Gray and his family were traveling the I-295 bypass on the outskirts of Jacksonville when their SUV collided with another vehicle. The impact sent the SUV off to the road’s left side and directly into a tree. Lynn and 8-year-old Jase were both seriously injured. Tragically, 37-year-old Brian, who was driving, and 5-year-old Tyler, the youngest of the two boys, were both killed in the accident.
