Jayson Uribe: Where There's a Smokin' Fast Racer, There's a Firefighter...and Electrician...and...
When I was two years old, I was likely playing with wooden blocks and wondering why I couldn't have candy for breakfast. I had no vision beyond how to dodge nap time. Unlike me, Jayson Uribe had much bigger plans for his life, and fortunately for racing fans one of those plans involved motorcycles. He remembers being at Brian Parriott's house watching flat track when he was two. Yes, two, and also yes, that Brian Parriott. "All I saw was people going around a track, looking cool, and thought, man that looks like a good time", Jayson recalled. That's what I want to do. Since then it's been just kinda chasing that dream." His dream (and likely his love of Honda motorcycles) really got going at the age of 4 when he got a CRF50 as his first bike.
He was taught that perseverance pays when at age 8 he won the first motocross race he entered... because everyone else crashed out.
"That's still one of my proudest moments," Uribe said through laughter, I still have that trophy, it's hanging above my bed. I will always remember that you have to finish, to finish first."
After finishing first enough to collect a WERA West championship in 2011, Uribe was invited to the Red Bull Rookies Cup tryouts. While he did not make the cut for Red Bull, shortly after the tryout he beat someone in a WERA race who did. "Literally the next day I got a call from a team in Europe asking if I wanted to come ride."
He spent 2013-2017 racing in Europe. Consistency over-seas found him finishing in the points every round in the 2013 BSB season, a record setting 19 rounds in a row in total. After that he came back to The States to do a little Superbike racing with MotoAmerica.
In 2017, much of the Napa Valley that the Uribe family calls home caught fire. Not being one to sit back and watch, Jayson again reached into his childhood memories for inspiration.
"A Cal-Fire captain lived where I used to ride as a kid, I remember always talking to him about being a firefighter", Uribe recalled, "The Napa fire was my turning point. It went from being a dream to being what I want to do. It was the motivation to say, ok, this is going to happen. I am going to be a part of it." As if fighting fires and piloting his Honda CBR1000RR to the top of the AFM Formula Pacific box in 2019 wasn't enough, Jayson also helps out with his family's electrical business, is a driving instructor and coach at the Allen Burg Racing School, and is an instructor with American Supercamp.
How does he manage to get anything done?
"Family", said Jayson, "Family is everything to me. I know would not be anywhere, I would not have been able to do what I have done with my career without the support of my family and friends. I know it takes much more than being fast on the track to be successful and make a career out of motorcycle racing. We are all out there risking our lives at the track, either as a career or just to live life to the fullest. If you can't be friends, if you can't be kind, and, you know, enjoy your time at the track, then why be there? The bigger the family the better." Uribe is not sure exactly where the 2020 race season is going to take him, but I am sure wherever the destination, Jayson will put on a show worth watching and his cheering section will be full of friends and family.