Bobby Williams

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Bobby Williams


Bobby Williams #72	Williams competing at North Carolina AMA Regional	Williams finished 5th in the 125B Mod at the 1985 AMA Loretta Lynn Nationals
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Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, and Bobby Williams, have similar backgrounds. Both are native sons of Hodgenville, Kentucky in LaRue County. Like Lincoln, Williams shared a common interest in railsplitting as he was a member of the Junior and Amateur Roanoke Railsplitting Teams. He has taken second and third place awards in both junior and amateur railsplitting events and various awards and recognition splitting logs at Abraham Lincoln's National Birthplace site in Hodgenville, KY.

But unlike, Lincoln, Williams living in a more progressive time, didn't spend his younger years reading by the fire by by racing motocross. Williams was introduced to the action-packed sort by his high school Industrial Arts teacher, Billy Willian. Willian was racing Hare Scrambles at the time and invited the spunky, young Williams to come along. Soon after that in the Fall of 1979, Williams borrowed his friend's YZ 100 and went to a motocross track in northern Kentucky called "Green Acres" where he started his racing adventure. "My brother bought my first bike for me, a YZ100. Then I started going to the races with the Willian's on a regular basis at the age of 17. As I became more interested, I got some support from Smith Sport Shop in Campbellsville, KY. They were a Yamaha-Suzuki dealership. I continued to improve and I qualified for the 1982 AMA Nationals, the very first one held at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch. I was riding a new YZ 125 in the Stock Class but I didn't fare very well." commented Williams.

In 1983, Williams #72 finished 2nd overall in the 125 C class at the Florida Winter Series. But 1984 was not as rewarding for Williams as he was plagued by injuries. "I went to the Florida Winter Series in 1984. The first race of the series was on January 1 at Gatorback in Gainesville. I fell over a jump and then someone ran over my arm. I was in the hospital for a week after surgery where metal plates were inserted into my broken arm. I became a pretty good pool player during the winter months that year. Then in April, I started back racing at Midway Motocross in Mitchell, IN. My first race back after my broken arm and I broke my collarbone. Then I was out of racing again until the AMA Area Qualifier which was held at Mitchell. I qualified though, fifth in the 125 B Stock class. Then we traveled to Casey, Illinois to Lincoln Trail Motorsports for the Regionals, where I broke my collarbone again. At this point, I decided it was time to quit for awhile. I stayed off the bikes from July 1984 until January 1985 when I decided I wanted to go back to the Florida Winter Series to race."

Williams rode his 1085 YZ 125 and YZ 250 at the Florida Winter Series in 1985 to have a fourth place finish at Gator back and a sixth at West Palm Beach. At the 1985 AMA Regionals in North Carolina, he finished 5th in the 125 B Mod and 6th in the 125 B Stock. Then at Loretta Lynn's Nationals that year, William's finished 5th in the 125 B Mod and 7th in the 125 B Stock.

Some of his past sponsors included Kawasaki of Kentucky, Seer Goggles, Oury Grips, Nippon-Denso, WD-40, Billy and Susan Willian. "My mechanic was Billy. If he wasn't helping me out, it would have been alot rougher. I probably wouldn't have gotten to race every weekend." I was getting up at 3:45 in the morning and getting back home between 3:30 and 4:00 depending on the traffic to go to work. I am a millwright and I travel 120 miles round trip to Louisville to work. So there was not much time left for training, riding or bike maintenance.

In 1985, Williams was leading the 125 B points in the Indiana Hoosier Cup Series. At the final race of the series, Labor Day Weekend at Midway MX in Mitchell, IN, Williams crashed to be stat-flighted from the Bedford, IN hospital to Jewish Hospital in Louisville, His mechanic, Billy, was by his side the entire trip. Williams remained in a coma for over 60 days. When he regained consciousness, he had to learn to eat, walk, talk and read all over again.

Today, Williams is still a Millwright. He still lives in Hodgenville, KY and continues to drive to Louisville to work. He has two children (son and daughter), who are both very talented runners. Both children have competed at the Kentucky State Cross Country Competition for several years representing the LaRue County School System. Williams does not have any memory or recall of his accident at Mitchell. But he has lots of great memories and still enjoys talking about the great times he had racing.

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