The Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 that the late Dane Westby rode to both AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race victories at Barber Motorsports Park in 2014 has joined the world’s largest motorcycle museum – the Barber Motorsports Museum.
Westby tragically lost his life in a freak streetbike accident just three weeks before the 2015 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing series began, but his memory will live on with the display of his race-winning machine, which was donated to the museum by Westby’s father and the Yamalube/Westby Racing Team Owner Tryg Westby.
“I got the idea last week,” Tryg Westby exclusively told Roadracingworld.com, after the simple and somber ceremony Thursday evening at the Barber Motorsports Museum. “I was thinking about how pretty that bike is and how beautiful Barber Motorsports Park is and how special this museum is. Dane won those races here last year. He was going to get married here. He really liked Barber Motorsports Park and the museum.
“This won’t bring Dane back, but he would be proud that his motorcycle is in here with all of these other amazing motorcycles. I just thought what an honor it would be to have his motorcycle here.”
Westby’s Yamaha was built by Jerry Daggett and maintained by Nathan Raptis on a team managed by Chuck Giacchetto.
More, from a press release issued by Yamalube/Westby Racing:
Yamalube/Westby Racing’s Tryg Westby Donates His Son Dane’s #00 Yamaha YZF-R6 To Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum
Birmingham, AL – June 11, 2015 – Tryg Westby, owner of Westby Racing, and father of racer Dane Westby–who tragically passed away earlier this year in a streetbike accident–today donated Dane’s multiple-race-winning #00 Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. The bike is the very same machine on which Dane won both AMA Pro Racing Daytona SportBike races at Barber Motorsports Park in 2014.
“Dane had loyal fans all over the U.S. and throughout the world,” Tryg said. “Now that his golden #00 R6 is here in its new home at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, his fans will have a chance to visit the Museum, see the bike, and remember my son. I’m certain that he would be thrilled to know that his racebike is in the Museum and at the track where he won both races last year. Dane loved Barber Motorsports Park. He loved the Museum, the track, and the awesome fans who cheered him on here. I’m proud to donate Dane’s bike in his honor.”
Jeff Ray, Executive Director of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, commented, “The Barber Museum is honored to become home to the Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 that the late Dane Westby rode to victory in last year’s AMA Pro Daytona SportBike races here in Birmingham. We appreciate that this bike has a history at the track at Barber Motorsports Park, and with it having been ridden by Dane Westby, it becomes an especially important bike in our collection.”
The bike joins the Museum’s collection of more than 1,400 pristine motorcycles and automobiles, and it will be displayed alongside the racebikes of world-renowned motorcycle racers like Jarno Saarinen, Yvon DuHamel, Colin Edwards, and many more.
The Yamalube/Westby Racing team, along with its rider Josh Day, will compete this weekend in MotoAmerica’s Superstock 1000 class on Barber Motorsports Park’s 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course.
MotoAmerica Superbike/Superstock 1000 Superpole (Qualifying) begins at Barber on Saturday, June 13, at 2:10 PM CST. Superbike/Superstock 1000 Race 1 will be on Sunday, June 14, at 12:30 PM CST, and Superbike/Superstock 1000 Race 2 goes green later on Sunday at 4:00 PM CST.
ABOUT BARBER VINTAGE MOTORSPORTS MUSEUM
George Barber’s zeal for speed ignited his vision for today’s museum. Having raced Porsches in the 1960s, Barber held an impressive record of 63 wins. A thriving business executive, Barber rediscovered his motorsports passion in 1988 and began collecting and restoring classic cars. But, since the world’s best and largest car collections had already been established, Barber heeded some advice from longtime friend Dave Hooper, a motorcycle enthusiast, who suggested Barber shift his focus from cars to motorcycles. Barber seized the opportunity to build the world’s “best and largest” motorcycle collection.
The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is a 501(c)(3) Not for Profit Foundation located at the 830-acre Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, AL. Over the course of the past decade, the Barber Museum has brought people from around the world to Alabama, and it was named the #1 tourist attraction in Birmingham in 2014.
The museum is the home of the world’s largest motorcycle collection. Each year, it hosts vintage motorcycle and racecar events, including the Barber Vintage Festival and Barber Historics.
For more information, visit www.barbermuseum.org.