Vet MXer - Stuntman - Actor... Profile From TWMX

TWMX Race Series Profile: Brian Friday

Brian Friday, 52

Playa Vista, CA

Sponsors: Troy Lee Designs, Cole Equipment Rental, Fasthouse, ProValve, Spider Grips

Brian Friday is a native of Zanesville, OH and made his move out to Southern California in 1998 to pursue his career in the entertainment industry. Brian is an actor and a stuntman and has kept himself busy over the years making appearances in many top TV series episodes.   Friday is also a motocross enthusiast, we see him at the track riding regularly and as a vet racer has kept his skills sharp. He is a regular competitor in many races, and we spotted him at the West Coast Open Series finale at Glen Helen and took the opportunity to learn more about what drives his racing.

How did you get started riding and racing motocross?

My dad always had bikes, and I actually started out on a Briggs & Stratton mini bike, that was the first one I had, then I moved to a Honda 50 after that. My dad had friends that raced, then he would buy their bikes and turn them into trail bikes. One day he took me to go watch his friends race motocross in about 1969 or so, and then later we watched ‘On Any Sunday’ after that, and I was hooked. Immediately, without hesitation, when my dad asked me if I would like to try it I said yes. We took the little Yamaha 60 enduro I had at the time, took the headlights and everything off of it and put a pie plate on the front. That was for my first race in 1972. I was about 9 years old then.

Have you raced consistently since that first race?

I did race from when I was 9 until I was 17, I race very consistently. That was back in Ohio though, so it wasn’t quite like it was out here in California, but every weekend we were racing. When I got to be college age, I had to make a decision, do I become an A class rider or go to school, there weren’t many pros around that area and not much of a chance to get any kind of sponsorship to keep going. I decided to take the easy way out and go to college. I pretty much quit completely for almost 6 years. By that time I had my degree, I was working and had money again, so the first thing I did after watching a race was to go out and buy a new bike. The insurance company I was working for at the time did not approve, they did not want me racing because they knew that was what I used to do and I’d been hurt already.   I didn’t care though, I snuck out and I raced anyway for about a year, then after that I left that job and moved to the entertainment industry doing modeling, runway and print modeling but on a small level in Ohio. Soon I realized that if I didn’t go to a large market and take classes, I’d never become an actor like I wanted.   At that point I sold my bike and everything I had and moved to Los Angeles and became very poor.

How did you get into the entertainment and acting business when you got here?

I didn’t know anyone, I moved out here, found an agent and started working on a resume. I had done a little bit of work in Ohio and some commercials, so I had gotten my feet wet a little. When I came out here I started taking acting classes and just started learning scenes and things like that. I didn’t have any contacts, but just gradually met more and more people that were doing the same thing that I was doing. I then met some stunt men at the motocross track, they saw my Ohio license plates and were asking what I was doing out here. I explained I was trying to get into acting and after hanging out with them for a while they turned me onto doing stunts and live shows. The first thing I got paid for was playing Batman at a stunt show at Six Flags. At the time I was riding, but not really racing until around 1998 when I started doing it off and on in between injuries. I am up to 31 surgeries in my lifetime from injuries now. I’m trying to take it easy but, but I am addicted now and even when I am hurt I can’t wait to get on the bike again.

What is more dangerous, being a stuntman or racing motocross?

I’ve actually had more surgeries caused by motocross. The people I work with doing stunts are highly skilled, everything is planned and safety oriented. You try to plan a lot of outs in case something goes wrong, cover all of the bases and try to keep it a controlled situation so it is as safe as possible. My last big injury was from motocross, I landed on a bike that another racer that was ahead of me and to my left crashed when he cased a jump. He broke his wrist, launched his bike and when I was at the apex of my jump, his bike ended up exactly at the base of the triple I was about to land. I landed on his bike and ended up crushing my femur, it basically just exploded. In motocross, you just can’t plan for the things that happen like you can for stunts. At the supercross or national level, I would definitely say that is far more dangerous than doing stunts.

What is the biggest stunt you’ve done so far?

I’ve been doing more acting lately, so I need to remember back a little. Probably anything involving heights. I did a big stunt for a CSI Miami episode, and I had to go off the side of a building on a wire in a free fall for about 200 feet. That was dicey for me because you have to trust someone else to run the cable and stop you in time.   I’ve done free falls into airbags where I was four stories tall and that was about as far as I wanted to go with that. But the 200 foot drop off the building with the wire slowing you down and stopping you at the bottom was gnarly. In rehearsal, they did it with a heavy bag of sand and it crushed the concrete below because it didn’t get stopped in time, so that made me even more nervous for it. Since I don’t like heights, that is the biggest for me. I’ve done other things like car hits and other things, but not much for motorcycle stunts. I’ve done maybe 10 or 12 motorcycle jumps my whole career. Now with all the extreme sports, they use a lot of the X-Games guys and those types to do the big motorcycle stunts.

What is it about motocross that keeps bringing you back?

It is a combination of things, I love the physical aspect of it, you have to keep yourself in shape and it keeps you youthful for the most part. Guys that race motocross, even though we may walk like we are old, there is a youthful exuberance that we have because of motocross. I also find it to be a creative outlet because when you look at the track and it is freshly groomed, you get to carve your own lines and choose your path. It’s like surfing where you get to choose your lines and you aren’t taking the same line every time, especially when ruts start to form you have to use your brain to change lines and look at the terrain. There is also the competitive aspect of it where you are testing yourself against other guys, but also testing yourself against the track. I think it keeps the little kid in us alive and keeps us feeling young.

How often do you get to go riding during the normal week?

I have it pretty good, I can usually get out to the track once during the week, race Saturdays and also get back out on Sundays. This is the first time in a long time I have raced both Saturday and Sunday back to back though. Usually it takes me a couple days to recuperate, but I decided I want to get back to riding and racing back to back. Sometimes there will be times where I have a lot of work piled up back to back that I need to get away from the bike like when I have a big role coming up or something I don’t want to take any chances. When I broke my femur I had just done a role in a pilot for a show called Banshee, and the character was done. A week before I broke my femur they decided to resurrect my character and they tried to work around it but just weren’t able to and they gave the role to another actor. So I try to back off on moto when I have jobs coming up.

What kind of training do you do for motocross?

I can’t run anymore due to injuries, I’ve had six surgeries on both knees, three femur surgeries and I just can’t run anymore. I most do things like the elliptical machines in the gym and that type of thing. My twin boys also have started doing BMX, so I bought myself a BMX bike to follow them around. I’ve found that has been really good for my cardio, it’s a sprint, so it helps out also. I have a mountain bike as well, but where I live there isn’t a lot of areas to ride so I’m not able to do that much.

Read more at http://motocross.transworld.net/twmxrs/twmx-race-series-profile-brian-friday/#mVBgWmRSMkBs7dzs.99