It’s fast. It’s thrilling. It’s dangerous. It’s a way of life for JD Beach and Hayden Gillim.
“It’s our full time job; that’s all we do,” JD says.
JD has spent most of his life pursuing his dream of being a professional motorcycle racer. He started riding at age 4.
“When I was 7, I [told my father] I wanted to be a champion, to make a living racing,” JD says. “From that point that’s all our life was, just racing. We didn’t take family vacations, we didn’t do anything – we just raced.”
JD has been close to the Gillim family since 2003 when he met them at the national championships. JD would vacation at their house, spending time riding on the dirt track the family had built on their property. Eventually, JD moved from his native Washington to Philpot, Ky., to live with the Gillim family.
Shortly before JD moved in with the Gillims, tragedy struck. Hayden’s younger brother, Ethan, was killed while racing. Ethan was 10.
After Ethan’s death, Hayden’s parents gave him the option of quitting racing. “I’ve known several people that have died [racing],” Hayden says. “Whenever you grow up doing it, you always know there’s that chance . . . depending on how much you love it, you can’t really stop.”
“[Ethan] died doing what he loved,” JD says.
Reminders of Ethan persist throughout the Gillim household: JD sleeps in Ethan’s old bedroom. A sign on the door reads “Ethan Gillim.” A framed picture of young Ethan crouched over the handlebars of a motorcycle hangs over JD’s bed.
JD uses Ethan’s number as his own –number 95.
JD has become part of the Gillim family. “[JD] is like a brother,” Hayden says.
“At the races when you’re doing good everyone’s your friend,” JD says, “but when you’re not, nobody is and nobody’s there for you except family.”
