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 Born
February 11, 1969 in Little Falls, New York, William Warner was born
to parents who both worked in a Tea factory. Bill's father grew up a
dairy farmer and his mother came to the United States from the
Ukraine after the war and worked in a shoe factory. After Bill's mom
spent a season milking cows, she decided working a dairy was not for
her. Bill got into motorcycles at a young age after his father
bought two 50cc Indian Broncos, assuming he could take the parts
from the two bikes to make one that would run for Bill's older
brother Ray. Bill said in the absents of brother or father he spent
much of his youth pushing that minibike up the driveway and trying
to bump start it on the way down. He remembers getting it started
twice, the first time it died right away, the second time he took
out the fence in the back yard.
Afters the Bronco incident Bill was not allowed on anything with an
engine so he got into BMX (bicycle) racing. Nothing hardcore he
says, just the local kids racing each other at a non-sanctioned
track. Although Bill would borrow his brother's Yamaha 100 from time
to time without his knowledge, then for a brief time played around
on an ATV, it wasn't until 2002 that Bill actually purchased his
first street bike, a 1986 Yamaha VMAX.
Bill's riding came well after his move to Florida. His goal
following high school was to be a marine biologist. He basically had
three choices. He first visited a school in Long Island, New York,
but found the weather to be terrible. Someone told him this was
typical weather, so he moved on to choices two and three, both in
Florida. One was in Miami and since this was also the period of time
as Crockett and Tubbs of Miami Vice fame, Bill's dad struck that
option from Bill's list assuming all of Miami was a drug infested
cesspool with everyone at risk of being shot or worse being forced
to wear coral pink and blue-green all the time. That left the
University of Tampa where Bill went to school and has remained in
the area ever since.
It wasn't until 2004 that the idea of going really fast came to
Bill. While watching the national news, Bill saw a story about a guy
named Sam Tilley in Minnesota getting clocked on a state highway
going over 200mph. As it turned out it was a mathematical mistake by
the officer but it planted an idea in Bill's head. "I want to go
200mph on my Yamaha VMAX," he thought. After everyone told him that
would be impossible and that it could never be done, he really
wanted to do it.
Bill's first race was at Maxton Airport in North Carolina in
September of 2006. He raced in the MG-1650cc class and went 180mph.
A month later he went 187mph and used the winter to make some
changes preparing for the next race in April of 2007 where he
achieved his goal and ran 200.06mph on his old naked VMAX.
The success of racing his VMAX got Bill into a spinoff business
called Wild Brothers Motorsports that sold VMAX aftermarket parts.
The name came from a combination of two nicknames Bill grew up with,
Wild Bill and Warner Brothers, the later after the cartoons. So he
put the two together which is now Wild Brothers Racing.
In the fall of 2007 Bill purchased a new 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa. With
a turbo installed and the bodywork stripped off he made his first
pass at Maxton in the class MBF-1350cc resulting in passes of 217
and 226 respectively before blowing the engine. This was the first
time that Bill had ever ridden a sportbike of any kind. He's been
racing the turbo Busa ever since.
Obviously in land speed
racing the objective is to go faster with each pass. The first year
and a half Bill kept the Hayabusa naked, mostly because he had never
ridden a bike with fairings. That unintentional style of riding
ended up making him the first person to ever run 250mph naked. You
do know I'm talking about the bike, right? I'm not sure riding a
motorcycle at 250mph without cloths would have very good results.
His personal best was 255.10 in the standing mile. Today Bill rides
the same bike with handmade partial fairings and competes in the
Modified Partial Streamline Body class, MPS/BF-1350cc. This past
October Bill claimed the title as "The World's Fastest Streetbike"
with a record run of 278.60mph at the Texas Mile. This followed a
season of track records also set at Maxton (272.00mph) and Loring,
Maine (273.00) finishing the year with a clean sweep.
The race for 250 was
only six years ago. Now that Bill has eclipsed the 275 barrier you
know all these guys have the unbelievable number of 300 in their
heads. I have no doubt that performance technology can make it
happen but the scary part is these kamikaze pilots are riding on
tires that were not meant to exceed 200mph. Technically they are
rated for 186mph as set by government standards but as we can all
see past governmental BS, we all know it's 200. Bill said he takes
the whole tire issue very serious. He has a tight tire program which
consist of tire spin and temperature sensors, plus he inspects every
square inch of the tires after every run and starts every event with
a new tire even though he feels comfortable that one tire would last
the entire season. It will be very interesting to see how they tread
on thin ice over the next few years. However it plays out you can
rest assured Mr. Warner will be at the forefront of the action.
Other Areas of
Interest
Residence: Wiumama, FL (Tampa Bay)
Occupation: Tropical Fish Farmer
Home track: I consider Maxton my home track
Team Name: Wild Bros Racing
Crew Members: Team Manager: Walter Kudron. No real steady
crew @ the track but one of these people seem to step up and make
sure I get help: Willie Colby, Jerry Gainey, Jason Genero, John
Bullock, Jody Levelie, Trilliun Muir, Ken Klien
2010 Sponsors: Brock's Performance, BST, RCC Turbos, Garrett
Turbo Technologies/Honeywell, Ward Performance, R&D Motorsports
Inc., Ohlins USA, Continental Tires, MTC Engineering, Worldwide
Bearings, Knecum Performance Engines, Web Cam Inc., McIntosh Machine
and Fabrication, Aerospace Lubricants, Inc., Spiegler Performance
Parts, Heads Up Performance, Falicon Crankshaft Components Inc.,
Millennium Technologies Inc., Color Concepts, Power-Coat, Zip
Sensors, Weimer Mechanical Services, Helmet House, Larry Forstall
Racing, NLR Systems, Dainese USA, AiM Sports and Crower Rods
Accomplishments:
25 Land Speed Records (including):
* 2 Bonneville salt flat records
* 1 AMA national record
* 3 Track Records currently held at Goilad TX, Maxton NC, and Loring
ME
Fastest motorcycle (non-liner) in the world at 278.6 mph
First-ever motorcycle (non-liner) over 275 mph
Only person to ever go over 250 mph on an un-faired (Naked)
motorcycle.
Top Unfaired speed of 255.1mph in the mile
Fastest Motorcycle title at Goliad, Texas @ 278.6 mph - Track Record
Fastest Vehicle title at Maxton, North Carolina @ 272.374 mph -
Track Record
Fastest Vehicle title at Loring, Maine @ 273.35mph - Track Record
Spring '09 & Fall '10 Texas Mile Shoot-Out Winner.
First un-faired (naked) all-motor bike to go over 200mph in the
mile.
4th person in LSR 50yr history, to go over 200mph naked & naturally
aspirated.
Goals: To keep going faster, but never faster than my guarden
angle can fly.
Interest outside of racing: Mostly eating
Favorite foods: What ever someone cooks and puts in front of
me.
Favorite movie: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Daily driver: Ford F250
First motorcycle: Yamaha VMAX
Hero: The Tick
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