Unsurprisingly, your interests include the usual hobbies we’d expect from extreme athletes (BMX biking and skateboarding spring to mind), but you’re also quite keen on graphic design and art. How does that mix with the ‘Mad’ side of your character?
“When I was at school, I knew I wanted to be a pro-motocross rider in the USA, and I wanted to make stuff look cool. I always liked making stickers, and every night after school, I’d go to our local signwriting place. I’d get all the offcuts and draw different shapes, numbers and graphics for my bike, and then lay them all out. I was doing that from a very early age.
“Straight out of school, I went round all the sign writing shops and asked them, ‘how do I become a sign writer?’ They said I needed an apprenticeship, so that’s what I went for. I was doing that for three years for about four dollars an hour: most of my buddies were getting paid more to work at McDonalds! But I was having fun. I was enjoying it.
“Once I finished my apprenticeship, I started my own business with my fiancée, called ‘Creat8Grfx’. Since then, I’ve done all my own designs, all my own graphics on the cars. One of the highlights of my year is when it comes designing a new look for the car. Everyone is like ‘right, what are we going to do this year that look sick?!’. We always try to generate something bigger and better, something that looks more badass than it was the year before.”
Two of your designs have won awards for the best looking driftcars worldwide. We’re looking for a new design for the crankandpiston banner. Do you fancy putting a design together for us…?!
“Yeah, of course! We still run Creat8Grfx, I sponsor a lot of guys in the D1NZ Championship, I design graphics for international guys, and it’s an international business. When I’m not competing and burning the rubber, I’m at home and in the shop. So yeah, I’d love too!”
We’ll be in touch Mike.
– Our thanks to AmmaniV12. Shots courtesy of Speedhunters and Mad Mike Whiddett.
