Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tommy Aquino Interview
I had a brief chat with Tommy Aquino, the 2008 AMA Pro Road Racing Rookie of the Year and current Graves Motorsports Yamaha rider. Here he sheds some light on his celebratory haircut at Mid-Ohio and talks about his photography skills, Twitter, and some other stuff you just might not have known about him...
Dan Lo: Hey Tommy, I'm going to start off with the most important question first. When you scored your first AMA podium at Mid-Ohio, your celebration involved a haircut. What's the story behind that?
Tommy Aquino: Well, at the beginning of the Barber Motorsports Park weekend Josh Hayes was telling me how he was not going to cut his hair until he put it on the box. So I said "Alright I'll join in on that." Hayes did not follow through, and cut his hair before Infineon but I held out until I obviously got the top of my head chopped off. (laughs)
DL: Does that mean you'll shave your head when you get that first AMA win?
TA: (laughs) I don't think I will shave my head. It really looks better longer. Even if I don't win [at New Jersey Motorsports Park], I am planning to drive up to Atlantic City for a night with my team, should be fun.
DL: I've seen that on race weekends when you're not out on the track you can be seen walking around with a camera. How did you get into photography?
TA: When I was younger, I always had a video camera on me, making home videos. Then I took my mom's camera and just started taking pictures. My old film Canon broke about 2 years ago and I kinda lost interest. In the last 8 months, photographers from the track and my girlfriend Kayla Morales got me quite interested in it again. She is a professional photographer for bands in San Diego, and lots of talk about cameras really made me want my old camera back. My dad took notice and bought me a camera for my birthday. I would have rather picked it out myself but he made a good choice.
DL: What camera did you get?
TA: Yup. I still am but I don't do much because racing takes up all my time.
Dan Lo: Hey Tommy, I'm going to start off with the most important question first. When you scored your first AMA podium at Mid-Ohio, your celebration involved a haircut. What's the story behind that?
Tommy Aquino: Well, at the beginning of the Barber Motorsports Park weekend Josh Hayes was telling me how he was not going to cut his hair until he put it on the box. So I said "Alright I'll join in on that." Hayes did not follow through, and cut his hair before Infineon but I held out until I obviously got the top of my head chopped off. (laughs)
DL: Does that mean you'll shave your head when you get that first AMA win?
TA: (laughs) I don't think I will shave my head. It really looks better longer. Even if I don't win [at New Jersey Motorsports Park], I am planning to drive up to Atlantic City for a night with my team, should be fun.
DL: I've seen that on race weekends when you're not out on the track you can be seen walking around with a camera. How did you get into photography?TA: When I was younger, I always had a video camera on me, making home videos. Then I took my mom's camera and just started taking pictures. My old film Canon broke about 2 years ago and I kinda lost interest. In the last 8 months, photographers from the track and my girlfriend Kayla Morales got me quite interested in it again. She is a professional photographer for bands in San Diego, and lots of talk about cameras really made me want my old camera back. My dad took notice and bought me a camera for my birthday. I would have rather picked it out myself but he made a good choice.
DL: What camera did you get?
TA: I have a Canon EOS Rebel XSi
. It is a good, user-friendly camera for the inexpensive price, and does the job well.
DL: You've been Tweeting up a storm this year, what are your thoughts about Twitter?
TA: Twitter is a funny thing. I like it because my friends usually put up crazy tweets and funny pictures. I usually just put up funny pictures or anything awesome. (laughs)
. It is a good, user-friendly camera for the inexpensive price, and does the job well.DL: You've been Tweeting up a storm this year, what are your thoughts about Twitter?
TA: Twitter is a funny thing. I like it because my friends usually put up crazy tweets and funny pictures. I usually just put up funny pictures or anything awesome. (laughs)
DL: You mentioned in a recent update that you got pulled over for the first time. What happened?
TA: (laughs) Yeah I got pulled over for the first time on the freeway. I was over the speed limit quite a bit but he let me off with a fix-it-ticket for my plates. Years of being an actor payed off.
DL: You were an actor?
TA: Yup. I still am but I don't do much because racing takes up all my time.DL: Oh neat, what sort of work have you done?
TA: Most of my acting was done when I was younger. I started when I was 5 and it has mellowed out since I turned 14. I just didn't have too much time for acting with my racing. I was in Everybody Loves Raymond when I was really young and in a lot of commercials through the years.
DL: Wow that's pretty cool, I had no idea. So speaking of racing, what do you have in store for next year and beyond?
TA: The plan for next year is to race AMA Daytona Sportbike just like this year and hopefully compete for the championship. The years beyond that are a blur right now but I assure you I'll be racing somewhere somehow.
TA: The plan for next year is to race AMA Daytona Sportbike just like this year and hopefully compete for the championship. The years beyond that are a blur right now but I assure you I'll be racing somewhere somehow.
Keep up on the latest news on Tommy Aquino at his official website TommyAquino24.com or follow him on Twitter: @Tommy24racing
Tommy Aquino is sponsored by Yamaha, Graves Motorsports, Vortex Sprockets, Sharkskinz, Dyno Jet, Akropovic, DID Chains, AXIO, Mechanix Wear, TCX, Shoei, and Cortech
Labels: AMA Superbike, Tommy Aquino
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