James Compton Bio

Born in Washington State, James spent his early childhood in the northwest. When he was 12, his family moved to Texas where he played high school football, ran track and competed in power lifting. After high school, he was recruited to play football for the University of Washington where he excelled as a starting full back for the Huskies.

Growing up in a highly academic family, his passion for motorcycles and hot rods took a back seat to education and sports. After college however, James bought his first motorcycle--a 1988 GSXR 1100. The GSXR soon became his only means of transportation when he sold his car to buy his first race bike--a 1987 CBR 600 Hurricane. James began road racing in 1992 in Washington and Oregon. Despite his rather large size, 6 foot 260 lbs., he excelled quickly at this new sport and fell in love with his new endeavor. James eventually found his way back to Texas where he began racing club races and doing some nationals with his bike in the back of his pickup. Disappointed with a few lousy motor builds, he also began building his own motors at this point. He took a year off of racing in 1998 so he could save money to buy tools, a lathe, mill and tig welder of his own. During this time, James visited corporate America and eventually launched a startup company with a friend. Business was booming and he was living the “American Dream” on the outside. Inside, he wanted more time to do the things he deeply loved.

In 2000, James decided that it was time to pursue his passion full time. He left the business and started Moto One Racing, a tuning and performance shop in San Antonio (www.emoto1.com). He began working with Valvoline EMGO Suzuki as Ben Spies’ tuner. James has had the privilege of working with some great riders--Spies, Pridmore, Rapp, Moore and Holden. In the ’01-’03 seasons, Compton competed in the AMA professional road racing circuit in Formula Extreme and Super bike in addition to his tuning gig. In his time off the track, James created several custom sport bikes and really enjoyed the creative side of motorcycling. At the track he excelled as a race mechanic, quickly catapulting his career to higher levels. His attention to detail, intricate knowledge of the bikes, and previous race experience as an AMA rider allowed him to offer great insight both on the track and in the pit. For the 2007 AMA season, James is the crew chief for Jake Holden of Michael Jordan Motor sports.

In the winter of 2005, James began work on his first full custom bike. This was the beginning of putting a lifelong dream into reality. This date also marked the beginning of Compton Customs—the fabrication and custom bike building side of his business. Inspired by his love of classic hot rods as well as his passion for racing, the Crusher was born. This pro street style bike custom built around a GSXR 1000 engine created waves. In its first public appearance (Daytona bike week 2006), the Crusher became an instant celebrity and was featured in magazines world-wide. In the fall of 2006, James was invited to participate in Discovery’s Biker Build Off.

With several more concept bikes in the works, James is looking forward to his next project. He plans to begin his next build in the fall 2007. Stay tuned…