I was born into a motorcycle-racing family.
My father raced a Parilla and his father, Joseph Bova, also raced on an amateur level in the 30’s and 40’s. This spurred my interest in racing and I had a long amateur flat track career, a brief professional flat track racing stint and now an occasional vintage spin around the track.
The photo at right is of me as a young boy on my father’s 1964 Parilla with his racing trophies.
My son and I are the third generation to run number 35.
When I decided to pursue my brief professional racing career, I quit my day job in order to race full-time. This prompted me to start my motorcycle shop in order to support my racing habit.
Johnny’s got it’s start in 1984 as Johnny’s Motorcycle and ATV in a one-story building in old downtown Wadsworth, Ohio.
The building was built during the depression and the top floor was never completed. We operated out of this building for two years, until we outgrew the space and bought a building of our own nearby. In the early years, we worked on a lot of ATV motors as well as older motorcycles. The business grew until seven years later, when we built the shop we occupy today in Wadsworth, filling 12,000 square ft of space including showroom, service department and warehouse.
Read the full July 15th, 1993 Medina County Gazette article.
We also support vintage flat track racing, with our very own #35 Johnny Bova II, riding both Vintage Kawasaki 250 and Pro Yamaha 450.