Privateer Profile Fastest Working Man on the Planet

Josh Cartwright is not your average professional supercross racer. While the Tennessee native grew up racing in the amateur scene, he also went to college to get a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology. Studying and training in Florida, Cartwright made his pro debut in AMA Supercross in 2015, competing throughout his time as a student at Florida State University. Upon graduation in December 2018, he was focused on racing full-time for two years. Then in August 2021, throw in a job in the IT field that he started, and Cartwright is a busy man once again, balancing two professional careers. During the week, he works at UT Systems as a business intelligence analyst and juggles training and riding. He currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas, where UT Systems is the IT department for many of the University of Texas schools. A mostly remote job, Cartwright often sits down with his computer on his lap after completing motos, staying on top of work to his best ability. Then he gears up again and gets back to training. Sometimes long days at the track require catching up on work during the evening.

“Probably time,” Cartwright said on the hardest part of balancing his two careers. “Just finding a good balance between training and getting my work done. Because when it comes to my job, that does come first to an extent. If I have to get something done by that day, I have to do it that day. So, I try to plan my days out so I can get everything done. I also have meetings almost every day, so I have to make sure to plan that well.”

Cartwright’s post from August 2021 announcing his new job.

Still, Cartwright is fully committed to both.

“Yeah, I was able to race only for two years after college and it was nice to not have so much responsibility with racing and school,” Cartwright said. “But now it honestly feels like I’m back on that same grind, so it feels very familiar. But, now it’s more about the love of the sport. I love racing and riding my dirt bike so much that I just can’t quit, and I will race as long as I can.”

With the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship less than three weeks away, Cartwright is finalizing his racing program. Everything from on and off the bike training, his sponsors, travel, budget, and more are in the works for the new season. The #519 is set to compete in all 17 rounds of the 450SX class in 2023. He is returning to familiar and comfortable equipment on a Kawasaki KX450, which he has been on since the start of 2020.

“Yeah, I actually really love the bike,” he said. “It handles really well and has great power. They also have a really good contingency program so that always helps.”

In 2022, Cartwright competed for Bubba Pauli’s Madd Parts Kawasaki, making four 250SX main events aboard a Kawasaki KX250. His season-best 13th overall (11-14-13 race finishes) at the St. Louis Supercross Triple Crown is his second-best main event finish in AMA Supercross.

“I want to just get through the first few rounds healthy and then start hammering down and be in as many mains as possible,” he said on his goals this season. “I know that’s where my speed is, so I need to be in the mains around the [Justin] Starling, [Cade] Clason, [Alex] Ray area.”

Cartwright made the official announcement of his title sponsor and supporters for the season early Monday morning. Last year while racing for Pauli’s team, Cartwright created relationships with more new-to-him sponsors and learned how to further build his own program. Now, a side deal for Pauli’s team, Cartwright will have support from a lot of the same sponsors that helped him last year, although in a slightly difference capacity this time.

“I definitely want to thank Bubba Pauli with the Madd Parts Kawasaki team because I’m kind of like a side deal for the team,” Cartwright explained. “They helped out a ton with helping me build my own program and I was able to get contacts from them as well. He will be taking my bikes and set up to the races. My bike graphics and tent set up is the same exact design as theirs by Top Secret Designs just with my logos. We have almost the exact same sponsors when it comes to the motorcycle. We get our bikes from Jonesboro Cycle who is also Madd Parts. We use the many of the same parts for the bike.”

As a part of Pauli’s team in 2021, Cartwright was able to connect with Ewa Johnson from Namura Technologies. Namura Technologies—a big part of Pauli’s program—and Psychic Motorsports (motorcycle parts and accessories) are sister companies, which helped create a mutually beneficial relationship between Cartwright and Johnson, something he said was a “perfect match.” Psychic Motorsports will step in to serve as his title sponsor, but there are more companies and individuals that are supporting the #519.

Devin Branum, who runs family-owned civil construction company T3 Civil Inc., has known Cartwright since his amateur racing days and is carrying his support over from the Madd Parts Kawasaki team. Ronnie Prado Company, a Texas-backed highway maintenance company, supports over a dozen Texas-based racers on the circuit and likes to support the Texas community to go racing, has also stepped aboard. Although not from Texas originally, as a current resident in the state, Cartwright falls into that category. Cardinal Revenue Solutions is a consulting group that finds funding for hospitals and connected with Cartwright last year. Cartwright created a relationship with owner Christy Pettit and her daughter at the St. Louis Supercross and they now support the honorary Texan. It is awesome to see the Texas community stepping in to help support Cartwright and other riders from, or based out of, Texas.

“I am looking forward to Dallas because it’s my [current] hometown and also Houston because the dirt is amazing there,” Cartwright said anticipating ’23. “But Nashville will be really cool because I’m from Memphis so that will be my hometown race technically.”

“It’s hard to thank everyone because there are so many people that went into this program to make it possible,” he said.

Cartwright would like to thank the following companies for supporting him this upcoming season: Psychic Motorsports, T3 Civil Inc, Ronnie Prado Company, Cardinal Revenue Solutions, FXR, LS2 Helmets, Madd Parts, Jonesboro Cycle, Flow Vision, Blud Lubricants, Dedicated Clothing, Top Secret Designs, Devol, Phoenix Handlebars, FMF, Pirelli, Ryno Power, Atlas Brace, CoreMX, Williams Motowerx, Asterisks, No Toil, Rekluse, Dirt Tricks, Fastway, Luxon, Ogio, DW Performance, Polar USA, PureMotion Dallas, Keller Williams Realty, Big Buildings Direct, Gaerne, Skills Racing, and MotoTape.

Images courtesy of Josh Cartwright, by Landon Anderson