Scottsdale marijuana media company to sponsor motorcycle racer

• Hemp American Media Group of Scottsdale is sponsoring motorcycle racer Johnny Rock Page
• Page previously ran an ATM company in metro Phoenix
• Page said he supports medical marijuana

Motorcycle racer Johnny Rock Page will speed around the Superbike tracks this year thanks to a new sponsorship from a Scottsdale marijuana media company, the partners announced Monday.

Hemp American Media Group, which operates several medical and recreational marijuana websites directed at states where those activities are legal, approached Page, who has been a longtime advocate of medical marijuana, Page said Monday.

"They approached me and I think they had realized that I had been involved in the industry," said Page, who previously ran CGI Direct ATM in Chandler, which sold to another company in 2013.

Page, 47, now spends most of his time traveling to race, but his three children still live in Arizona, he said.

Superbike races are motorcycle events with riders reaching speeds of close to 170 mph on curved courses.

Page took time off from racing in 2012 because of personal marijuana use, the same year he proclaimed himself a write-in candidate for U.S. president. He said at the time his drug use was legal because of an Arizona-issued medical card. He declined to explain his medical condition.

But he said Monday he is drug-free and wanted to support the legal marijuana industry.

"I don't want to be in the marijuana industry myself, but as a drug-free person living a clean life I can be an advocate for the medicinal side," he said.

He said he talked to officials at the MotoAmerica Superbike series to ensure they were comfortable with his new sponsor.

"They said as long as you pass the drug tests, then you are fine," he said. "I'm not representing people that want to get high. But if somebody you really love has cancer or a horrible disease, we want to help that person."

Colby Ayres, co-founder of Hemp American Media Group, said the sponsorship reflects changing attitudes toward marijuana.

"This deal conveys the public’s improving perception and acceptance of marijuana," he said in a press release. "We are ecstatic that Johnny Rock Page and MotoAmerica are progressive in their views towards marijuana."

MotoAmerica's Superbike nine-race series began this month in Austin at the Circuit of The Americas race track and concludes in September at New Jersey’s Motorsports Park.