Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125841
Cal Rayborn killed • In ewZealand Cal Rayb orn, th e mo torcy cle land t speed record holder and . h e man often called "the world's greatest r o a d racer" was . killed las t weekend w hile racing in New Zealand. In a year tha t has had more than its share of death s among front-runners, the death of Calvin Rayborn co mes as the most tragi c and shocking. Af'ter a 1973 season during whi ch he w as plagued by p oor machinery, Rayborn had signed on December 26 to ride for Suzuki. Th e n ext day he flew to New Zealand to s~1I h is race car and campaign a four-race serie s aboard the Su zuki 500 that Geoff Perry almos t wo n Daytona w ith in 1972. H ~ was killed during th e first ra ce whe n he hit a b ar r ie r at over 100 mile s p~r hour. Unconfirmed sources report th at the mach ine sei zed , ca using the accident. He was 33 . H~ is survived by his wi fe J acquelyn and tw o sons, Calvin III an d J ack. Despi te a fruitless season in 197 3, Ra yborn was perhap s Am er ica 's m ost suc ces sfu l road racer, H~ had twelve National Ch ampionsh ip vic to ries to his credit and all but one, t he La vonia Mile in 1971, were roa d races. H~ won Daytona in 1968 and 1969 an d was clos e to t h e Gr and Nation al Championship b oth year s, but fini sh ed in third position each ti me . In 1970 he set the 265 mile per h our motorcycle land speed re cord tha t st ill stan ds . H ~ began ra cin g in 195 8. An inj ury th a t year almost caused hi m to give u p Co nside red by many to be the world's best road racer, Rayborn won eleven National road races. raci ng fo r good. In 19 61 he started rac ing ag ain as a Novi ce and rose to the rank of Expert by 1964. H~ wo n his first two Nationals in 1966. Besides being highly thought o f as a motorcycle ra ce r he was well-li ke d by all who knew him. After the 1972 season, a season that saw him plague d by mechanical difficulties that caused him to retire (he led ev~ry road race he entered}, Rayborn co mm en ted that it wasn't a matter of luck : "You make y our own luck." The press was very fond of him as th ey demonstrated through a raft of laudatory articles, and, at the end of the 1972 sea so n , Cy cle magazine chose him as their Man of th e Year , follo win g his two Nati onal road race wins at Indianapolis and Laguna Seca and his fine p e r f o r m a n c e s at t he An glo -American Match rac es. In away , th e 197 2 trip to Engl and may be co nside red t he high poin t of his career, H ~ won h alf of th e ra ces in the series on a t ire d bike wit h lit tle support or pra cti ce an d became so me thing of an Eng lish an d European her o, T h is y e ar , d e s p ite a broken co llarbone and an underpow er ed an d ailing mach ine, he made on e o f the fine st ri de s one is every likely to witness in t he opening laps o f t he Im ola 200 to establish himsel f as o ne of the to p riders - if n ot th e to p rid er in int ernational compe tition. In Mar ch wh en Day to na time arr ives, Rayborn will be m issed. His absen ce will be fe lt because, wh en he was there. no one co uld fo rget it. T hey wo n't fo rge t now . He was also a fine Mile and TT racer and had commented that he preferred the mile even over road racing. 9