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/126003
TonyDiStefano 250 National Championship Mechanic Keith McCarty and his two be st frien ds. I would plan on going to Europe. I had inten tion s of goi ng in two ye ars and Suz uk i is interested . That's what I wan ted , a co mpany that would send an American rider to ride the Gran Prix's. Where oth er companies I had o ffers from weren't interested at all in Europe. As a f acto ry rider fo r bo th Eur op ean and j apanese firms comp are th e Cz eciis to th e japa nese ? I never really had any thi ng with CZ. I had my · own bikes, did every thing my sel f, and didn 't get any money or ex p en ses. I did everything o n my ow n with my friend Ray Martino. Then cam e the Trans-AxfA and CZ ca m e up wi t h a fa ctory rid e, a mechani c , and they w an tedm e to fly . It was a pre tty nice de al . No money , but all expenses paid . It w as a nice way of going racin', The guy s at CZ didn 't work on the machines. The bike wasn't kept up. They just didn't have it organized. They would fly a mechanic in on Friday and y ou just can't prepare the b ike in one or two davs . It takes all week and still the bike is;"t prepared. The Czechs would switch mechanics almost every week. You need the sam e guy to get used to y o u . I had expenses and everything , but I never made an y money at the race 'cause I always b ro ke d own. With Su zuki it is really nice . Down in Flo rida I worked with my me chanic Keith McCarty. Now , I just co me to the race and have ful l confidence that th e bike is right. I'm happy , looking forw ard to the race, I get here and the b ike is 100%. It looks like a b rand new mach ine becau se Keith tak es the wh o le thing apart and goes ove r everyth ing. What about th e Full House patch on yo ur j ersey ? T hey h e lp ed m e right fro m the b eginning. I starte d o ut as nob od y an d they gave me gas m oney . Now they are p lanning o n selling some p rod ucts, Full Ho use p ro du cts, with m y name end orsing t he m . They plan on coming o u t w ith so me p rod ucts with my sig na t u re o n it Tony D iS tefano Pr oduc ts . A wh ole line o f riding gear an d so me bi ke parts. lt7zy do you fee l that y ou are one of th e nations m ost p opu lar riders even though you haven 't gotten the pu blicity of Weinert, Kar smakers and others ? Oh , I didn 't even know th at . When I'm at a race I can't tell who the cro w d is cheering fo r. Maybe it' s be cause I st arted out pretty rough and had to do everything on my own. I w as a privateer on my own, and I r an well aga inst the facto ry teams. I th in k a lot of peop le like the underdog. Gee, I didn't know th at. What is life like on the road fo r a pr of essional mo tocross racer ? Now it is so mu ch nicer. This is really th e w ay to race. All expenses paid, motel , foo d , p lus th ey pay us to ride . If yo u co me t he other w ay you h ave to worry . I mad e j ust enough money before to go from week t o week. This w ay all I have to do is wo rry abou t myself. I can put 100% of my time in to training and taking care o f my self. I just enjoy doing it. I did it before without making m oney . The sch edule is so tig h t there is no ti me to d o any thing wi th the m oney. I have just been puttin g it in the bank. Does being on th e Natio nal circuit p u t a crimp on your social life ? I thin k all of the racers are in t he sam e sit uation. There is a race every wee k, and if y o u are on th e ro ad y ou end up on it all wee k. It's a st range life. A d iff er ent life fro m wh at is sup pose to be a normal li fe . If yo u fly to the races y ou fly on Friday and don 't ge t b ack until Monday. Then you are h ome a co up le o f days . You can't get anything done becau se y o u have to leave and everything at home takes place o n the weekend. It pretty much takes up my time for an ything but racing. What ab ou t trainin$. H ow mu ch tim e do yo u spend getting ," shap e ? I've been riding awhile, I went t o th e Tibblin school, and just being around you find o ut different st uff. People tell you to d o this or that , but I think it is necessary to find o ut wh a t y o u have to do for yoursel f. Do y o u throw logs or run 20 miles a day ? . No, I don't d o that , b ut I us ually work out twice a week . I have to w orry about weight because I'm the heaviest guy, but it doesn't see m to be too m uch of a disadvantage. I never would have expected to win the 250 Ch ampionship . I was always he avier by about 30 o r 40 pounds on t he other guys. What do es th e average racer do w rong an d what should h e work on? It takes time to get good an d a yo unger rider has to ge t in sha pe if he wan ts to be serio us . If yo u are in shape yo u can d o almos t any thi ng , but on ly if y ou c an last t he whole ti m e. How long have you been racing ? I h ave been actually racing for te n years, since I was eight. I used to race TT and scramb les, but in scr ambles I'd nev er get to ride , o nly run th ree lap heats and fo ur lap finals , I went to a motocross an d went o ut for practice for two ho urs and th ree 20 minute motos. I go t so tired I co uld n't beli eve it. I liked tha t kin d of racin g. In scrambles we never got to ride , h ad to fight t o practice , and th ere: w ere too m an y peop le. Now, mo tocross is almost getti ng the same way . I won my first mot ocro ss race , b ut there were n o guys . I w as number one local guy th e firs t y ear . District 6 . The second year also. Then I got my AM A lice nse an d wanted t o go p ro fes sion al . I go t it first wh en I was fiftee n, but th e license age was 18 at the ti me . I won a qu a l i f i er at H onda Hills and got pro tested. I think someon e back h ome ra tted o n m e. I had to p ay a $50 fine and then they changed the age to 16. I went o u t racing whe n I w as 16 . St arted out in Flo rida, and Daytona was my first rac e . The first year Pierre wa s h ere. Weine rt , L a cke y an d everybody was there and I got lapped three times in a thirt y m inute: moto. These guys we re lapping me a co up le years ago and now I can run with them . What do yo u thin k of th e 125 's? That 's real ly a class . One time last year I raced on e , one t im e in m y life . It's reall y a st range little bike. It was at a local race and yo u have to play a tune on th at shi fter, ca tch all the co gs right. Going through the co mers I'd bite a berm and stall t he engine . Off o f the jumps th e en gine w ould die . I co uldn' t keep the power up . It w as a lo t o f fun , but I j us t co uldn' t go on it. How often do y ou ride motorcyc le during th e we ek? I usu ally ride in practice and if I feel like doing it I go and ride one time a w e e: k, N o one rac es where I'm from so I have to rid e b y myself and it 's no fun. If I go rid ing I go o ut fo r 15 or 20 minu tes . Whu has th e best bikes on the National circui t? Our new b ikes are nicer than the old o n cs , a little more suspens io n and lighter. All the factory b ike s are pretty cl ose . If it w asn 't so so meone w o uld go o ff and w alk away . Everyth in g is pretty tight. I wo uld n ' t say ours are the fastes t. I never motor away from any body , b ut I never get m o tored either. It see ms that whoeve r ge ts a b it e o ut of t he co rn er o r t he power to th e ground w ill have a little advantage at the en d of the st raight. No w , that you mention get t ing po wer to the gro und. What d o yo u think of th e R o k on automatic ? I did so me testing on Rokon last ye ar an d i t was pretty nice. I was off ered a r id e fro m Rokon with so me good m o n e y . It w ou ld h a ve been all ex perime ntal. I th in k th e aut omatic is a go od th ing in t h eory, espe cially for be ginners. If they ever got the gu ys adjusted to ride t he m th ey would be excellent . Do you have a track y ou really like or ha te ? I feel that it is the same fo r everybody wh o is out there racing. I enjoy a soft t ra ck similiar to the tracks back East where I'm from. In California I don't particu larly like the real real hard tracks like Saddleback and Carlsbad. It's hard as a rock and you tum it on and bum yo ur tires . What d o yo u think of Jimmy Wein ert ? T he re are about ten guys who can do the job and J immy's one of them. We had a few problems, some tangle-ups and th e papers wrote th em up because th ey make good stories. Las t year during the National Championship we tangl ed bars a co up le o f times . It j ust seemed that I would go down and he 'd st a y up, but th at's racing. In the Astrodome we tangled again. He 's a good competitor. • 15