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r eputat i on was made, judged and
accep ted b y most, although a wi se sage
f r o m California predicted th at J ay
wo uld b e shocked b ack to th e harsh
world of real ity when he returned to th e
west coast and the d ouble TI Nationals
of Castle Rock and Ascot. Uay fini shed
ninth at Castl e Rock as th e h ighest
placing n on-west coast rider. It was h is
first ride there.]
Yo u ca n' t a r g ue wi t h th e col d
sta t istics o f his well -ridden, calc ulated
and impressive b ack to back Na ti o nal
victorie s at Lo uisvill e and Harringto n ,
plus a th ird place finis h at Columbus.
J ay , at barely tw o months past his
eighteenth birthday , became the
y oungest rider to win a Nat ional and
also entered the record books as the
first rookie to win consecutive Nationals
in 20 years.
Just who is Jay Springsteen ? Is he as
good as people say? What makes him
tick? Doesn 't he know th at a rookie
should spend a season or two just
learning the ropes instead of making life
hard for his more experienced elders?
An d what about his sponsor Vis ta
Sheen?
"He has the ability and the potential
to become Grand National Champion
this year. I wouldn't be surprised if he
did it." Bart Markel and I w ere bench
racin g and Bart was fielding a few of the
questions about Jay that [ put to him .
"I've been watching him for quite
awhile now. He's fast , he's clever and he
doesn 't appear to rattle easil y. His talent
lies in the ability to read a t rack, to pick
the fastest line aro und it and to adapt to
the track surface whether it 's slick,
rough or whatever. He 's got some of the
mo st reliabl e equipment ar ound. In the
pits he may be j us t ano the r kid to some,
but o n th e track he rid es lik e a seas on ed
pro . A lot of riders are find ing out that
the fantastic seas o n he pu t to gether last
year was n o fluke. He 'll 'ge t a lot o f
o ffe rs for ne xt sea so n ."
On e of t hose persons whose job it is
to watch an d eval ua te y o ung riders on
the rise is Harley -Davidson raci ng te am
manager Dick O'B rien. "Of course I've
kep t an eye on J ay ; tha t's my job. It's a
little earl y in the season to b e doing an y
seri ou s co nsiderat io n yet , but he's d oing
some fine riding." Interestingly the
riders to whom Jay h as be en giving a
very hard time are the very ones who
ride for T eam Harley .
One of Jay's closest and best friends is
C o r k y Keener, ano the r Markelville
native. Corky -followed J ay to victory at
Louisville , then turned the tables on
him at Columbus as the pair foll owed
Gary Scott to the winner's circle .
At Louisville Corky praised Jay for his
ride , say ing , " L ' s no disgrace to run
t
second to Jay on any track." Later
Co rky added, "He's going to be good,
rea lly good . I don't think he 'll really
co me into his own for another year or
so ; then watch out."
It takes m o ney an d lo ts of it to p u t
toget her a successful racing effort an d
the man behind the effort is Rich
Gawth rop of Vista Sheen.(Right here
- we will dig ress a bi t to p oin t out that
Vista Sheen silk screens T-shirts. Repeat
th at ten t imes.) Rich , the man b eh ind
the shi rt , is a co n tras t of moods. The
day I dropped into the Farmington ,
Michigan plant to chat with Jay, Rich
was the businessman handling day to
