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/126012
" ; BANGIN' OUTWITH GA III • ~ t 10 r--- ~ C\I l-o V ..0 0 .... u 0 -J super d udes with T exas-sized egos . I trie d to get Sco t t to p ut o ne on, but h e wouldn' t . Damned if I didn't th in k he was c a me ra shy . The b oo ts were ext roa rdinary with toes p ointy eno ugh tha t yo u gave a second thought abou t ba cking int o on e of the displ ay shel ves fo r fear the y might hav e to take you to the hospit al to have th e $60 super sn akeskin sp ecials removed. We had an o ther good laugh , climbed into th e van an d began rolling westward, running a losi ng battle wit h th e sun to beat it to sun se t. A vast pan o ram a of ro lling hill s an d bluffs sp re ad out in fro nt of us west of Lar amie, along with the realizati on th at all this was p art of the d omain of th e Indian and the buffalo in years gone by. It got o ne to daydream . If y o u tr ied really hard you c ould see a band of Indian scouts wi th lan ces in hand and brightly streaked faces st ar ing d own at the intruders. The ir ponies, swift as th e wind, p awed th e ground, ready fo r flight to safe ty o r battle. Was th at th e rad io o r w as it a bugle call and th e sound of a colum n of m ounted cava lry. Ex cept for t he concrete ribbon we wer e o n , th e fences , th e singing wire s and an occ asional ran ch, p robabl y n o t m uch h as ch an ged in the past 100 years. Ca t tle still graze wh ile windmills ca tc h th e breeze in th eir arms to draw precious water to th e surface in a land where a dry , parche d br own see ms to be th e only co lo r. Sunset came and p assed, the mil es r oll ed on and Scott tal ked about some th ing he 'd like to do if he had some sp are tim e: hunting. Now I'd been r e ad y f o r a l most an ything ex cept huntin g. It seems th at o ne of G ary 's sponsors in his earlier racing day s had ta ken him hunting a few times fo r wild pigs, I th ink, and the fee ling of being alone (o r alm ost alone) in th e ope n desert wastlands, alo ng with th e thrill o f the hunt, h ad m ad e a lasting impression. Th at and the stuffed m ountain lion that t h'e ge n t le ma n keeps in his shop. Competition. In a different sens e yes , but still co mpe tition . • 38 Eva ns to n, Wyoming was co ld. Ther e was a stro ng wi nd bl ow ing when we st opped for a snac k and a fill-up . Downtown, wh er e we finally ended up afte r eating, w as m em orabl e for the number of bars situate d in th e sho rt three- bl ock area th at fronted the gas station we had c hosen . Attend ant s are always fascina ted wh en the pump keeps right on ticking p ast the 30-gallon mark; th a t and wh at they see when they peered in to the re ar windows of the van. There are hardly any stic ke rs on Scott's wind o ws. only his name in scrip t o n the rear bumper gives a clue about th e ow ne r o f th e cream an d tan Dod ge Maxi van . It never fails. Wide-eyed, th ey usu all y say , "damn , arc you a racer ?" Gary p ol itely answe rs yes an d a ny o the r qu est ion s th a t might be asked. " Le t's roll. C'm on, Jet 's ge t the show o n th e road. I'll drive fo r awhi le and y o u grab some sleep ." Sc ott c raw ls o nto th e bunk , c hec ks o ut th e insid e o f hi s sleep ing bag an d I fiddl e with the C B to chec k on the road condi t io ns in to Salt Lake City . Eggs, b acon , ha sh browns, co ffee and slot m achines were th e b rea kfast fare as w e sw oo pe d i n to Ne vada o n th e d ownh ill slide towa rd th e Califo rn ia line. I waved as we rolled non stop t hro u g h t h e "race r s' p ar ad i s e ," Winnemucca--Jt see ms th ey h ave this grea t ca ndy sto re where th ere are lo ts of swe e ts , all the racers mak e it a p oint to sto p n o ma tt er wh at time it is. We b oogied right in to Ren o. u p, aro und and d o w n those fam ous hills. "The m o tel shou ld be righ t on the nex t bl o ck . n "Wro ng," I sa id. "O f cou rse it is:' " Loser p ays . fo r the m o vies. " "R ight," Scott lost this t ime , b u t he extracted revenge b y beating m e at almost (may be all) t he games we pl ayed in the next fe w day s. The p inball wizard and I drop pe d about a bu ck ap iece in one o f th e se supe r slic k pinball m ach ines. T he o nly time we beat the m achine was when we comb ine d o n th e bonu s arra ngeme n t and b oth o f u s pl ayed the m ach ine a t o nce. Happiness is a bartender w ho says, "sorry , we o n ly serve Co ors ," Thre e bottles later one of the p ool tables o p e ne d up and Gary p layed thi s quiet-looking guy. He was using o n ly one arm to shoot and we t ho ugh t at firs t th at he might h ave h ad a problem with his other arm. Gary be at h im in tw o game s of eigh t ball. T he n th e guy pl ayed so me body he kn ew; he use d b oth arms and he was tough, We spl it to _ Up until th e tim e we hit Ren o it had bee n a n ormal trip, bu t Reno was close enough to the Californ ia sta te line fo r Scott to lit erall y sta rt sme lling it . " The sooner we get ro lling, the sooner we ge t th ere," As a philosopher Gar y Sco t t has som e good line s. Si tt ing in th e passeng er seat I go t the u rge to ha ve a beer as we sta rte d rolling into th e hill s leading to Donner Pass; Sc o tt se t tle d for a Dr . Pepper. "Bill invite d me up to his place th is winter to learn to ski. I think th at might b e fun . Fir st th ough I'd like to take Donna and my son to spend som e time in Florida down o n th e b each just rel axing. The house in Ohio is go od for getting away from it all afte r th e sea so n is ove r, bu t if I d o clin ch the champ io nship I Ruess it'll be just like Califor nia." Rolling in to San Francisco at ru sh _ ho u r isn ' t my id ea of fun, but t hen Sc ott wa s driving so I sa t b ac k and en joyed . It was too late to d o any t hi ng so we split for th e ocean so uth o f Fri sco, th at is, after we fo und o ur way ge t some sleep. It was then th a t I noticed the motel w as on the co rne r of San Jose Avenue. S om etimes y ou get lu cky . Fr iday must have been O U f d ay . Fishermen 's Wharf appeared right before o ur eyes after a sh ort rid e from Bumbleber ry 's restaurant. It was much d ifferent from the d ay before whe n we had spent most of o ur tim e goi ng ar ound in circles. You could spend a day in Fisherm en's Wharf. Un fort una tely we didn 't have that mu ch tim e so it wa s a fairly quick t our we t ook . In a place called Sculpture 70 Gary fo un d a p iece of me tal sculp ture that depicted a tree bran ch made ou t of twisted bronze wire . "That w ould sure look nice in the living room. " The price was more suited to decoratin g a bank vau lt. One ne at thing abou t th e Wharf was th e sidewalk vendors. You, could order a walk-awa y meal or purchase candles, leather goods, sp oo n jewelry or the latest in unisex neckl aces. " Hey, try one on ," I said as I selected this neat liquid-silver one with green tige r ey es. ."N o ," he demurred, " I don't think I'm quite ready for that ye t," The highligh t of the trip to Frisco wa s th e ride we took in one of the trolley ca rs . Going up the hills yo u find y our self w ondering where the m oto rm an gets the en ergy to manhandle the four-fo ot shi ft lever: going down y o u cross y o ur fingers, hoping that the brakes, sm o king and st in king, hold until y o u ca n get o ff. After a short sightse eing excursio n somewhere in the middle o f to wn we h opped a tr olley back, chosing opposite en ds o f th e car th is time to gathe r in all th e sights. Our tour ended in a German restaurant (right in' the middle of o ne o f th e most famous sea food di stricts ar ound) for lunch . Saturday quickl y estab lished itself as a day of work as we pi cked Bill up fro m the airpo rt along with th e San J ose race engine. The three of us sped to San Jose a n d sp ent th e a fte rn o o n- -w h il e f as cinat ed H oliday Inn patrons watched-getting set for Sunday . Everybody , l ooks at r a c e day d ifferently. Gary sp en t most of h is tim e in th e m orning before practice checking m in or items alt ho ugh the re were a co up le of trips th ro ugh the lpits1to check out the co mp e t it io n , ch at with his brother Hank and see what w as causing the crowd around Kenny Robe rt s' pit. Gary w as quite i nterested because Roberts was putt ing as mu ch weigh t forward as possib le by dropping to smaller rims an d wider ti res (in this case, specially cut road racing slick s) to counte r the rear wh eel spin. UI don't think it will work ," said Gary . "They