Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

ike aldwin Sears Point... Pocono•• ~who ;s this Yankeeroadracer? By Ron and Mary Grothe The next event, a S50cc GP race, would have seen Mike carrying five first place wins had he not swung too wide on the tum and hit a thin trail of sand that described the contour of the track. He slid out, hit an embankment and was catapulted several feet into the air. With his leg pinned beneath the bike , Mike landed hard enough to permanently dampen even ave· reran roadracers' enthusiasm· but except for a limp, he seemed miraculously unhurt. Up close we noticed "Swift Red" inscribed on the side of Mike's helmet. "Pretentious, " we thought. But not inappropriate. As it turned out, Mike had only three racing weekends under his belt. In 1976, Baldwin, a dark horse of barely three seasons won national acclaim when he beat the Butler & Smith Superbike team atthe Loudon National. By 1977 he was challenging the world's best road racers on a self sponsored, self tuned, 1975 Yamaha TZ750. In his third ride ever on a 750cc machine he held off Barry Sheene at Long Beach before running out of gas just one lap from the finish. Later, at Mosport he engaged in a spectacular, race-long, fourway, wheel to wheel fray with Greg Hansford, ' Yvon Duhamel, and Steve Baker. Despite being hopelessly outpowered on the straights he, several times, led the quart~t. into the turns before settling into a close four' rh position. This year saw a Laurel Enterprises/Paul Napier sponsored Baldwin qualify in fifth place . for the Daytona 200 . He probably would have occupied a front row position had he not run out of gas during qualification. In the early stages of the final he crashed when he was,cut off by a slower rider. This year also , Mike was among the eight riders selected to race in the Anglo-American Match Race Series, where, unfortunately, the Americans who were stricken with bad luck. lost to the British. Mike's machine arrived at Brands Hatch only ten minutes before the first leg of the opening event. Thus, he was left no time for practice on a track he had never seen . He finished in a disappointing last place. However, as the series continued Mike's performance improved dramatically and drew compliments from British moto-journalist Chris Carter, who wrote Mike Baldwin showed " ...incredible form in his Mallory debut..." as he held down fourth place behind Hennen, Roberts and Potter. Shortly after the Match Race Series Mike's sponsorship was dissolved by mural agreement of both par· ties. By contract, Mike was limited to racing only cer-tain events. " It tore me up to go to Paul Ricard and Imola and not be able to rac e" said Mike. Since he had been offered a sizeable amount of start money, he had traveled to those events in hope of finding a ride. Independence is very important to Mike and he has found some sponsorships to be very limiting. On the other hand, privateering can be self limiting. The ' pressures of doing quadruple duty as racer, mechanic, chauffeur, and sponsor can be overwhelming enough to affect a rider's performance on the racetrack. In retrospect, some of Mike's former sponsors still vow that Mike is the single most talented rider available for sponsorship today. Yet , he is currently privateering again. When we interviewed Mike we discussed the general roadracing scene as well as the ups and downs of being a privateer. CN: Have most of your sponsorships been one or two shot deals? MB : Nobody has ever sponsored me for more than a couple of races except for Berliner. I'm self sponsored because I can't get a sponsor or because a sponsor "Th ere's no way I'd ever do anything that stupid," Mike Baldwin had said to his buddy Creighton Demarest after first wit- ~~:yO~~;th me . nessing the fearsome spectacle of motorcycle road racing at MB: It depends on why you race. I don't race to make Bridge h ampton, L I d, Iate In 19 73" " money. I race because I enjoy it and I wouldn't mind n ong Is an getting paid to do it. But I would rather spend $7000 "But Creighton was all turned on," Mike recalled as we talked during the 1978 . . .. . AAM RR b anquet I? Connee:t1cut: He said . he was gOIng to build a raang bike. So he 14 built a Norton and I watched and laughed. The day before the race he talked me into putting number plates on my Kawasaki. It was an AAMRR event at Bridgehampton and I wasn't old enough to get a license. I was 18, so I had to get all these papers signed by my parents. They didn't really know 1 was going to race. ' "So we went out there and I was scared to death. My first lap out 1 had the throttle wide open and I looked at the tum and said, ' I can get through this' and it did one of those close-up things on me and the next thing I knew I was roIIil!g in the sand, but I didn't faIl down. In the race Creighton finished fifth and I finished eighth. After. I kinda got into it , it was really fun," . Baldwin, a former buildi~g contractor (~~ed ~II ttme. road-racer from D:,-n~, ~, exhi~ltbi m credible talent and determination In the earliest stages of his racing career. We watched him race at Bridgehampton early in 1974. He had won three events and was leading the 250cc combined Exp./Nov. GP on a BeneIIi when we became really impressed. Although he held a strong margin on the field. he raced as though a phantom Kenny Roberts was in his wake. His style was somewhat rough and undisciplined, but he was banked over like a sailboat in a storm. He was far faster and more aggressive than the Experts, yet his bike sported red number plates, marking him a Novice . Since he was a newcomer to the club circuit, we figured him to be a ringer from California or at least a seasoned flat tracker. He was cenainly more confident than any Novice racer we had ever observed. With no challengers i n J,ight be wQnthe J;3,Ce . r .. " : I •• on a motorcycle and do my own thing with it than to have somebody else buy the bike and tell me everything I should do , because then it's too much of a business. It 's fine for somebody who is racing because they want to make money, but if you're doing it because you want to have a good time doing your own ~ thing, then it's hard to find a sponsor who fits that mold. And if he thinks maybe he's going to make money by splittin~ the prize money, well, he isn't. The prize money IS going to be far outweighed by the costs. And if a sponsor can't make money off a rider, I don't think that's right. eN: What about the guy who sponsors you because he I'. loves road racing? ' MB: A charity sponsor wouldn't work for me . I'd feel indebted to him forever. I would not feel like I was earning my ride. And if he's sponsoring me out of the goodn~,C!f Ih~ ~~n, . ~c;·s nC!t,goil!g ~~ f~1 ?bl,i(ot,ted I •

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