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/126418
Profile Eddie Lawson, dirt track racer By Maureen Lee Photos by D~leBrown, Manuel Burton and Dan Mahonyl It's tough to b~co~~ one of that ~lit~ band of motorcycl~ racers who hold National numb~rs ... and ~ven m~ difficult to bKom~ on~ of th~ top lOon the Winston Pro trail with a shot at b~ing th~ Grand National Champion. Eddi~ Lawson is a 2I·~ar·old Californian who stands at t~ beginning of that path in his ~ond Ex~n y~ar holding National number 21. H~'s paid his du~, and among t~ dirt track crowd be's mor~ than "promising." H~'. a rid~r with th~ pot~ntial to maIt~ it to th~ v~ top. Right now h~ deesn't hav~ a s~r - not one to h~lp with th~ bills of riding the orcuit anyway - but any branch of th~ irniuatry 100Ir.ing for som~~ to sponsor could do a lot w~ than pick Eddi~ Lawson. H~'s articulat~ and thoughtful w~ he s~aks; no introv~n, h~'s not so extro~~ that you worid~r what's got him wound up. H~'s compl~t~ly profes· sional, som~hing not always found among ra~rs, and h~ knows how to conduct hi~lf with th~ press. W~ invit~ him to Cycle News for an int~rvi~, and h~ arri~ ~arly along with a pil~ of scrapbooks h~ thought might be helpful. Th~ w~r~. T~ docum~nt a rac~r's career from th~ tim~ ~ was a young boy on his first minibik~ with pictur~ of him and his c1~t friend Mike Tidw~lI: Racing Mike, with Mike trying an outsid~ pass on his fri~nd; Eddie on the pavem~nt at th~ Elsinore Grand Prix; alI his various lice~ and riding cards from over th~ years, including one from the AFM years ago wh~n h~ road raced a 50cc GP Ital, a "teacup" rac~r. Th~~'s on~ shot of him surrounded by District '7 bik~ bearing scrambles number II. He n~v~r ~ally went after th~ District number one, which ~ could hav~ golt~n asily with his tal~nt. Inst~ad, ~ ch~ to rid~ al1 ov~r t~ pla~ ra~r trophies, his 26 than. as h~ puts it, "~t stuck riding on~ or two tracks. You don't I~arn anything that way. In fact, it hurts you. bKause final1y you ~t so URd to riding o~ or two tracks, you can't I~arn to rid~ anywh~ ~Ise. I kn~w ~x~ri~nce is th~ only thing ... you know, ,iust going to diff~r~nt place. any plac~ I could find. " .W~n Eddi~' mad~ that ~ion h~ was stiD in his ~arly t~. It was a ~ choi~. W~'v~ all ~n rid~rs who ha~ ea~ low District numbers and just th~ switch from P~ to Elsino~ or vi~ ~rsa causa up with m~. ~pl~ Iik~ Hank and Gary (Scott) and Jay (Springs~n) it sud~nly hit m~. w~r~ I was and what was IQlly ha~ning and I suddmly thought ... what am I doing ~r~l" Th~ only rooIr.i~ in th~ fi~ld, h~ cam~ off his bik~ in t~ IT wh~n David Aldana f~11 right in front of him. With ~itor Dal~ Brown shooting occasional photos of Eddi~, w~ w~~ al1 kick~ back in a Iitd~ offic~ and talking about our first lov~, rnotorcycl~ racing and I~t th~ talk just ~bb and flow on al1 its ~troubl~. T~~ ar~ fa~ts. also page of press clippings from myriads of not-so·imponant races to o~ in 1974 whm Tom Btatder writes that Lawson is now being collli~~ by many to ~ the next Gary Scott. T~ t~'s on~' in 197.5. w~n ~ won th~ Ascot IT Novic~ main on a ~ only to have the win taltm away bKaUR th~ machine wunot AMA approv~ at the tim~. In 1976, ~ was riding Pae PistOM's Bultaco single and blowing t~ socks off the other Novices on the now-ban~ Yamaha twins on ~ Ascot half mil~. H~ and Piston~ tra~l~ circuits back ~t, too. "That was ~at." Eddi~ ~alls. "I got to find out what it was lik~ away from hom~." In 1977. h~ went to Daytona and won the Novic~ road race fint tim~ th~r~, a 76·mil~r on T~ Dann's Yamaha ~ating Lance Jones, the top Novice at th~ tim~. "H~ was the qui~t~t of aU in victory lane," . r~ads the story. As Junior h~ became ~n mo~ noticeabl~, but in his rookie Ex~rt y~ar Lawson watchen smil~d to th~mselv~, and the others really took notice. H~ went to the Astrodome for the first time and qualifi~ for both Nationals, an unheard of f~at for a rookie. "You know, it's funny," Lawson rem~mbers, "I didn'l really think that much aboul il. It was just anot~r rac~. I lin~ up and wem out and lime trialed and th~n ~ple start~ coming up and saying "far out" and "h~y. that's great." and then when I lin~ up and look~d ov~r at the guys who w~r~ li~ How did Eddi~, who gr~ up in ~ y~ars w~n motocross was t~ gospd to th~ young. c~ to go for flat tracIr.ing ~ being ~ budding I>eCostB? "My dad took m~ out to Elsinor~ to watch on~ day. H~ URd to ra~ t~ old Prado Park. but I never saw that. At EIsin~, I just sat and watched. I blew right t~. that's what ~ wan~ to do. I rod~ motoerosll, and it just doon't do anything for me. It', not ~al1y fast and it ~ts your body to dnth. I can't handl~ that. I lie th~,~ and ~ ~on orOat traeIt, pun~ t~ bik~ just so and of COIIrR. there', nothing lik~ nding th~ mile." His smile told it all. "Ev~ng is timed. In rnotOCJ'OlS you hit a bump and you don't know which way you'~ going to go." Th~ Ascot Spring ~ason is now OYn', Eddi~ rod~ a Harl~·Davidson own~ and tun~ by Sal Acosta and ~nd~ up .high point Ex~rt, but at t~ time of th~ int~rvi~ h~ had just got th~ bik~ and was thoughtful about it. "I ho~ I do good. Right now the bil!.~·.. ..n stock, Sal's waiting for parts from Harl~ and 101M from M~rt." H~ agr~ that parts probl~ms still plagu~ th~ privat~er Harley own~rs. "W~'II go to th~ Sacram~nto and San Jose mil~, and if I do w~l1. may~ w~'11 go back ~ast som~, if I don't ... w~1I ... 1 ho~1 do." He did welI, but not always w~11 ~ough to pl~~ himsdf. In the Ascot pits one ~~ning he look~ wodul: "I'm g~tting onto it (th~ bik~) but ~~rytim~ I mak~ a mistake I f~1 I should hav~ thought it out bdo~ I did it." H~ won ov~ral1 o~ Friday and did