Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Two years ago in the summer of '77, Randy Goss was just another Rookie of the Year candidate struggling along tryi~ to make a name for himself. At this writing he is ten points shy of/ay SJmngsteen Jor second in the Winston Pro Series standings, has won two Nationals and has established himselfas a strong contender. Goss has emerged in three seaso~ as a solid, consistent competitor with a businesslike n'ding style who gets the job done. He is not a talker or.a boaster. Having ~own up in the Flint, Michigan area, it is easy to draw parallels or .comparisons oJ Goss to Markel. Strangely, of all the n'ders to come out ofFlint since the reign of Markel none resemble him so closely as Goss. It is not in n'dlng style that the comparison begins, but in the physical charactenstics. _ . Goss is of average height, compact and strong with chiseled features, but lacks the deep blue eyes that are Markel's most remembered physical attribute, Like Markel, Goss is a man offew words and would rather talk about anything rather than himself. The first ventures by Goss into the world of motorcycling were In MX. That didn't last long. A steady climb through the ranks brought Goss to his Rookie year in 1977. Hefinished 16th in the standings. 1978 was a better year and he finished Hth. He didn't set the world on fire, but impressed many with his quiet determination to hone his skills. If there was any drawback dun'71g those years, it was that his machinery was oftentimes not up to his talent. The start of the '79 season saw a different Goss - confident and more determined than ever. In one short 24 hour span of time encompassing the Houston TT and Short Track Nationals, he let everyone know just who he was. Two solid third place finishes saw Goss leave the Dome with the lead in the point standings. To say that only the strong sUTllive may be a -bit tn'te, but any n'der who wants to contest the entire Winston Pro Sen'es had better have solid backing for the entire year. Either that, or he should be prepared to spend whatever it takes to see that the machinery he has is the best he can make it. Goss straddles the thin line between both statements. Who is Randy Goss.' What kind of person hides behind the long silences and the short answers' In truth, he is just a quiet individual content to do the best job he knows how. At age 23 he has been mam'ed for nearly a year and a half to Vickie whose blond hair and talkative attl~ude are somewhat Randy's alter ego. He prefers the company of his WIfe and in-laws Dee (of D's Leathers) and LarryJohnson at the races to the hang out crowd. His mother is an ardent fan - his father died five years ago - and comes to the races whenever she can. . Neither a smoker nor a dn'nker, Goss had been seen to take a sWIg or two of . champagne on special occasions in the Winner's, circle. His favorite television show is Saturday Night Live. Music passes the time away while on the road, but he has no special preferences. In the off-season, the Gosses retire to their mobile home in Highland, Michigan to slow aown a bitfrom the hectic pace otthe season and to snowmobile and ice race. It is Interesting to note that both Randy and Vickie have made the cover of eN. Vickie (ice racing) did it first, much to his ~hagrin. W ould you literally spend nearly every waking hour during the AMA 'Grand National Championship season at some form of activity directly related to becoming, a better competitor? Randy Coss docs. If it isn't driving 40 hours on the road covering nearly 2,000 miles to and from races as , he did in one typical five day period surrounding the Santa Fe Short Track and Peoria TT Nationals, then it is working on his equipment during every spare moment. Quiet determination is probably the best way to describe Goss. He doesn't talk much. He listens, asks questions and stores away what he learns for future usc. He is a good mechanic who makes the best use of the equipment he has and trys to go for reliability rather than risking a trick, but untried combination. Relaxation doesn't seem to be in Coss' vocabulary, but on occassion he will sit down and take it easy. "A lot of people thought it was just luck that we (Goss uses we rather than I in most of his conversation to make sure everyone is included in the effort,) came away from the Astrodome Nationab with the points lead, We . knew I just had to be consistent to come away on top, We've been hanging in there ever since. There's only one way you can do that and that's plenty of hard work. You make your own good fortune. "I feel that we are a lot closer to our abilities as far as my riding the motorcycle. I think that I can run with . almost anybody if I have the right combination on race day. The problem is that we have to search for that combination while others, like Springsteen, have it when they get to the track. "Bill Werner, Springer's tuner, is always watching for the combination and what he doesn't get, jay finds. Steve (Eklund) usually always seems to be ready. I guess depth of experience is what we lack most." Bart Markel tuned and coached Coss for two seasons and still gives a bit of advice now and then. Those two years were more like a sharpening up period rather than an all out effort. "Bart was a good teacher," said Coss. "Rather than concentrate on the technical things, he taught me the correct attitude to come to the race with, to think that you can always win. If you don't win, then you should' be able to figure out why and know that if . they were to start that race over what changes you would make to the bike, to your line or your riding style. You don't want to make the same mistake twice. "We ran a lot of local races then (1978) because I wasn't riding good enough to win a National. I rode all the races I could to gain experience_ When Bart thought I was good enough then we started picking the events we wanted to run. I never did get good enough to win a National, - but this year has been different. "I keep in mind Bart's way of telling me that I was running good. He would say, 'You're the fastest rider here, all you've got to do now is prove it.' Sometimes that's harder than it sounds." Goss proved himself fastest when he captured his fint Winston Pro Series National at the Middletown Half Mile. It was a perfect, no-mistakes ride that saw him lead from the starting light to the 'checkered flag 20 laps later. Winning, to Randy, is incentive to work even harder. "Aside from the money, winning Middletown was a really big boost to my morale. It made me feel like I had accomplished something. Now that I had found the winning combination, I really felt like spending even more time working on my bikes. As the season drags along, there arc plenty of times when you just don't feel like working, but you have to. Win a National, and it an becomes worthwhile. If you've won once, you know you can win again." Coss proved that he had the ability to win again with another seemingly easy victory in the Des Moines Half Mile. The track was the same tacky type as Middletown and Goss again had it wired although it didn't really appear so until the National. "I was looking forward to getting back to Des Moines because I knew what type of track it was and that it suited my style," Coss said after his win. "You can't let a little bad luck like I had at Santa Fe and Peoria where I lost second place in the standings get you down or you'n lose your momentum. I'm looking forward to the rest of the half miles, but not the miles," said Goss with a laugh. Perhaps it is the strain of the constant work, drive, ride, work, drive, ride routine that has caught up with him for the smiles on his face are few these days. Goss was apprehensive going into the weekend of the double Indianapolis Mile Winston Pro Series Nationals. "Indy," he had said, "will be the killer for all but the strongest. I'd trade a couple of TT's for them. I really like Indy, but it can be a very cruel place. " Indy, was indeed cruel to some, but not to Goss.. In 'fact of the three contenders for the AMA Grand National Championship, Goss made the strongest showing. In doing so, he moved into a tie with defending champ jay Springsteen for second in the standings. One would think, that someone who euts as much into the season as Coss does would take it easy and kick back when the racinlf was over. No way. Racing is a full time job to Randy and outside of a few weeks leisure time right after the end of the Winston Pro Series, he continues his regimen of work and ride. In fact. he credits his improv"ment this year to a program of steady ice racing and, when not riding competitively, riding on the ice for the sheer fun of it. There are plenty of riding areas that he has access to nearby his home and even in mild winters there is always plenty of ice. "I have to try harder because I don't have the kind of support that Springer or Eklund do. Hey, our shop IS more like a backyard deal. It does the trick. If I get into a bind I call Storme Winters, Mike Kidd's tuner and ask his advice. He explains what I need to do to correct the problem and my father-inlaw Larry and·1 get right to it. "We hit the Nationals week by week and hope that things will go right. That's all you can do, just try your hardest. I've got a lot of people behind me besides Wiseco, Klotz and Esprit. If I had to pay for all their help it would leave me broke. But they don't ask for anything so I've made a little money this season." Dee johnson, following Randy's win in the Des Moines National, summed up in two sentences the whole thrust of this article. "Randy has more drive than any other rider I know of," she said. "He knows what he wants and isn't afraid to work for it." What more can be said? 13

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