Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ted Boody. shown here on his way to winning last year's Houston Short Track ahead of Eklund 1111. Goss (13) and Scott IS). is a force to be reckoned with in 1 8 "Doug can build very fast, reliable engines. The monoshock chassis has been through a year of testing on the track and Doug feels diat all the bugs are out. He has been working all winter on the engine/ chassis combination and I believe that we will surprise quite a few people." Morehead will be Harley mounted for all events. If there is a weakness in his program it is in TT and short track where he scored a scant 21 points in seven Nationals. He is committed to bettering that this season. "I wanted to road race to pick up extra points to offset my TT and short track riding, but it seems that it is now an unrealistic idea since the ex~se is really prohibitive. I'm looking for a ride at Daytona and a couple of other road races where they don't clash with the schedule. " Can Morehead climb all the way to the top? "I intend to make life hard for everybody. When the season ends, they'll know Steve Morehead was there." Without doubt. Scott Parker was the most exciting rider on the 1979 Winston Pro Series circuit. His wide open style won him many admirers among both fans and competitors. Although rough around the edges when the season started. he soon smoothed out and posted two National wins, a pair of second place finishes and a third place ride on route to Rookie of the year and 10th in the final standings. Another product of Flint. Michigan, Parker could well be the leader of the new wave of the ·80's. Like his Michigan predecessors, he is more at home on cushion tracks and high speed miles than on a TT, shon track or half mile groove. At the age of 18, Parker has a long road ahead of him and appears to want to hustle along it as fast as he can. That spells hard times for everyone. Rick Toldo, sponsor, tuner, driver, back slapper and occasional butt kicker, will again be behind Parker as will Klotz/Wiseco. Dick O'Brien of Harley·Davidson thinks enough of the kid that factory help could be looked upon as that to a third member of the team. Needless to say, he will be Harley mounted in all events. "Larry Shafer, who built my DuQuoin and Indianapolis Mile win· ning engines will be doing plenty of work again this year. Rick, the folks at Cummings H-D. and others will be doing the other bikes plus I'll have help from the factory." "I've been doing some running lately and other exercises to increase my strength. It's going to be a long season." Parker's biggest problem right now is that he also needs to concentrate on school books so that he can graduate in the spring. The rest of the best "You can tell everyone that they haven't heard the last of Gary Scott." chuckled Scott when asked his plans for the year. "I feel that my program and myself are in better shape than they have been in the past few seasons. I'm confident that I can regain my consistency and give everyone a run for the money. It's a little foolish to predict anything at the beginning of the season except to say that I think things will be pretty much the same as a last year with the exception that I inten~, to be pushing everyone a lot har· der. Scon is looking for a road racing sponsor to add to his Jack Sisemore Traveland/KK Motorcycle Supply backing. Like Kidd and Morehead, Scott sees the amount of road races too tempting to pass up since even three or four points per event could mean a big difference in the final standings. ''I'm working on my own equipment right now although I'll have help throughout the year from various people. I know -I can build a strong, reliable mount. What 1 need to do is work in a few more horses." Scott will ride HarleYs for all but TT and shon track where he will be Triumph and Ossa mounted. The younger half of the racing Scon family, Hank Scott almost didn't have a program for this year. "Things weren't going along too well for me after 1 split from Carl (Patrick)," said Scott. "Then all of a sudden 1 went from no sponsors to more than 1 could ask for. It was amazing. "Sal AC05ta will be handling every· thing but my shon tracker. He'll have a lot of help from Jerry Branch of Branch F10wmetrics on my HarIeys, Sal's Triumph should do the work at the TT's. Gary Chaplin of RPM is doing my shon track machinery. " On the sponsorship side of things, Scott qualifies for the Longest List Award. Heading the package are the producers of On Any Sunday II with Jack Sisemore Traveland as Scott's other major sponsor, "Don't fOrge( MXL, Lubri·Tech, KRW, Shell Thuet, Harley-Davidson, Barnes Wheels and Magura levers," said Scott. "I was a late staner last year, this season watch out."

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