Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Terry Cunningham: Onward and upward By Gary Van Voorhis Terry Cunningham was one of only five American "'ders in the "th ISDT in France to come home with a gold medal. That medal and the one he won the year before in West Germany are among his most prized possessions. He likes to tell a story about the French countryside and day four when he was sufferingfrom the flu bug that hit many ofthe "·ders. "I was feeling pretty bad," said Cunningham, "and then 1 came to this 1u1l where, once 1 got stuck, 1 knew there was no way 1 could get up and over it under my own power. There were two old, grey-haired gentlemen watching me and they canu over, gestured they would help and got me going. 1 waved to them when 1 got to the top and 1 didn't stop for any other h,ll after that. Memories like that are special. .. Cunningham himself is rather special and although he hasn't established his National credentials as an enduro and ISDT "'der, he is one of the young lions clawing his way to the top. Dick Burleson, with whom Cunningham works and rides, rates him as one ofthe best and when Burleson talks, people listen. At age 22, Cunningham has a long career ahead of him. He is marn'ed to a lovely lady named Peggy and they have a daughter named Carrie. They live in Columbus, Ohio, close to the eastern regional office ofHusqvama where Cunningham works. 32 Who is Terry Cunningham? I'm a guy who staned out a long time ago, you could say. I was nine years old when I s~aned riding. I rode somt: MX until I was about 13 or 14 and then I staned riding hare scrambles in addition to MX. However, I never had my own bike. It wasn't until the Little Burr National Enduro in 1975 that I realized enduro riding was what I wanted to stan doing. So, at age 15 I told my dad I wanted a motorcycle.. My.1amily is not the wealthiest in h~@ so my dad said to get a job, buy my own motorcycle and go racing. That's what I did. I kept up my schooling, stayed in athletics, worked after school and rode. I got the bike in July and I started riding enduros competitively in August when the District 11 schedule was half over. There were 12 events left in the season and I took overal1 in 10. I was second and third overall in my two other finishes, I finished the year as the top B class rider in the state of Ohio. What bike were you riding? I was riding a little Honda MR175. It was a good bike, it just wasn't up to standards. Then in '76 I rode the same motorcycle, I couldn't afford to buy a new one. I won the first enduro of the season and finished, I believe, fourth overal1 in my first year as an A class rider. I thought that was pretty good. Did you get a new bike in 1977? Yes, I started riding a Maico in May of that year. I did pretty good even though I had a pretty bad accident which smashed up my face in one National. I got fourth overal1 in two Nationals and won the District 11 overal1 title again. Maieo was pleased and said they would help me out even more in 1978. I wanted to go to the ISDT in '78 because it was going to be in Sweden. 1 did pretty good in the Eastern qualifiers, but didn't have the money to go West and so I came up one event short of qualifying. I won District 11 again so Maico was happy. Maico gave me a 'bike in 1979 and practically everything 1 needed. I qualified and got a gold medal in West Germany. 1 felt very good about that although I thought the ISDT wasn't that tough. I also finished second in District 11. How did the Iwitch to Hwqvama come about? I had some communications problems with Maico throughout 1979 and when it came time to sign a contract for 1980 I didn't. I kind of held off to see if I could get a bit better deal with them. They said they had the bikes for me, but when February came around and we had finished talking, they didn't have any bikes. I had talked to (Husqvama's) Greg Davis at Six Days and he had told me to contact him if I ever needed anything. '1 cal1ed and talked to him and to Dick (Burleson), then they talked and called me back saying at this late time al1 they could do was offer me a bike. I said fine. Maico's deal was better, but I didn't want to re-sign with them. Did you set the goals you wanted to in 1980? Yes, I set some pretty ltigh goals for myself and I achieved them. I wanted to win District 11 overal1 on a Husky and I did. I wanted to win an ISDT gold medal in France and I 'did. I wanted to fLDish in the top five in the National Championship Enduro Series and I did. However, to do that I had to come up from eighth in the standings at the last event. I took overal1 and that did it. I feel the whole year was very good to me. How did you get your job at Husky? They had a reorganization in the spring and Bob Popiel went to the West Coast office which created a vacancy and I was hired. What is your job? I'm the East Coast service representative. I take care of al1 the warranty work that flows through Husqvarna from our East Coast dealers. I take care of any motorcycles we receive from Sweden. They come through Baltimore to here and then I distribute them to our dealers on the East Coast. Has working and riding with Burleson helped you? Yes. Dick has been a very good influence on me. When you work at sometlting you love .. like motorcycles .. it helps a lot. Before, the jobs I had were to get a paycheck and go racing, now I'm doing something I real1y like with people I real1y like. I learn something every day from being around Dick. The best thing is that I have a more relaxed feeling now when I go to races. Perhaps you've got the belt of both worlds, Do you feel you're being paid, in a sense, to have fun? Perhaps, but I'm not being paid to ride. I look at riding as a part of my job. I don't have a contract to ride, I have a contract to work. But when I go out there to race, I go out there to win and make Husky and myself look good. V(>u run a 250 in the Qualifien and an Automatic in the endu1"Ol. Is it hard to switch back and forth? ( think the biggest transition is going from an automatic back to a six speed. A lot of guys think it's tough going from a six speed to an automatic because you haven't got any clutch and you have to use the brakes more. but I feel you use the brakes on a six speed as much as you do on an automatic--maybe a little bit more on an automatic. It's going back to a six speed that you've got to learn when you go into a corner you can't go into it and blast out, you have to go in, pull in on the clutch, downshift, and all that. The transition is not that difficult, as a matter of fact it's really easy. Is riding the Automatic a disadvantage? No, as a matter of fact I would say it's probably an advantage. Before I began to work for Husky Bob (Popiel) had said that if I ever wanted to ride the Automatic ( should try it out. At

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