Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

• anlc~on • ec • a lona CN 00 0') ClrCUI By Tom Mueller Another season of National MX events has drawn to a close. Riders are looking forward to claiming their National numbers for next year and taking a month off before warmingup for'S2. While riders are taking a break, another group of travelers will also be greatly enjoying a few weeks off. This second division of travelers have made as many races as the riden, have been pan of the success in winning, have shared the de· pression of failure, and have extended extra effort when needed. They're the mechanics, those who receive a small amount of recognition for a big and meticulous job. Just how much do you know-or think you know-about mechanics at the Nationals? If a vision pops into your head of a high paid guy scooting around the country partying and working on bikes once in a while, you've only got part of the picture. There are good times involved, but at other moments it's not as pleasant. When a day involves a 12 hour drive and bike preparation until the early morning hours in order to make a race schedule, times tend to become tense. Grab a map of the U.S., grab Cycle News Calendar section from early in the year, and trace the National circuit from week to week. A few hours on the road, to say the least. Many miles of listening to the same tapes they've heard a hundred times before and don't really care to hear again. Many motel rooms, missed dinners and sleepless nights go by each season, all a very real part of a mechanic's life, yet many times forgotten or not known by the po-blic. Enough of what we can tell you about mechanics. We gave some of the tuners a chance to express their feelings on what really goes on in the life of a National MX mechanic. Of course, we only had time and room to print a representative sample of the group. Many other faces and personal· ities make up the caravan which treks from race to race. Check out the faces that follow and what these tuners have to say. If you make a race next year and see any of them, give a wave and a chee.r. Without them, MX racing-as we know and enjoy it, would be hard to come by. Greg Amette Arnette, 50, resides in Mission Viejo, California, and -will marry girlfriend Lois in a few weeks. He recently stepped into the role of working with production bikes under Honda's National MX support program. Arnette was a National surfer and when someone turned him on to dirt bikes in 1969 he became hooked. "It was just like sutfing," said Arnette. "Once I took my ride I knew I was going for a factory ride." Suzuki hdped Arnette out with parts and he became a 125 and 250cc amateur rider in Florida, where he lived at the time. Then a serious surfing accident cost Arnette a kidney and MX racing was out. "I was just ready to go pro and my doctor told me my kidney couldn't hold up anymore. It was stop racing or live a short one. " Arnette gO! into wr('nchin~ and wa. aided by already prominent tunen Keith McCarty and Brian Lunniss. Then -Mark Blackwell. at that time manager for Team Suzuki, gave Arnette a job offer to work with Kent Howerton. This year Arnette went to Honda, where he tuned for Johnny O'Mara. "They made me an offer I couldn't refuse." Arnette's gripes are few, but concerned people who steal in the pits ("I don't carry a shotgun for ducks''') and AMA scheduling of races which take mechanics from one coast to the other. He also felt AMA rules change too often and that more input from MX oriented people should go into AMA decisions and rules. To Arnette, a mechanic is someone who does more than tum wrenches. "Part of it is building rider confidence. I used to pull Kent off the track and show him different lines in practice. If he liked them he'd give me the thumbs up. A mechanic needs to work with the rider, not for him. "The public thinks all mechanics went to school, and that's wrong. Many were ex-racers, .and many exracers know a lot aoout the sport, know how to get an edge. You can never stop learning. A bunch of guys won't take criticism or advice and wham! The next guy has it over on them." Arnette has been nicknamed "Chickenman" on the circuit, due to a •• " • I I • • , • • stunt he performed during an ABC Wide World of Sports tdecast. "I was dressed up in this chicken suit and had to free fall from a three story tower into a pool during a World High Diving Championship." Chris Haines Haines. 30, tuned for Danny LaPorte and resides with wife Barbara in Mission Viejo, California. His interests include running and riding his CR450 below the border in Mexico when time allows. Haines got into racing in 1967 and became a pro speedway rider for a few yean before starting to wrench for Jim FIShback and now World Champion Bruce Penhall. He then turned to MX and landed a job with Suzuki, wrench· ing for Tony DiStefano and Brian Myerscough. Off· road car racing was also involved, as Haines drove class 2 cars in the Baja 500 and Baja 1000. His motivation to tune is self-satis· faction and money, and he has no complaints about tuning, since it's his job. The only rivals Haines battles are race tracks and weather. His biggest accomplishment to date was having La Porte finish as top rider and ftnt American in the Trophee and Motocross des Nations events in Europe. "On the other side of the world all the conditions are different," said Haines. "I had to learn to deal with problems accurately and fast. I try to keep my job simple. I've had one DNF in three yean. You can make your rider fail, there's no results if the bike doesn't finish. If you have good communications with your rider, the bike can be better than it was when it came from the factory." Haines hopes to tune in World Championship GPs in the future, and tries to keep an open mind when it comes to the public. ''I'm always open to suggestions and learning things. If a ten-year-old kid walks up to me in the pits and asks me why a certain part of the bike is like it is, I'll think his question over. So many people always ask about being a mechanic. They don't realize what's involved. They think you ride around, go to the race, rinse the bike off and go chase around. It's not like that. Pay is your recognition, the bike is your tool, and you need selfmotivation to do your job. If your rider isn't doing well it's hard for you to do well. I average 70 to 80 hours a week on the job." Charlie Benson Benson, 27, lives in Southwick, Massachusetts, when not on the National circuit or in Europe tuning for Mike Guerra. "Too many broken bones" put Benson off the New England Sports Committee circuit, and he started tuning for Guerra out of a local shop in 1976. Benson related AMA and FIM events. "The AMA has a few extra rules that are a bit crazy, but otherwise the AMA isn't bad, I don't have any gripes. In Europe everything revolves around a team effort. A lot more testing is involved because the tracks over there are harder and much different." To Cycle News readers Benson said, "They don't realize bow much work. we do, it's much more than they think. Some mechanics are parts changers, but I have to make pipes and grind cylinders. Just yesterday I was up until midnight making a pipe, and we only used it two minutes-it didn't work_ I've got a bunch of cylinders at home that I've sat and ground away on. " Benson feels his arrangement with Husky is satisfactory. "The money could be a little bit better, but I don't have any real complaints. They let me do my own thing." As far as his race program, goes, Benson wants more than the acknowledgement on his part alone. "Sure I'd like more people to know who I am, but I'd like even more ReDple to know who my rider is. " Selvaraj Narayana Narayana, 54, resides in Windsor, Virginia, with wife Paula. He does most of the wrenching and modifica· tions on Team Maico machinery. While growing up and receiving an education in India, "Sel" got into small displacement road racing in

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