Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Shult~ t alks -about motocross, what having a good time means to him, making money a.nd his ultimate goal By Tom Mueller I never really think that way, If it's someth ing that should be kept secret for the good o f H onda 's development, of co u rse. That 's not usu ally a bi g thi n g because m ost of th e tim e you ca n see wh at 's on th e bike j ust li ke ever yone else. As fa r as salary I' ve been prett y open about it because if everyone finds o u t how m uc h ri derg are makin g th at 'll drive everyone's sa lary u p. When I firs t signed ,with Suzu ki I. got m or e th an a nyone had recei ved befo re, a n d in m y fir st year. I told every body wha t I was m aki ng , a nd I know Barnell a nd H owert on had a li llie run -in w it h Su zu ki . T hey wouldn' t sig n aga in if th ey didn 't ge t more th an I was m ak ing, I do n't thi n k it ca n rea lly hurt talking a bo u t money. How did you go about seIling you rself to Honda -in 82? Well, it sta rte d o u t last year when I they'd be hungry for a winner. Suzuki, o n th e o the r hand, h ad two National champs. I cou ld h ave landed th e sa me money from Suz u ki, bu t I kn ew H o nda wanted me a lot worse, and I' ve a lways had my eye on Honda . Ever since I was a little kid I though t Honda was the p ow er in motocross. G reg Arnette (of H onda 's pro su pport tea m) ta lked to m e a t th e first T ra ns -USA race . H e told me to keep in to uc h . After a few Trans -USA ro u nds I was talking to H onda 's tea m managers. One th ing that swayed me to Suzuki was Roger DeCoster. he was m y hero . Wi th Roger at H onda no w, it's grea t. H e helps o ut a lot. It 's hard to im agine what he kn o ws. If you tak e hi s advice it really helps. What kind of deal did you get with Honda? It was reported you signed for $SO,OOO for the first year, started racing the 500cc Nationals with no training time at all. I went in straight off a knee operation from Houston (Supercross) the year before. I tried to go race speed, and you can't do that without practice. At Southwick (Massach usetts, the 500cc opener) all I can say is I'm faster than most guys in the sand (Sh u ltz went 2-2 for second overall). Suzuki and everybody thought I was back up to standards, but I wasn't. I went to the next race and couldn't keep the pace and I was crashing every rnoto. Finally I hurt my good knee (in New York). That put me out of the rest of the Nationals, and I sa t out so my knee wou ld heal really well, and I didn 't have to have an operation. I trained really hard for the TransUSA and came out strong and fresh . I got third overall in that series and won a mota and took a few seconds. Honda hadn't had any Supercross winners for the year and I knew It wasn 't quite $SO,OOO, but close to it. ((1 don 't-know if we 'll be able to m a ke that double jump 'o r ·n o t. It's almost" 40 feet across. Hell, let's wait and see if Shultz will go for it. " That's a common statement during practice at any national MX or Su percross event. H e likes to lead races, ta ke wins, make money, and have fun. Shultz priva teered h is way to seventh overall on a Maico on th e '79 500cc National circuit, got an ample amount of recognition, and came around riding for Suzuki in 'SO, Injuries kept Shultz out of the top 10 in the 500cc Nationals that year , and also hindered his Supercros s performances. Injuries again pu t Shultz out o f a top placing in .the '.81 500cc Nation a ls, but h e proved himself a wi n ner that season by topping both rou nds of the Seat tle dou bleheader and the Daytona Supercross. Shultz finished seventh in th e Supercross Series that year. Shultz traded in h is vellow Suzuki ' gear fo r the red, wh ite an d blue Tea m H onda o utfi t he now wear s, an d ca me o u t cha rg in g in 'S2. The Dayton a Su pe rcross in March was once again h is, but at the Supercross ro unds in H ouston Darrell once again injured his bad knee. It knocked him out of th e Supercro ss sta ndings, which h e was leading before he was injured, a n d forced him to ride 'th e 500cc Nation al s aft er he was planning on th e 250cc ranks (the 500cc National s start lat er in the year, therefore gi ving Shultz more time to recover). H indered by lack of training time, Shultz still pl aced fifth overa ll at th e 500cc opener in Massachusetts, H e had th e speed, but once again h is tender knee kept him out of a top placing. . At round two of the 500cc series in Pennsylvania Shultz took his first National win. He followed teammate Danny Chandler for second in moto one, then outran everyone in rnoto two for the overall win. Darrell said lat er his body couldn't keep the pace, .but he forced himself to keep pushing. Towards the end of the race he had to support his body with his arms - his knee couldn't tak e the strain . . Shultz stands over six feet tall, is in exceptional physical shape (with the exception of his knee) , always seems to be where the action is, and in many cases crea tes the action , From the rnotoj ournalist's point of view Shultz is a key source of information. While other rid ers seem to evade questions and hold back gossip, Shultz will put the story out front and fill yo u in on ·· 16 any hot news. Alo ng with bei ng open about racing, Shultz is also open about his lifestyle. H e li kes fast cars, ho t dates, spe nding m on ey and racing mo tor cycles, a nd not necessarily in th a t order. So m an y times racers ar e interviewed and a ll tha t's covered is racing. We though t we'd try a new a ngle this time arou nd and let Cycle News readers in o n, a lillie more than just racing. We thought we'd let you know wha t Da rrell Shu ltz is really like. Let's start with a lilli e background, Darrell. How. old ar e you'an d where do yo u live? I' m 24 now a nd I just moved do wn near Sa nta Cruz (Californ ia). I bough t a ho use there, a brand n ew one, and I have a rea l n ice plate to live with a really good rid in g area. My brother stays with m e m ost of the time. H e race s locally arou nd Sac ramento so he's gone most every weekend, I didn 't mov e to o far from home. I have rela tives and a gi rlfriend up th ere that I spe nd a bunch of time with. What kind of car do you drive? I just bought a new 91 I Po rsche last November. As soon as I signed with Honda I had to celebrate somehow and I ran out and bought a lillie Honda-red Porsche. I love it , but I've been giving it a little thought latel y a fter I got a few tickets. Maybe I could invest my money a lillie more wisely in the next few years , "The main thing for me in life is fun, that's w hat I live for." Do you have any other investments outside of racing? As far as investments I have one other. house that I rent out. I just can 't think of anything else I'd really be interested in. I've never really had a big chunk of money yet where I have to think about it , like when you win a ' series and get a big bonus check and you don't want to pay it all in taxes. That's why I've been thinking about it -I'd liketo pick up a big check pretty soon, You ' ve al ways been open about information. many times disclosing things your teammates hold back. Don't you worry about what your bosses at Honda will say? . • , I worked out a two-year contract. The one yea r deals at Suzuki always left me nervous, They don't remember the first races of the season, and if you got hurt near the end of the year yo u were out. You can win the first five races of the year and then not win another race and you won 't be that hot of a property. I wanted to cover myself so I pushed for the two-year deal. Honda wasn 't too hot on it because they've had some two-year guys in the past who go on vacation .for a year and a half. We worked out a dea l where if I'm in the top four at the end of the year my salary stays the same next year, but if I'm in the top one or two I get a raise, and that depends on the amount of bonuses I earn. What kind of money is a winning rider at Honda looking at this year? Honda has th e biggest bonuses of anybody for a series. f ••• , j • , •• I I , 1 I , • , •••

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