Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By Gary Van Voorhis its eastern swings. Norm Farris even rented a house for many summers for the racers to use and it wasn't unusual to see a dozen or more National numbers there at one time. Rodney was a bit young to grasp the full impact of just how prominent the riders were. In addition, the Cockeysville area was becoming a dirt track hot-spot with racers popping out of the woodthree dirt Nationals lelt to run ~e still work. The trick in those days was to ~s a good ~hance to !"3ke a bl~ leap hook up with an Expert and travel m the stand~ngs: A thlr~:place nde at SyracusebehindJunmyFihceandBubba with him playing driver and go-fer, Shobert hel ped a lot. "AJ II need are a while learning the ropes. A sort of duescouple of good finishes and I should be paying stint in the minor leagues with right back in there." major league instruction. The problems to date haven'tdetuned AJthough today's riders in that genthe youthful exuberance of Farris. eral area don't travel with Experts "Sure, it's hard to deal with when anymore, they do have a large choice of you're going good and you feel you regularly run dirt track events on which can do good and something knocks to hone their talents. The area conyou out of a race. £l's going to happen tinues to produce top-caliber racers. to everybody sooner or later. You've Nixon remembers that "Rodney was got t~take It as part ofthe game, WIn or always the kid on the minibike hanging around the shop. He always wanted lose.. . . LIke ":lany riders, FarriS was born to go riding and we had an area, a sand with rac1Og, luerally, m hIS blood. pit, where he would go to goof around Only much more so than most riders. We started taking him along and he His father, Norm, used to race and was always trying to beat us." managed a motorcycle shop-Bout"Gary would tell me not to fall ell' . Cock '11 M i d H down when I went riding with them," w s 10, eysVl e, ary an. owever, that s not unusual. The area outsays Farris. "I found out why the hard SIde of Baltlffiore where FarrIS, born way because he would just run over me M 21 1963 Ii Ih ay, ,grewupwasa tera ot if I did. What he was really teaching bed of racing and racers. me, in a strange sort of way, was how Beneath the shop where Farris' father to go fast and gain enough confidence worked, Nixon maintained his race that I could run out in front' of anyworkshop. The two shops became a body. Those are lessons I still use , . . . today." bench racer s paradise ,dUring the SIXOther sports, except basketball in ties because Triumph s headquarters was a short distance away and Team high school, didn't interest Farris. He Triumph and BSA riders as well as was going to become a full-time racer , as soon as he graduated from high other top ~acers, spent a good ~eal of school, which he did. time hangl.ng around and working on Away from the track, Farris has a therr machmery ~hen the ~MA: Grand ~.x.~~_~p"2MU.hat he u~_tpAp iLQ.Q.Ili\I.QwpP qn:;.NLH;1 r,.Jlli.lQ~. Camel Pro Series competitor Rodney Farris has had some success this season, but' it hasn't been in the area he most wanted it. Farris, who is in his third Expert season, has been less than gifted with good luck when it comes to this year's Nationals. Nagging mechanical problems . . ' some IIttIe, some big, seem to have followed Farris throughout the season. What's more disheartening is they nearly always strike while Farris is running in a contending position. Two-time AMA Grand National Champion Gary Nixon, friend, mentor and sponsor, sympathizes with his frustration. "Everybody encounters machine problems and you can't let a string of bad luck get you down. Rodney has his head on right. He's definitely got the talent to do really good He just needs a few breaks in his favor" O~e bad break came at the Ha s.. ger. town Hal£ Mtle RegIOnal where FarrIS was running in a three-way duel for second when he crashed. The end . resu It wasa be nt frameon the bike and bl f hi F ',' aITIS privateer sta e 0 mac n~ went from two healthy Harley:Davldson XR750s to one complete blk~ and sJ)are parts early m the season.. The difference between havmg two bikes to ride and choose &om and having only one" says Farris "is often the diner, , . . ence between making a National or nOl." Although Farris' seventh-. eighthand ninth-place finishes don't put him in the top 20 in the Camel Pro Series point.staa4ings,. .be. .leeJl\.r.bal wilh. 16•• from place to place when he isn't in riis van. During the season there i51't t much time for recreation, althougli tie does manage to get in some water ing.ln the winter, it's head for the h' s and go snow skiing time. Farris is , gle and plans to .stay that way "for a long time." A quick glance at Farris and NixQn reveals some close similarities, l(h both on the slim side although ROdney, at 5'9", is somewhat taller, ai¥! Nixon much more muscular. On Ihe track, with Farris wearing a hel~et with the same graphics Nixon made ramous nearly 20 years ago, and leiUJiers in Nixon's favorite blue and wi:Ule colors adorned with a large Gary Nixon Enterprises logo on the chest, there.

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