Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

last hour of the flight home; everything after the crash and before the last hour of the flight is washed from his memory. There probably is a very c1inicalsounding phra e for the damage that he sustained in the era h, but Han en eHectively sums thing up when he avs his brain was "bruised." Pressed foran explanation, Han en ays, "The left side of my brain was damaged. That controls the right ide of my body, so my right side was slow and my coordination wa orr. "At first," says Hansen, "I couldn't even walk and I couldn't talk very well at all. Then, when I gOt home, I .:ouldn'l walk up the stair 10 go to bed. Lisa, my wife, had to rig up a mattress on the £1001' downstairs ... I couldn't even walk up the stair.," Hansen repeat oflly. OC") 00 .... 0") so were my right-hand turns. At first, I was just trying to ride around the track. On the rougher tracks, it (elt rea II y strange. Then I even got those wired and I just went (or speed. I got faster and faster, and kept improving my lap time ." Today, 13 months after his nearfatal accident, 12 months after starting 10 walk again and seven months after riding cautiously around a practice oval, Hansen says he is "85 10 95%" re overed. He run five miles everyday, weight trains three day a week, swim , plays racquetball and rides a bicycle. He rides his '82 cham, pionship-winning RC250 four to five times a week for three hours at a time. Han en ays he will be ready for the 1984 National season. "We've still got five months or so before the first race; I've got no doubt in my mind that I will be 100% by then," he says firmly. till. Hansen knows that recovering thatla t percentage of his skills is going 10 be tough. On rough track Hansen says that his head still "shakes" when going over bumps, although "not nearly as bad as it used lO. " Despite the emotional rollercoaster that Hansen has been on for the past year, he seems in remarkably good spirits. "It gets depressing sometimes," he.admits. "It seems like I'v been away from racing for a very long time. I really miss racing and beirrg out there with all the other guys. Right now, I know I can't, but I want to do it again; that's my goal, to go out there and do it again. 'Tve gotten a lot of support from my wife Lisa, my parents and my friends, and that has helped a lot. It's been a combination of an of them; but Lisa has really been helping I'D! quite a bit. If I don't have anybody to go riding with, he'll go with me" things like that. She's been my mora support, and it's great." , Lf Hansen isn't worried 100 much about his ability to makea comeback in 1984, he is wondering if he'll stiH be with Honda next year. There i some bitterness and a touch of disapJ pointment in his voice when he talksT of the situation. "A t first [ couldn't even walk." Donnie Hansen on the rebound By David Edwards September 1, 1982 should have been a good day to be on a practice motocross track in West Germany. Especially for Team Honda sensation Donnie Hansen. Hansen was in Europe, along wilh three leammales, LO defend America's liLIes in the Trophee and MOlocross des alionstitles that Hansen had helped win the previous year. He had come over to Europe a week early so he could compete in the final 250cc GP in Sweden, which he promptly won, showing all the Europeans and yetto-he-crowned World Champion Danny LaPorte the fast way around the race track. Before coming to Europe, Hansen had wrapped up the U.S. 250cc National title and the Supereross Championship. He was about to enter into negotiations with Honda for the 1983 season, and there was talk of a contract worth $1 million for three years. At 24, Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen was on top of the motocross world. ... AIl ~ 'tJUW.Mam 18 though, on that practice track in Germany just over a year ago. Approaching a set of triple jumps that he had already negotiated successfully in previous laps, Hansen realized too late that he wasn't carrying enough speed to clear the second hump. His works 250 landed squarely on top of the mound of earth, its frame and engine cases taking the full brunt of the landing. Hansen was thrown off the bike and sent bowling along the track. During the fall, the back of Hansen's helmet was slammed hard against the track. When he stopped rolling, Hansen was unconscious. Airlifted to a hospital in Heidelberg, Hansen remained in a coma for a week. He regained consciousness and was flown to a California hospital for further tests and treatment. T~Y :~AonJ _~~~_tJ1_e ... Hansen was no stranger to injuries. During his rise from fast local Expert to National Champion, he had suffered more than his share of broken bones and torn muscles. But this was different, and he knew it. "I was afraid," says Hansen, "that I would never be good again." Hansen attacked the problem the only way he knew how - by training. "I tried to walk every day," he says. "Within a week or two I was walking by myself, then shortly after that - probably three weeks after I got out of the hospital - I started going on walks around the house. I did that every day for about a month. then I started going on runs. "At first, I'd run about a half mile and have 10 stop and walk fora while. My right side still didn't work as well as my left side, so my left leg did most of the work for my right leg and I got tired really fast." After six months of "walking, running and some reading," Hansen was jogging almost five miles a day and was ready to get back on a motorcycle. He went to Indian Dunes, a local track in Valencia, California, where Hansen had first made his name. "A doctor went with me to Indian Dunes and I rode around this oval track with little jumps in it. I rode there for three days and then moved to a rougher track there. Soon I felt that I was riding safe enough that I didn't need a doctor with me, and I could just go with friends." Hansen may have riding safe, but he wasn't up to his pre-accident speed. "My ,b,alaoce. was.nfL:: .he.sa.y.s. ~'and_J "[ was afraid [would never be good again." I "After the accident, they promised me the earth, but when it came time to deliver. .. " He leaves the sentence unfinished. "When they signed me up for this year (1983), I thought it was because they had faith in me to come back in 1984. Well, the·lll360nl.

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