Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Time for a crusade against Drugs and racing By Keith Code Drugs and racing. . They've been. around, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. They've been showing up more lately, maybe one guy in 50; the famous Superbike pilot who paraded around Daytona with two white rings inside his nostrils; the club racer who smoked dope, drank a beer and promptly rammed another rider at Riverside. The same guy took out a bunch of other riders one day at Willow; he showed up months later saying he had reformed, but his idea of reformation included selling coke in the pits. ' Guys who ride loaded have no guts; they're afraid they're not good enough without drugs. They're fools, and worse than that, they're dangerous. They need to be eliminated, rooted out, banned. I've always felt that way, especially after seeing coke ruin t.he life of a guy I raced with five years ago. But here's the strongest word on drugs I've seen, and it comes from Keith Code, the rpad racing guru who had a hand in helping Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey go fast, the man who's taught thousands of riders at his California Superbike School sessions. Sixteen years ago Keith Code, by his own admission, had taken every drug there was. Sixteen years ago Keith Code had a needle in his arm, and had for eight years. But then, in 1968, Code says he looked around and realized that all his drug-using buddies from the eight years were either dying or hospitalized or getting there fast. Code stopped using, and hasn't touched a drug since. Nobody'is more qualified than Code to talk about the effect of drugs the AMA. "It was the only good thing to come from the rained-out races at Springfield," said AMA's Bill Boyce. - On the morning after the Rose Bowl Supercross, MXers Johnny O'Mara, David Bailey and Tim Locey ran a 10-kilometer run through the streets of O'Mara's hometown, Simi Valley, California. O'Mara finished sixth overall in a field of 250 runners, with Bailey finishing 21 st and Locey 29th. Another representative from the mo· torcycling field, former Cycle News editor and now vice president of commications for ProSports Consultants, Tom Muel1er, finished a respectable 31 st. MXer Mike Bell. who retired from the sport last year after a string of nagging knee injuries. is now working with an electrical contractor installing wiring in condominiums. Warren Reid, another California MXer on the retired list, has gone a similar route - to the carpentry field. Canadian Ross Pederson (Suz) topped U.S. rider Jim Gibson (Yam) intheJune2 Montreal (Quebec. Canada) Supercross. Mike Fisher (Hon). Floridian Mark Murphy(Yam) and Doug Hoover (Yam) rounded out the top five. Over 60.000 fans attended. on racing; nobody is more down on drugs. Here's what he has to say. ... Editor It was a well-attended club race at Willow Springs Raceway, a perfect day for racing. My attention was grabbed by three guys sitting in an expensive European car at the entrance to the pit lane - one of the three wore leathers. Something looked strange ... I couldn't put my finger on it. .. until I noticed one guy pass ajoint around to the rider sitting in the front seat. Right in plain sight. I rushed over to the car and ·screamed. "What the fUk do you trunk you're' doing here? You aren't in control when you're high and you know it. If you takea hiton that joint I'll personally see that you never race in California again, I promise you!" I said more unkind words as well. Only afterwards did I notice the size of the two other guys. They could have made dog's breakfast out of me; but they didn't even say a word. They knew it was wrong. People who have responsible jobs should not take drugs. Racing is a responsible job. Close racing takes all the attention that even the best racers can muster and the best racers in this world do not take drugs, count on it. While stoned a person is barely qualified to listen to rock and roll music through head phones in their living room, and even that's debatable. In racing there have always been the good guys and the bad guys, the users and the non-users. The subject rarely, if ever, makes it into print, but everyone who is on the scene knows who is doing what. Fortunately, the good guys outnumber the bad guys. Silkolene Lubricants, the new oil product line imported by Answer Products, will be paying a $100 con· tingency to class winners at the June 29-July I Mammoth Mountain Motocross. A Silkolene sticker on the front fender and proof of purchase will be required to claim the cash. June 13 will be a night of allScratch racing at Inland Motorcycle Speedway in San Bernardino. British League stars Bobby Schwartz and Lance King are among the riders expected for the event. . (Continued to page 6) l\IIlYJY)RCYCLE 1 y liriooSTRY CHANGES Unfortunately the bad guys either don't think that racing is enough of a high, or worse, that drugs will actually improve their racing performance. Current medical evidence conclusively indicates tnat toxins s.tay in the body in some quantities; that incl udes medical drugs, street drugs, pesticides and anyone of a possible 70,000 compounds currently being manu- . factured. Further, there is also proof that these chemical compounds can and do release themselves from fatty tissue, especially during t(mes of high stress. Like racing. For many people the release of some stored compound just gives them a bad day. For a racer, a bad day might be slow or it might be his last. There is substantial evidence that some top riders in the U.S., are into what the world around us laughingly calls "recreational drugs." Namely, cocaine and marijuana. I have noticed the inconsistency in these rider's performance over the past years. There is substantial evidence that some serious accidents that have occurred on the road racing circuits around the country, both on the dub and national level, are drug related. It doesn't have to be snorting coke the minute before going out on the track; drugs just chip away at your talent and your well-being a little at a time. Drugs make you forget who you are in little ways. Everyone who uses them knows he is getting away with something. Everyone who is using them now on the circuit will furiously protect his right to· use drugs. "It isn't up to anyone to tell me what I can do with my own mind and bodyl" or "It's not as bad for you as smoking cigarettes or being an alcoholic!': or "Hey, I just like to party a little. " That is what he will say to himself and his stoned friends. People who sell drugs are criminals. They don't care how well you are doing. They don't care if you fall down or not. Drugs are one of the biggest businesses in the world. There is an incredible PR campaign de- Born A baby girl, Erika Leigh, May 13 to Kerker eastern regional sales supervisor Jerry Bronstrup and wife Patricia. Born represent 57% of Honda's income, and 70% of their total sales come from overseas markets. Claimed An eight-pound, threeounce girl, Andrea, first child of Cycle Guide magazine contributor Joe Kress and Kawasaki public relations secretary Jane Kress. Andrea was born Friday morning, June I; both mother and daughter are reported to be "doing fine .... Responsibility for sending Dave Emde to the back of the AFM grid during the April I, Sears Point race, by Tony Allegra, Jack Fonss and Vance Breese, all claiming they were personally responsible for moving Emde, all claiming rider4'ep Denny Doherty had nothing to do with it. Bailed Returned To the motorcycle Born Out of, not off of, a C· 130 airplane belonging to the Israeli Army, Cycle News/East editor Jack Mangus, 45. Mangus, whose last parachute jump was 25 years ago to the month - May, 1959 - was in Israel participating in the second annual Congress of Free World Paratroopers, hosted by the Israeli Defense Force. Also jumping was Motorcyclist/Dirt Rider ad salesman Jim Ryan, 29. RdJorted Asix-pound,12-ouncebaby girl, Jessica Danielle, May 9 to Bob and Mary Stevens, a photographer, and the advertising director for Yamaha Parts Distribution, Inc., respectively. Young Jessica was 20 inches long a t birth. signed to make it OK to take drugs. They are made available to celebrities, for free, so that everyone will get the idea it's OK, Get it? All at your expense. A multi-billion-dollar industry. Drugs are not a new game; they have been wrecking people's lives for many, many years. I have seen bril· liant riders come along in this last decade of racing. I have also seen some of them lose tbat fine edge, maybe never to be regained, because of drugs. It makes me sad. I spoke with Eddie Lawson about drugs and racing and he said, "Taking drugs and racing is crazy. I don't want to ride with those guys and usu· ally I don't have to." If you use drugs, your fellow' competitors look down on you for what you do, and I haven't noticed any drug users beating Eddie recently, or ever. Drugs all by themselves can ruin and will ruin a man's riding, even if he does everything else right. A rider using drugs should look at his riding, his lap times and his performance. Is it getting better? It is supposed to. Is the performance of the other guys out there who are using getting better? Are you beating someone this year you couldn't beat last year? Are you faster or is he slower? Does he party more than you? Take a look. This month of June coming up is going to be hard with three National races in a row. There isn't going to be much time to relax in between times. Using drugs promotes mistakes. No· body wants to make mistakes on the track. This sport doesn't need any problems it doesn't already have. The guys out there racing and doing drugs know who they are. I know who they are, too, most of them. I like them as people', and because they are racers, they are special to me. Racing is my life. I like them but I don't respect·them. As for someone who sells or offers drugs to racers, whether they are a racer or not; I hate them, they are criminals and are going to hurt my friends. Get out of drugs or get out of racing. $10,165,969,000.00 in net sales and operating revenues, by Honda Motor Company, Limited, for the fiscal year ended February 29, 1984. Of that, motorcycle sales counted for$2.14l billion, (21%), down 7% over the year before. Total unit sales were 3,184,000, down 13%. North American sales represented the biggest total, 507,000 units. Auto sales industry, former desert/off-road/ ISDT star Eric Jensen, with a KTM/ M-Star dealership called Eric's Motorcycle Company. 1361 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, California, opened June I. Quit Hercules Distributing/MStar after three months, former desert star, Bob Balentine, 27, to return to Mojave; currently working part-time for Al Baker R&D. Wadded A 1984 FJ600 at Willow Springs during an ARRA road race, by Black Biker editor Donald Parker, 29. Parker, who said the damage was "minimal," said he was hit by another rider. The machine was a test bike. . 3

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