Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

,R;ck~ Graham Halfway home By Jack Mangus 1982 Grand National Champion Ricky Graham celebr~ltes his birthday the day after Christmas each year, but the 25-year-old Honda factory rider hopes to be celebrating even more on October 14 when the final round of the 1984 Camel Pro Series takes place on the mile oval in Springfield, 22 Illinois. Graham wants nothing more than to take his second number one plate back to his home in Seaside, California. The likeable racer is sitting in the catbird seat as far as the title chase is concerned at this point. He came out o[ this past weekend's St. Louis Short Track National with a nine point advantage over his closest competitor, defending champ Randy Goss. The St. Louis event marked the halfway point in the series as the point leader Graham pocketed $10,000, courtesy of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, "Honda wants that number one plate," said Graham in the pits prior to the St. Louis race, "and there's nothing I want more than to give it to them." Asked if he thought he'd be in the point lead at this point when he signed with Honda last winter, Graham said, "Yes, I did. I raced against the Honda guys last year and I knew their bikes had as much horsepower as the Harleys 1 rode [or Tex Peel. [ didn't feel the riders Honda had last year were giving it a IOO-percent effort and 1 knew that [ would give nothing less. [also thought the Honda team last year didn't have it all together. They weren't happy. This year they've changed it all around and everybody's happy and working together. Tbf. me nics or:k •• H' together well and that makes, everything a lot easier." Graham gives a lot of credit for his success thus far this year to the men responsible for maintaining his bikes. "When 1 signed with Honda, one of the things in my contract was that . Kenny Tolbert would be hired to work on my bikes. Kenny had worked with Tex Peel on my equipment last year and 1 knew he could get the job done. He's a part-time racer and that makes a difference because a racer can watch another racer and help figure out what changes to make if they're needed. But Kenny decided he didn't want to move away from Texas he's Terry Poovey's brother-in-law - and it just didn't happen. Then Dan Maurel, who worked on Mike Kidd's bikes last year, was going to be my mechanic but he also said he was tired of the traveling. Finally, they threw Sparky Edmonston my way. He had worked with Kenny Roberts and Ronnie Jones, but 1 didn't really know him. He and Dave Hubinsky teamed up to take care of my bikes and everything has worked out great. Sparky, Dave and 1 hit it off real well - it"s a good combination." Graham, who is in the first year of a two-year contract - with an option year - isn'l hesitant to talk about what it means to have a Honda factory ride. "We're sitting in a position where we can make a quarter of a million dollars in a year. The deal 1 have with Honda is almost the same type of thing the motocrossers have. There's my salary and then .ther 's tbe bonuses. In the past I had to split my purse money with Tex or somebody and now 1 not only get to keep all that but the bonuses match the purse money. Add the pur e, the bonus and the expense money together and you can see where I'm way ahead. A lot of people say the bonus thing is an incentive but I think a din tracker is going to go for it anyway - 1 know I am, but either way I'm always going to give it my best and it ure doesn't hurt to receive a bonus." Asked about Honda fielding a road racer for him this year, Graham said, "[ told Mr. Kazuka (head of racing at Honda) that I didn't see any reason for it. Don't get me wrong, I like it but as far a getting the championship I don't think it's necessary - at this. time. I really enjoy road racing and wish I could do it more but not this year. What I want to do this year is get Honda the championship; 1 want to get that over with this year. Maybe next year - if they want to I'll do more road racing, but that's really up to them." The switch from Harley-Davidson XR750s to Honda RS750s was "like going from a Cessna I~O toa Lear jet. They're so smooth compared to a Harley and while the switch didn't require any real change on my part or I guess I can say they didn't feel all that different, the Hondas are just better bikes. They're more adjustable in that they can be set up so many different ways. 1 pitch a bike in and scrape the cases - we had to jack Harleys way up for me to ride them - but the Hondas can be adjusted so easily it makes them a pleasure to ride. " Leisure time for Ricky Graham means golf. "I played here in St. Louis yesterday at a really nice private club. I met a guy at a press affair we had for tonight's race and he called the assistant pro at the club. Luckily, the guy was familiar with motorcycle racing and he knew my name. That's one advantage of having a name in a sport - it opens certain doors. As for my playing, right now it's at the stage where 1can make pUllS this long (he spreads his arms as far apart as possible) and still miss pUllS this close (he holds the thumb and finger of one hand apart). At one point when my back and all were really hurting from a crash, 1 shot real well. When 1 felt lOO-percent 1 shot poorly. I guess you could say I'm in the low 90s consistently." Graham's steady companion is Regina Smith, Miss Harley-Davidson, and we asked Ricky if there were wedding bells in his future? "You'd have to ask that, wouldn't you? Let's say we really enjoy being together we really enjoy each other. But she has a career ahead of her and I have my career. For example, she has to fly out of here at 8 tonight - she can't even stay to see the race - because she has to be in Denver for a Harley dealer's convention in the morning. We'll just have to see what happens," said Graham. . While most would think that Graham considers Randy Goss to be the man to beat this year, Ricky thinks otherwise. "Randy's tough. He'll be right in the hunt, but 1 think when we hit the big tracks my main challenge will come from Bubba (Shobert, Graham's Honda teammate). The main thing we have going for us - besides the bikes - is that we're working together as a team. With Gene (Romero, the former Grand National Champion who oversees Honda's dirt track effort) heading the team and Sparky and Dave taking care of the bikes, well, I just feel I have an advantage. Like I said earlier, I want that championship, both for myself and for Honda. And I'm going to get it. •

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