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The 19 8 4 season belonged to number 84, Flyin ' Fred Merkel. Being t he
on ly guy with a works Superbike backed by a factory t eam helped.
Interview: Fred Merkel
built yet. So I went with H onda o n
th ei r Superbike su p port p ro gram fo r
a bike a nd parts. Mert L awwill di d
the tu ning an d I built th e en tire ro Iling cha ssis, the n I had Tim G reen
worki ng o n the bi kes fo r me. We both
went o n the road , a n d we got a th ird
at o ur firs t race, Ri verside, th en we
we n t back eas t an d did real well.
Wa sn 't it at Wisconsin that yo u got a
break wi th Honda?
Merkel : My bike blew up a t Elkhart
Lak e, bu t it was th e first tim e I got to
ride an RS500. Steve Wise crashed
real ha rd , so th ey put m e o n th e 500,
but I was still o n sup port . I di dn't
sign a co n tract with th e facto ry until
th e middl e o f Au gust fo r th e res t of
th e year a n d fo r '84. It wa sn 't unti l
the n that I fin all y go t hooked u p
wi th th e " Burner Bro th ers" h ere.
What do you mean by that?
Merk el : M ike Vela sco a n d Merl yn
Plu ml ee - th ey're g reat. I GIll th em
th e " Burn er Brothers " because th ey
do whatever it tak es to do th e job to
wi n. Because o f th em, last yea r was
a lmos t flawless' . . . well, I d id fa ll
do wn a co u p le of times.
What happened?
Merkel: I fell down a t Loudon . I was
kicki ng Dal e Quarterley's butt, a n d a
guy had fa lle n do wn , d ropp in g a
bunc h o f o il o n th e tr ack , but th ey
How does your wrist feel lately?
Merkel : I ca n feel it; so me times in th e
mornin g it hurts. When it 's co ld , th e
screws let you kn ow: th ey won 't co me
o u t until aft er th e season 's o ver.
With yo ur return to Daytona next
month, yo u' ve been really p reparing
for the task with having good bikes
ready, good mechanics, a good auitude. But al so , this yea r Dayto na 's a
different situation because the 200 is
a Superbike race. What do yo u think
about that?
Merkel : I don't kn ow what 's goi ng to
happen, if th e race is go ing to be in
a ny bo dy's fa vor. H av ing it a Super bike race will definitel y mak e it m or e
inter esting , but I don 't kn o w how th e
publi c's go ing to rea ct to it.
There seems to be mixed feelings
about this year's 200.
Merkel: I don 't think half th e spectato rs know th e 200 is go in g to be a
Su perbi ke race. Peop le co me to Da ytona to see the Fo rmula One race and
see a ll th e d ifferent bikes. But I think
it ' s go ing to be a bi g shock swi tch in g
th e 200 to Su pe r bikes. We did so me
testing la st No vember , ran a 200rnil er , which too k u s 56 laps, a nd I
had never ta ken a Su perbike th at far.
It will tak e a bo u t tw o hours. a nd
with th e new track, lth ink it 's goi ng
to be more o f a rid er's track th en it
altona
- OU
IS
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By Rex Reese
With th is year's Daytona 200 ready to feature th e Superbike class o n th e cen ter
stage, H onda 's Fred M erkel carries with h im an impressive race-w in record
w hich made him th e AMA N ation al S u pe rbi ke Champion in 1984. H e also
brings along th e certai n kn owledg e - maybe eve n coc ky att itude - that h e
alr ead y has th e 200 in th e bag. Wh eth er or not he do es w ill be seen Mar ch 10 at
Daytona Sp eedway.
Considering hi s age - ju st 22 - it w ou ld probably be easy to disco u nt
M erkel's talk and fi gure him as ju st anoth er one of the many who also clai med
that th ey'd do th e very sam e, only to fall out of th e racing p icture. But a g lance at
last year's Superb ik e w in tally shows M erkel with 10 w ins and a com ma n di ng
35-point margin over h is nearest co m petitor, Sam McDonald. That alon e ma y
be en ough ev idence that Merk el falls into Daytona's "sure bet " co lum n.
But Fred isn't th e only one to have suc h a high opinion of his abi lities. T eam
Honda Road Racing Manager Udo Geitl describ es young Merk el , in th e 18month period that h e's raced S u perbikes, as " the winningest road racer" he's
ever seen.
Just a few we eks before Daytona , we got th e chan ce to m eet with Fred at
Ameri can Honda's racing department to discuss his plans for th e upcoming
eve n t. With h im wa s G eitl and mechanic M ike Velasco (who w o rks on
Merk el's bik es w ith M erlyn Plumlee) to lend so m e techn ical d etails beh ind his
rise to Superbike g lory.
Is Da ytona go ing to be w itn ess to a Fred Tide? Will everybody be bett er off
Fred than dead? Nobody w ill know fo r su re unt il the checkere d fla g falls.
T h is year marks your third ri de at
Daytona, right?
Merkel : Yeah. The first time I went
to Daytona was in 1982, a nd th at was
o n a Yamaha T Z250. We didn 't do
too well. We went a bo u t 10 laps in
th e Formula Two ra ce, and th e cha in
we used stre tch ed so much th at it
ca me o ff. Still , it W <,l S a first class
effo rt; m y dad built a ll my racebikes,
with a ll th e tri ck stu f£. An ywa y, th e
next ra ce aft er Daytona was Ri verside, and we almost la p ped everybody. We won three races th at year
and finished seco n d beh ind Sam
McDonald. In the fall , at th e AFM /
, Budweiser Pro-Am (at Willow Sp rings
Raceway ), I was invit ed to ride Wes
Cooley's bike - he co u ld n ' t ride th at
week end for some reason - for Yoshimura . I went out and qualified fast est, then blew 'e m away in th e first
leg. On the seco nd leg, I Cried th e.
I .
s t r r at r r c t
clutch on th e starting lin e. But, I had
never ridden a bike that big before in
my life . Aft er th at, Yoshimura invited
me ba ck to ride a race a t Ri verside,
wher e I broke Eddie La wso n 's Super bike tr ack reco rd . They wer e reall y
impressed and tried to co me u p with
a racing program fo r m e in 1983.
When did Honda offer you a ride?
Merkel: Udo (Geit l, Team H onda' s
Road Racing Manager ) wa s ca ll ing
m e at a bo u t th e sa me time. H e was
o ffer ing me a bike an d parts , an d I
wa s still waiting fo r a n a nswer o n th e
Yoshimura deal.
Did you have to decide between riding Cor Honda or Yoshimura?
Merkel: No. Finally Yoshimura call ed
a nd said that they didn ' t have the
money to do the program. It took
them a lmost to the end of J anuary to
ca ll me, and I didn't have my bike
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Fred Merkel and the "Burner Bro thers;" mechanics Mike Velasco (left)
and Merlyn Plumlee. The combination was almost unbeatable in 1984.
didn 't put the oil flag out until I went
by and th ey were giving it to Quarterley. I wa s riding straight up a nd
down on my Interceptor, a n d th en I
sp u n o u t a nd th e bike went off and
hit a tr ee. I was at the first aid trai ler
when my dad came running up to
m e, as king me if I cou ld ride. I said.
that I co u ld , and he said that th e bike
had been fix ed - they are pretty fragile - they're not made to bounce on
th e pav em ent then be ridden again. I
told m y dad that there was no wa y
tha t th e bike could be running aga in.
Well , when I got back to th e pits,
Mi chael an d Merl yn , and anybody
el se th ere, were swinging wrench es
a nd o n th e restart I was o n th e last
ro w. I ende d up fini shing second.
Wh en I fell down a t Sea rs Point, I
think I just lean ed it o ver a little too
far, drug th e frame and lifted th e
front tire off th e gound. I hit so me
ha ybal es a nd broke m y wri st in a
cou p le o f pl aces; th e n ext da y I flew
to Wyoming with Dr. Kieffer (o rt hope d ic su rgeo n al so known as Formul a One rider Dav e Kieffer ). H e
opera ted o n m y wrist, put in tw o
screws, and 12 days la ter I was back
o n th e bike in Minnesota. I played
cat-a nd-mo use with Reuben McMurter a n d Sam McDona ld unti l the la st
co u p le of laps. Then I stre tch ed out
th e lead and won. It was pretty in cr edible, co m ing back two weeks la ter
after breakinz a wrist.
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was before.
Geitl: They m ade th e track sh orter in
so me area s. I th ink it's going to be a
new ex p erience for everybody, but
horsepower wi ll still be th e key to
winning th e 200.
Merkel: The straightaw ays a re incr edibly long, and the bowl sections
are real st eep, but you don 't notice
that wh en you 're riding . .. An yway ,
about th e Formu la Ones being on
Frida y, I think people come to Daytona to see th em. Ind y ca rs ca n be
compared to Formula One, and Superbikes are like stoc k cars; and even
th ough pe ople go to Indianapolis,
they don't really relate to th e Indy
cars, th ey go because it ' s Indy. So,
peopl e go to Da ytona because o f th e
Formula Ones: When I go to a race, I
like to see a bike co me o u t of a truck,
an d it' s a hi gh -tech Formula One
bike tha t's tot ally tri ck th at yo u hardl y
ever see, co m pa red to a Superbike
th at's a street bike modified in to a
race bi ke. I think seeing a Formula
One bike is a bigger thrill.
T h e thought is that people can relate
more to Superbikes than Fo rmula
O n e bikes, because a Formula O n e is
made out of aluminum and titanium
and carbon fibe r.
Merkel: Well, you have to be a bike
enthusiast to even begin to know
what all of that's a bo u t.
What kind of prepara tions h ave you
beer making for Dar tona?
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