Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Chandler was booted off Team Honda at the end of 1 984; raced once for Kawasaki in Europe, then quit. Now tie 's back on KTM . thin gs u p . And I never wa s strong the wh ole seaso n unri l rhe end . We got it back toget her a nd the n th e accident hap pened . T ha t screwed up th e wh ol e year ( 1984)." That Magoo would sti ll wa nt to rid e a mo torcycle a fter th e near fata l accident shows th e kind o f meta l he's mad e o r. " I' ve bee n riding m o torcycles si nce I wa s five (h is fath er 's trail 90) and racin g since I was nine. Wh en I was p roba bl y 15- yea rs-o ld th a t's all I wanted to do was to be a p rofession al motorcycle racer. Everythin g, I a le. slept mo torcycles. All I kn o w is mo torcycles, I co uld n't do no th ing else, If I cou ld n't ride I would as soon be dead. T ha t's th e wa y I feel. I want lO race and race a nd ra ce. That's it. " A co ld w inter's da y in ear ly '84 was a lmost " i t" w h ile o u t ridi ng w ith a buddy aro u nd h is mounta in home, Wh a t hap pen ed for sure is un kn own since no o ne sa w th e a cci dent a nd Magoo h as n o memory beyond three hours before. Wh ile h is buddy was puuin g hi s bike in the ga rage, Ma goo went for o ne m or e loop arou n d hi s house. His budd y h eard th e engi ne qu it a nd went to see wh y. What h e found was a n eigh t-i nc h-rou nd fen ce co rnerpos t sp lit into tw o by Magoo's helmeted hea d. T he pos t still stood because it was cross-braced by tw o o ther eig h t-in ch -ro u nd fen ce pos ts. The contour of th e helmet is em bedd ed int o th e pos t as a re th e scre ws wh ere h is fa ce ma sk bolts onto the h elmet, th e impression a quarter inc h d eep and still th ere tod a y! Th e cras h to ok a h eav y 1011. Hi s ja w was broken in two pl aces, he had three sku ll fra ctures, a co u p le o f concussions, destroyed the right inner ea r bon e (w h ich a ffected hi s bal ance and rig h t ea r h earing for a long time), a nd severed th e ea r n erve which left n o feeling. S in ce th er e isn 't eno ug h ro om on hi s property to ge t up to a n y h igh speed, wha tever happ ened was a freak . One thin g 's for sure, h ow ever , he wi ll for ever have a certain helmet co m pa ny o n hi s "good gu y's " list ! It was a to ugh ro ad back , so me eigh t m on ths to get th ose inj ur ies heal ed a lo ne. H e emotiona lly spoke of th e hell he went th rough , sa ying, ','T ha t was sca ry . .. after I got h ome I'd ge t real di zzy, I' d turn m y h ead to the side a nd lo se focu s; it would lak e me a seco nd to focus o n so me th ing, a nd m y head . . . I felt rea l d izzy a ll the tim e. I'd even sit down and cry 10 rnvsel f, 'Like why me, wha t did ida wrong?' I don' t 'kno w if so mebody was Irying 10 tel l me so methi ng or wha t, people I was step p ing on, using th e wi fe, ta ki n g thi ng s fo r g ranted , I do n't kno w. I had a lot o f time 10 think a bo u t it a nd everyt hi ng see ms to co me back, p re tty slow ly, but it ha s co me bac k." It was a long, slo w comeback tha t mea nt a bad year o f ridi ng. He rode H ang to wn on ly 45 da ys a fter th e accident, for him self as well as for hi s legi on o f homet own fan s, bUI wa s hu rt in g ba d ly. H e sa id, "Oh yea h , I wa s st ill ha vin g tro u bles vis ua ll y, I'd turn my he ad rea l fast and ge t dizz y. I' d h it a j u mp or somet h ing an d fly u p , m y head wo u ld get real . .lig h t. I d idn ' t feel rea l weak bUI I would j ust feel unsu re of a nything I did. T h i ngs weren '.t th ere yet. I rode fro m th ere tr yin g the best I co u ld . T hen th e fourth race back a handl eba r broke o ff in Atl anta a nd I broke m y co llar bo ne . I went en d over end . So th at kind o f en ded it all. " H e rode th e U.S. 250cc GP a t U nadilla but th e co m bina tion o f ha vin g j us t co me o ff th e broken co llarbo ne a nd being tir ed a nd o u t of shape got to him. Though h e feels h e shou ld h a ve bea t Hannah in a big di ce th ey had going in th e qualifier he fin ish ed third , In th e ra ce o n Sunday he fell ap art . say ing, " I just wasn 't ready." " I didn ' t ride a whole lo t last year. Normall y I would co me home a nd ride so me local races but I felt th at I n eed ed thi s time off to get the hunger back because m ot orcycles we re reall y upsetting m e. I reall y sa t down a nd sta rted th inking a bo u t a lot of th ings. I kn ew from th at point on th at H onda wasn 't go ing to do nothin g for me, so I was try ing everyth ing desp eratel y. I wa s tr ying to go fast bu t I wa sn 't read y to go fast , a nd it's reall y ha rd . . . yo u kn ow if I co u ld ha ve just too k the rest of th e year o ff and co me back th is year, in '85, th at wo u ld have been a lo t different story. You kn ow yo u think your job's on the line a nd yo u go o ut there hal f read y: trying to do so me th in g bu t it 's j ust not possi ble. I di d tr y, bu t it wasn 't possi bl e." M agoo says he wa nts t o beat Roger DeCoster's fiv e-time 500 cc W orld Championship record. (Bel ow) He po ses with his m other and father. Wh at kind of feel ings doe s he ha ve a bo u t Honda? " I don 't have any bitter feel ings a bo u t ridin g three yea rs for th em . I did ge t a lot o f expe rience a nd I'v e learn ed a 10 1 in th e last three years with the co m pa ny . " O bvio usly I do have so me biller feelings because I felt in m y state of m ind th at th ere was n o rea so n to drop me. I think th ey co u ld hav e cu t back o n a lot o f thi ngs , not give m e th e big money but a t lea st give me so me m oney and let m e try , ,'c a u se I had a bad yea r, but th ey don ' t look a t ii th at wa y. I eve n offered them j ust p a ying me by what I do a nd th ey still wouldn 't do i t. Maybe it 's th e best th ing because now I get to do someth ing I've a lwa ys wanted to do, go ride th e World Championship. I could go to work for m y fath er-in -law and make good money but th at 's not wh at I want. I don 't want to make just good mon ey. I wa nt to m ak e a record tha t nobody's go n na beat. I' ve a lready made one (' 82 Mot oc ro ss an d Trop h y des Nations) but I want to m a ke a no ther o ne . I wa nt to beat l' I· ( Co n t i n ued to pa ge 19) 9

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