Interview: AHA SuperIJille Chainpion Flyin' Fred Herllel
Theehamp
moves on
By Pau l Carrut he rs
Baseball player Tim Rain es and road racer
Fred Merkel have a lot in common. Last
summer R aines was winning the National
League batting title at ab out the same time
Merkel wa s winning th e
AMAI Carne I P ro Sen.es Superbike Championship. Until
recently, both were without
jobs for th e 1987 seaso n.
.
Rain es tested th e fr ee age nt
m ~r~et, h~d no luck and recentl y
rejoin ed his old team th e ~ ontreal
Expos. Merkel was not re-sIgne~ by
T eam H onda, and has had to switch
leagu es en tirely for th e 1987 season.
Merk el has ventured to Eu rope,
becoming the first Ameri can to make
an all-o ut attempt a t winning th e
Formu~a
.On e
TT
World
Ch ampionship,
In hi s first race on a Formula One
TT bik e (Euro pe's version of U.S.
Superbikes) at Misano in It al y,
Merkel a n d hi s Tea m All iance
H onda fini shed second behind the
factory Suzuki of Paul Iddon. Meanwh ile, Raines in. h is fi~s t gan: e,
~ltho~J.t the benefit of s~nng tramm g, hit a grand sla m to wm th e game
for Mon treal. The two are definitely
on their way back.
When Merkel fini sh ed second to
Wayne Rainey in th e fin al ro und of
th e 1986 series at Road Atlanta, he
did wh at many thoughI he could not
do. H e won ano ther cha mpio nship .
Sure he.had won two before tha t but
this was different. Even he adrnits his
other titl es were won against lessthan-formidable opponents, but in
1986 he topped both Rainey and the
growing list of doubters.
A MA/Superbike C hampion Fred Merkel at left w it h his bird J. R. and
belo w wit h his pride and j oy. a completely restored 1 9 6 1 Corvette.
