Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ . :_. . :- '" ~ ~ ;:l bJ:J ;:l --" """-l.., . a ll weekend. And that was th e last tim e I rode a road racer. Your road racing earned you 17 points that season, and you beat Scott Parker for second place in the standings by 15, so the pavement effort was worth something in terms of point fund money. Why did you decide to cu t back to onI y dirt tracks for '86 and '87? Even finishing seco nd and accomplishing what I d id, I don 't think it was wort h what it di d to me. I netted about 20,000, which is pretty sad considering I grossed about S100,000. It 's just hard. When I sat down and figured out where it was all going, it was amazing .. . j us t amazing. . And yo u had some financial backing all yea r, didn't yo u? Yeah , I did. Doug Sears had hel ped me o n-and -off for a lot of years, doin g as much as he cou ld. In '84 he was thinkin g abou t it a nd in '85 he decided to just jump in there and do wh at ever it took. T hat was pre tty much hi s a tti tude. He was doin g p retty well in the bu sin ess and he'd seen me struggling for so man y years a nd he had faith in me. He said, " Wha tever it tak es," a nd we went p re tt y mu ch thro ugh th e who le seaso n that way . H e pa id a ll th e bi lls, which is a big hel p, a nd my fa therin-la w, No rm McDonal d , hel ped me - I had severa l people th a t were th ere at d ifferent ti mes - bu t I was doi ng most of the work myself. I was the o ne who had to set everything up for a ll the dirt tracks, plus a ll th e ro ad races. I had to make su re everything was there, order a ll the pa rts , a ll the tires and coordinat e everything. It 's a 12-hour day every day a nd I aged more that yea r than in a ny other year I'v e been racing. It 's one thing for a 20-year-old kid who's single and footloose to knock around th e cou n try in a van, living from race to race , but you're a fam ily man. Yeah , I thin k m y wif e T erry is probab ly what I' m most proud o f in m y life. We met so me time wh en I was a Ju nior or may be a rookie, wh en I was traveling and running aro u nd with Ph il McDona ld , her brother. As far as act ually dating, th at started in 1980 or '81. Her dad, No rm McDonald, used to have the Team K&N thing in Ca liforn ia. I was never rea lly invo lved with that, b ut he's helped me a lot since we go t ma rri ed. We have two da ugh ters, T ara 's four, goi ng o n 16, a nd Li ndsay's eig ht, go ing on l8! It 's rea lly amazing how fast th ey pi ck th ings up ! That makes Lindsay about the same age you were when you started racing, doesn't it? Su re enough. I rode m y first race when I was eigh t years old, on a TT track. I had a n 85cc Kawasa ki. Back then, I used to mo tocross every Su nday . We'd run the short tracks and TTs o n Friday and Saturday and then motocross on Sundav. My firs t race I got fifth, a nd th en my second rac e was at a track where the y had a 125cc and under class, 'wh ich was also 16-and-under ... guys, g ir ls, powderpuff, everybody. I wo n my heat o n that Kawasaki and this gi rl wo n her heat o n a 125cc Yamaha tw in. Tha t th ing was pr etty fast and tha t was the race, me and her. It took me a couple of la ps to get by her, b ut I fina lly got by and wonI My da d had raced lot s 01 scram bles. H e was a lso a Novice roa d race r and ran Da ytona a nd the Ind ian a po lis road race . He was a dis trict rep for Mo n tesa, a nd then he went o n to Kawasak i a nd was a rep . for them . Then he ended u p getti ng a motorcycle shop. We had a deal ersh ip in La nsi ng for severa l years , a nd he sti ll had that wh en I went o ut o n m y own. Later on, when you were a struggling privateer, did you ever consider just giving up racing and doing something else? Yeah, I did. I've even reached the co nclusion a few times, "If this or that situation happens, I'll just walk away fro m racing and I' ll be ha p p y." 'Bu t the n I get around th e race tra ck a nd I go, "Man, I don 't kn ow if I cou ld handle not doing th is a ny This year you have a new program with Hud Racing. . Yeah , that's J am es Huddlesto n of Mil sap, T exas. Poovey rode for him last year. When ever you're ri di ng with som ebody new , it takes a while to ge t things figured out, but we're gett ing the re. H e does most of the work on the bike. Joe Gilbert of Gil bert Port ing Servi ce does a lo t of th e e n g in e a nd fl o w work and technical stuff. T erry and the kids and I all ge t a long well wit h Jam es and his fami ly. We enjoy eac h ot her and he and I ha ve the same attitude abou t racing; go and do what yo u can and then deal with it. To think you're go nna go a nd wi n every race is pretty abs urd, so dea ling wi th what you did wrong an d trying to make it better next time is abo u t a ll you can ask for. J a mes has reall y give n me so me new inspiration. He's a grea t guy a nd he wants to win real bad . That was one th in g th at was such a key wit h Markel a nd I. We a lways went th ere to wi n. In a ny circu msta nces , Bart wa nted to wi n. If you cras hed th e mot orcycle a nd wadded it up ; bu t yo u did it tryi ng to wi n, he was happier than shit. T hat's some thi ng I need in th e people I work wi th . I need peop le who are there to do bu siness j ust as much as I am, (Right) Terry and Ted Boody have two daughters. Tara who is four and Lindsay who is eight. (Below) Boody last road raced in 1985. College Bike Shop is a longtime supporter. more." It seem s so easy to say, "Y eah, I co uld wa lk a way from it." But then there 's th is little feelin g , th at you ge t inside. ' I don 't kn ow that I rea lly co u ld wa lk a way fro m it. because wh en I go to th e races , I'm a different person. Wh en it's time to do bu sin ess, I'm th ere to do business, a nd wh en the race is over a nd it 's time to goof off and have fun , the n I'm, u p for that too . What about the car racing? Is that a major part of yo ur future plans? I've always liked cars, I' ve a lways liked all kinds of racing, arid I've always thought if I couldn 't race bikes I'd like to race cars. I'v e a lways thought when this is done I would want to go there. So I decided last year - '86 - that it was tim e to start the ball rolling. My dad helped me o ut a lot , helped me get the schooling for IMSA a nd FIA licen ses and all th a t, and there was a guy in T u lsa th at had a car that I drove in a couple a u tocrosses - littl e sportsman type thi ngs they have - a nd he thought th at I had so me possi bi li ties. He's a lso go t a little Formula Two BMW wi th a March chassis, a nd I drove it j us t for p rac tice a nd to get some sea t tim e m. I got to wh ere th at really felt good, a nd I told the Ca me l people I'd lik e to go to some of the ir car races a fter th e season was over. T hey sai d, "S ure," and took me and introduced me around. To show what a sma ll world it is, I was at th e Co lumbus, Ohio , Ca me l GT, do wn in the pits,

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