Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ , .J c' i ~ ·~ 'I • 0 r- . ~ ' 00 0') ,......; ~ 0') ~ Q.) ..0 S Q.) ...., 0. Q.) o: It takes hours of preparation in the shop before glory can be claimed in the winner's circle at a National dirt track race. Harley-Davidson factory mechanic Bill Werner (above) knows that fact all too well. Interview: Fadory Harley-Davidson mechanic Bill Werner Dirt track's top tuner By Farren Williams Photos by Bert Shepard Quick! Who has more National dirt track wins than Jay·Springsteen? "No one," you say. Wrong! -Fa ctor y Harley-Davidson mechanic ' ~ill Werner, who tuned for Springsteen during the Michigan rider's glory. years, has built more National-winning motorcyc Ies th anan'yone. H e 32 posted hIS 50th career VICtory June 27 :when Scott . Parke! won .th e National H alf MIle at Lima, OhIO. Werner , ~3 , has worked for . the Harley-Davidson Race Team SInce August of 1966: He answered a helpwanted advertlse~ent In the local newspaper,washIr~byf?~erRace Team Mana~er .DIck .0 Bn~n. and promptly quit hI S old Job driving a . propan e tru ck. Since then , he has turned th e wre nc hes for former Nati o nal Champion Gary Scott, three-t ime cha m p ion Springsteen an d Parker. Wern er be cam e i n te res te d in mech anics by " hanging around an a u to mo tive speed shop while in hi gh school a nd watch ing guys mak e hot rods." Event ually , the owner of th e shop put Wern er to work clea n ing parts, sweeping floors and occasionally making rep airs on autom obiles. Werner never finished co llege , but he did tak e several mechanics-rela ted ni ght courses, studying subjects suc h as Wankel engines, welding.vrobotics, eng ineering and math. ~ In addi tio n to 21 years on the job and 50 National wins, Wern er has four G rand National Championsh ips under hi s belt. H e tuned for Scott th e year Sco tt took the number one plate away from Kenny Rober ts (1975), . nd he turned th e wrenches a for Spr~nger .whe.n Spnngsteen won championships In 1976, 1977 a nd 1978. Werner and Park er cu rrently are chasing the 1987 Nati onal titl e. Cycle News caught up with the Brookfield, Wisconsin, nat ive just before th e July 18 National H alf Mile in Parkersbur g, West Virgin ia. Werner reflected on hi s two decades . in Ameri can di rt track racing a nd o n wh a t it is lik e to be the m ost successfu l dirt tra ck tuner in h istor y. How does it feel to have 50 National wins? I don't kn ow . My wife kept track of all tha t and she said, " Buster, pretty soo n you 're going to hav e 50. Wh at abo u t tha t?" It seems lik e a signi f, ican t n u m ber. Ther e' s n ot h in g magic abo ut it. It just has a ring to it. It 's the 50th a nni versa ry of our union at work; it 's th e 50th a nniver sary of Springfield; th ese things all kind of tie in. It 's just kind of a round nu mber. What does it take to compile a record like that? You have to be lu cky a lo t. You have to have some rea l good guys o n th e bik es. That's the key, obv io usly: Life is being in th e rig h t p lace at the right time. 1 ju st hap pen ed to be the guy who was in the ri ght pl ace at th e right time. Are you sure you don't have a couple of National wins that aren't on the list? 1 built a cou p le of engines for the Brelsford brothers. ' Mark Brelsford used one as a spare eng ine for Louisvill e (June 3, 1972). H e blew his engin e in a h eat a n d th ey switched it for the main event. H e put in an engine I built a t th e factory a nd he wo n the main even t wi th that. I don't really consider that anything that I did. Then his brother (Sco tt), who was . kind-of-like on th e second-string factory team at the time, was having trouble maintaining his equipment. I·rebuilt an engine for him. He took .it down to the Atianta .Mile and he won the five-lap Atlanta Mile (Sep- tember 9, 1973) with that. I ' do n 't really consider those (as ~ins) because I didn't do th e whole 'package, I just did the engin es on them. What constitutes a victory for a mechanic? Unless you do everything - the chassis, the wheels, th e tires, th e en gine - (it doe sn 't constitute a victory for a mechanic). . Did you build engines for anyone else? I built some engines for (Cal) Rayborn. One of th em I think he took over to Europe. We bu ilt engines for some of the g uys and they'd go off . and wh o knows wh a t they did wi th th em . When did you become a full-fledged factory mechanic? , I was n't assigned to anyone exclusively until th e first yea rs with Gary Scott. Almost all of your wins have come at 'th e hands of three riders: Scott, Springsteen and Parker. Could you describe each of them? Gary (Sco tt) is a bu sin essman. H e's a n individual. He' wanted con tro l of every facet o f h is p rogram. H e wanted to know everything a bo u t everythi ng - wh at I did, wh y I did it, how I did it. He was really into wha t he did. H e didn 't kn ow anything abou t the H arl eys wh en he star ted. Some gu ys don 't reall y care wha t you do, but he was reall y int o th e bike and wanted to know wh at, how a nd why. . He's a very intense person, very self driving. He's kind of a loner type; self-fulfilling. It 's like he was preprogrammed to be a racer and he was going to be a good one, and he was going to be in control. He's very business-oriented. Jay (Springsteen ) is at the opposite . end of the spectr u m. Racing is fun to him. It 's something th at he doe s and he happens to do well. H e was bl essed with- the right genes to race a motorcycle, probably better than anybody in the world. H e didn 't ask me, " Wha t kind of tire pressure, what kind of gearing a re you running?" Gary wou ld come in from practice a nd say , " Change these shoc ks and put thi s kind of gearing on." I'd sa y, "Why?" and he 'd say, " Beca use that's th e way I want it." Gary wouldn't sha re the. problem with you. H e'd just say, " Here, do this." J a y would come in a nd say, "The front end's pu sh ing a nd it 's, ma ybe, lugging a little bit. " H e'd gi ve you symp toms and you'd fix th e problem , whi ch is much, much better for me because I learn from him. Jay was the perfect sounding boa rd because he 'd try a ny thing. If yo u told him he had to run three inches from the bales, that's wh at he 'd do . If you told him he had to run the rail that's what he'd do. H e'd try anything that yo u thought it would take (to win). Gary wouldn't try anything. J a y is a kind of free spirit who doesn't get th at invo lved in his eq uipment. He showed up and rode it a nd I much prefered that. It's a bigger ' responsibility (for th e mechanic) but it's easier. Jay 's easy to get along with. Scotty (Parker) is a combination of the two. Scotty's a businessman, a very good businessman. He knows how .much he makes and where the money goes. He 's not into his , equipment, per se. H e doesn't come in and say, " Cha nge these fork s," or " Change these shocks." He gives me symptoms. In the rider-mechanic relationship I don't like being told what to do . I like to be given problems (and' provide solutions). It gives the riders a better appreciation for what you do and vice ,versa. When you do' something bad, they can also say , "Oh, that was terrible. This thing's awful this way ." They learn to appreciate how relevant the mechanic is; it's more than just a ene-man sport. O f course, there have been times when Jay won races that I thought he could swap bikes with anyone in the field and still beat 'em hands down. J ay was his own worst enemy. We didn't do as much development ' o n th e bikes as we co uld have and the competitio n was working. He was so much better than everybody else that the boss would say, " Why should you spend all th is time and 1110ney working on (the motorcycles) when he'll just go kick ever ybody's butt anywa y. " Ultimatel y, (the competition) just keeps \improving and improving. You can't stand still. , How has Scott Parker matured as a racer? ' It's a combina tion of things. He canstill race up in the cush ion if he has to, but he's learned that most of the guys who win races take the shortest way around th e co urse and the shortest way around the course is usually the inside. You hav e to learn to adapt and set up for those kinds! of co nd itio ns. · He 's learned that r holding th e throttlewide open isn'ualways the fastest way ar ound th e 'track. H e's getting wiry , very savvy. How did Garth Brow sneak onto , your win list? 1 That mad e me feel really good. Garth 'hadn ' t won a National in three years

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