Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Californian Chris Carr has set his sig hts on spending a lot of time in the w inner's circle in 1989, and winning the Grand National Championship. Interview: Chris Carr Eyeing the Number On~ plate . By Farren Williams Photos by Henny Ray Abrams Chris .Carr has been throwing motorcycles sideways ever since he competed in his first motorcycle race at Lodi Cycle Bowl in northern California. I-Ie was six years old. In 1989 the 21-year-old professional dirt tracker (he turns ' h hi h 22 In M' .ay) as set IS SIg ts on nothing less than the Grand 48 Nat ion al Cha mpionshi p. Carr wan ts it all. ' ' He has pro ven he has the talent, but does Carr have the experience to take the coveted number one plateaway from his , Harl ey-David son teammate, Scott Parker of Michigan? Carr is confident he's up to the task. In 1988, the year Park er claimed his first Grand Natio?al Ch ampionship, Car~ powered hI S facto ry Ha r l.eyDavidson to four Grand National WInS, two Cam el Challenge victories and seven win s i~ the .ina~gura l 60Occ. National Ch ampl?nshlp Dirt T rack Senes. Those seven WInS helped earn Carr the 600cc series titl e. , We spo ke with Carr recent ly at h is home in Manteca, California, as he made , preparations to head for Daytona to com pete in Cycle Week dirt track racing, incl udi ng the G rand Nation al short track added to the week for '89. Carr shared h is thoughts with us on several subjects, including the addition of a Grand National dirt track race to the Daytona schedu le, the upcom ing battle for th e 1989 Grand National Ch ampion ship, teammate Park er, new teammate Kevin Atherton, the departure from dirt track racing of Bubb a Shobert (and possibl y Honda), the 609cc Nati onal Series an d severa l other subjects. Are you pleased that a Grand National short track has been added to the Daytona schedule? I' m really happy to see it. I've alw ays hoped they would run a Na tional , in Dayton a for dirt trackers . That was the on ly thin g mis sin g from Cycle Week. You had a major Su per cross event, the ' biggest roa d race in America before the Lagu na Seca Grand Prix came along, and a big 250cc race. It was a big week for raci ng, but .dirt track has been the second-class racin g of Daytona week. I'm glad Camel has gotten involved in the whole week and brought in a short track Nati onal and Camel Challenge. On a narrow , slip pery race track, six guys goi ng for . 10 gra nd to win is go ing to be one of the best shows of the week, if not the year. ' . I There are guys I've talked to here on the West Coast who haven't been to Dayton a in a while. They're stoked to go there now. They know they'r e good short track races, and they know they've go t a chance to see some big nam es on , these sma ller race tracks. Sho rt tra ck racing is the type of event wh ere you don 't need a $20,000 bike to win a short track. You can get by with a $6000 mo torcycle and win a short track. I think you' ll see a lot more riders from across the country come down. It will pick up the rider en try cou nt for those races . With us co m in g into a ne w stadium, we're going to pack the house a nd it' s goi n~ to be a gr ea t sho w. Hopefully it WIll be die talk of the week. Do you have any special goals for the 1989 season? The Grand Nationa l Ch ampion ship is the th in g I'm goi ng to be concentrating on hard est. I started racing in 1973, wh en I was six. I can rememb er hanging out of the trees at turns on e and two at San Jose, just watching the gu ys go ro und and round. I jum ped the fences, sn uck into the pits , the who le bit. I was Just dreaming of the da y when I wou ld get the cha nce to do this, and now I'm doi ng it. I wa n t to be the best at it. It's been a goa l of mine for so ma ny years. I want to go out and conq uer di rt track. When I feel comforta ble tha t I've done that , I might go on to some thi ng else. . Are there any changes in your Grand National program for 1989? Not really. I have Kenny T olbert tuni ng for me again. The only difference is this year we' re mo re prepared at the beginnin g of the year than we were las t year. We've known all winter that we're goi ng to be worki ng together . th is year. Last year we decide d in the middle of February to work toget her. So we're already three of four months ahead of sched ule as far as being prepared. It's the same program. All my spo nso rs are the same. Same bikes, sam e guys working. H opefully, th is year we'll be more p repared and that will pay off. With Bubba Shobert going to Europe to race in the 500cc World Championship Road Race Series, a lot of people feel you're ,one of a handful of riders who can take the Grand National Champion. ship awa y from Scott Parker. Is '89 your year? I' m go ing into '89 with the idea that this is my year . It 's my turn to make my mark. I've made a mark in racing to an extent, but I've al ways dreamed of being the Grand National Dirt Track Champion. I feel like th is year is my best opportunity to go out and fulf ill the dream I've had for so man y years. Scotty Parker 's a great motor cycle racer . He work ed hard for the championship. I kno w it' s not going to be easy for me. Scotty worked 10 years to get his number one p late. I'm pretty sure he doesn 't want to give it up so soo n. He's goi ng to be real tou gh. I know he's going -to be working hard over the winter, 'just lik e I have and just like the other gu ys. I don 't thi n k I' m his only threat. Dan Ingram, with the opportumty he got last year to rid e for Bubba aboard some good Hondas, improved a whole bunch. I've always thought he was the mo st under- rated rider out there. I was just waiung for him to get a good motorcycle becaus e I knew he'd go out and be tough to com pete with. He proved that last year. This year, with having half a year under his beIt and those good Hondas, he 's going to go out and shake some heads. He 'll be real tough for the whole season. For wha t I understand there's go ing to be a Dan In gram /Steve Morehead team (wit h form er Shob ert tuner Skip Eaken turning the wrenches). That's go ing to be a good privateer program. 1£ they 're riding Bubb a' s factory bikes from last year, you know they have the eq uip ment. It's up to the riders. I'm pretty sure they 're · going to be tough. Steve Morehead will be tough if he gets used to the Hondas and rid es them as well as he does the H arleys . . Steve surprised a lot ofpeople in 1988. He turned my head , I didn't know he still had that in him. Steve's a racer. He 's the type of guy, just like myself, that if there 's a race on Christmas Sunday he's goin g to be racing. He 's always been a tough competitor. H e had some real good eq uipment last year. He had Hank (Scott) do hi s half mile stuff. He had a good run with Mert Lawwill at San Jos e. He had the program and it worked out for him. It 's neat to see a guy of 32 go ou t there and whip us young whippersnappers - every now .and then . What do you think it will take to beat Scott Pa rker? One 'th ing that always happens with the champion is that he's consistent . Last year, ori the mile even ts, he and Bubba finished either first or second ' in every mile, with the exception of San Jos e. That in itself shows you that the mil e tra cks are real important. Last year, I think he had 121 points (on the miles) and I had 49 - he did a number on me on the miles. We're going to have to mak e · up some ground on the mile tracks. He had a good horserunning last year : His motorcycle seemed to be strong at every race. We had some troubles alon g the way, problem s with keepi ng the motorcycle running. We've had a coup le of freak deals happen to us. I'v e been kind of plagued with that the last couple of years. But Kenny's been working hard all winter and we' re con fident that we have a motor cycle tha t will be competitive week in an d week out. What I can 't make up on the mil es, · I feel I can make up on the half mil es, TTs and short tracks. We've got one sho rt track and one TT thi s year. That's a nice addition for me. Scotty, I think, hasn't ridden a sho rt track since H ou ston , thr ee years ago. As far as the little tracks are con cern ed , I h ave so me what of an advantage over Scott, but he's go t a big advantage on me on the miles. He's raced miles 10 years. He has a lot of experience running up fro nt. I don 't have alot of expe rie nce running up front. I've won a mile, and I've been in victory circl e a few tim es; but I haven 't learn ed to win a dogfigh t on a mil e lik e he and Bubba have. T ha t's somethi ng that , hopefull y, this year I will acq uire. When there are three of four riders coming off tum four on the last lap, you have to know enctly what to do. Yeah , and the y've been there before. They kn ow wh at to do. I haven 't been able to win a close dogfight on a mi le. The · mi le I won was by a straightaway. It was a no-contest situation. I need to ga in more experience with using strategy to run the last five laps of a mile. Those are the most important laps. It 's something I'm looking to learn. What kind of person is Scott Parker? I'm not real close .to Scott Parker. We get along good at the race tracks . We've never had a situation where we were mad at each other because one cut the other off, or on e bumped the other. I've played golf with him a few times. H e'sa fun-loving guy. I've never really seen him mad abo ut anything. He 's got a good positive attitude about his racing. He 's a good guy on the track and off. Those are qualities you look for in a cham pion. What do you think of Harley-Davidson signing Kevin Atherton? I think it's a great addition to the team. He's a young, hard-charging racer and he' s a good kid to be around, a lot of fun to be aro u nd. He and I have been pretty good buddies over the last couple . of years. Even before he turned I?ro, when I was hanging around with hIS broth17

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