Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ JohnnI O'Mara: O'Show or No Show in 1989? By Tom M ueller · j oh n nvO 'Mara IS , by motocross standards, getting old. H e'll turn 27 this season an d professional racing injuries - both physical and mental - are takin g their toll. O 'Mara is curre n tly ridi ng on the last year of a th ree-year $1 mi llion . " d I w it h S u zu ki ~n d It s a "ea ' 1, perform now or we II see you 26 later " situatio n for the 1983' 125cc National Ou tdoor and 1984 Su pe rcross Champion. Ridin g whi le inj u red throug h most o f 1987 a nd '88, O 'M ar a was releg ated to " has been " status by many , o ften posti ng no bett er tha n eigh th place fin ishes. But a t th e start of this season', after a mu ch needed rest during the off -season, O' Mara lit up wi th flashes of his former bril lia nce. He led 12 1aps of th e Anaheim Supercross o pe ner befor e hi s Suzuki 's steering assem bly snapped , a nd then ca me ba ck by leadi ng 14 laps befor e fin ishing an eventual seco nd in Sea u le. Supercross fan s h ad ren ewed hope that O 'Mara might be th e rider who co u ld br eak Rick johnson 's stra ng lehold on th e sport. j o h n n y O 'M ara , his career , and th e events whi ch have occurred to da te wea ve an interesti ng tal e. I first me t 'O ' Ma ra after he won the 1980 125cc U.S. G P in Ohio. O 'Mara was riding for desert ace an d en trep ren eur Al Baker , on th e H onda ada pt ed p rototyp e ca lled Mu gen , It ra ined forever tha t day, a nd J ohnn y's smacki ng-w hi te Mu gen o u tfi t was a lm ost instantly covered in an inc h of mud. Mid-O h io's winner 's circle produ ced one of the best phot os I ever broug h t bac k to the Cycle News o ffices: A worn out teenager; lo ng hair in clumps, feebly waving a small Am er.ican flag , with whi te tee th sho wing out of th e blacken ed surface that resembled a face. J ohnn y's firs t big win set the stage for a ride wi th Honda a nd hi s a ffilia tio n with Al Baker was a lso o f co n seq ue nce. It was Bak er w ho wo u ld advise O'Mar a th rou gh out h is pro career , he lping him with carefu lly pl aced rea l esta te in vestm ents tha t now have O 'M ara off the hook fin an ciall y for th e rest of hi s life. Wh il e O'Mara was gelli ng in th e groove at Honda , a major in fluen ce ca me h is way . R o g er De-Co s ter brough t David Bailey aboa rd Team H onda in 1982, a nd the che mis try betw een j ohnny and Dav id was there from the start. The two bonded th eir lifestyles. In th e fo ll owing years both would be trend-sell ers in th e rnoto cross industry , sell ing new sta nda rds for traini ng, preparation , rid in g sty les a n d th e phil osoph y of . win ni ng. Cha m pionships were cha llenged a nd conq uered by O 'M ara and Bai ley in the co ming seasons , bu t near the en d o f 1986, t im es d r as ti ca ll y changed. T ha t's wh ere th e elements o f this sto ry un fo ld, at th e Mot ocro ss des Na tio ns in Ita ly that year. An imos ity towards Rick j oh nson by O'Mara a nd Ba iley was beg inning to cli mb. Bo th felt that Ho nda was giv ing the new superstar preferentia l trea tme nt , and it wasn 't sitt ing wel l. "T here' s R ick joh nso n a nd then there's the rest o f Team Honda," qu ipped Ba i ley o ne m orning a t breakfast in Ital y in 1986, while j ohnson sat a few ta bles a way wit h H onda team man ager Dave Arn old and DeCoster. " Wha t Ri ck wants Rick gets, a nd we're left to pi ck up the pieces." Though Bai ley was unhappy, he was st ill u n de r contract. It was O' Mara wh o was u p in th e air, left hangi ng in la te seaso n wit ho u t a ride - or at least it seemed that way . "Man, don't ask me. Wh y don 't you as k Dave what Ho nda 's going to do ? What do ya say , Da ve?" sna p ped O'Mara a t dinner a few ni gh ts later. I had as ked O'Mara wha t was happening with hi s contract for 1987, a nd it was one o f the few times I had seen him show rea l emotion in the six years we'd known eac h o ther. As it was lat er di sclosed , O 'M ara had a lrea dy sig ned a deal wit h Suzuki, but his bitt erness was evi de nt. H onda was hom e, and O'Mara had been asked to close the . door on h is way o u t. " I just wanted to put it in ' their face that weekend," reca lled O ' Mara. " I had a lot o f development work in Honda 's motorcycles, an d tho ug h we had ups a nd downs , I felt I co uld finish my ca reer with th em . T hey sta rted to ta lk a bo u t cu tt ing m y sa lary, a nd th at was wh en I went to Suzuki. " I had to secure m y career with a three-year dea l, because they'r e almost impossible to get if you 're not winning like Ri ck j oh nso n. I proved th at I sti ll had it with m y rid e in the Motocross des Nations that year (O ' Mara pl aced third overa ll on a 125, and passed Dave Thorpe, who was riding a works 500 Ho nda ). Tha t' s th e way the sport is, you have to perform to get attent io n." " It was th e start of th e 'a ll we need is Rick' period at Ho nda," reca lled Ba iley. " joh nny was a tig h t number three rider, a lways there if R ick o r I fell , bu t tha t wasn 't good enoug h. If you d idn ' t have a cha m p io ns h ip, you were out. " Accord ing to Dav e Arn o ld a t Ho nda, it was n ' t j oh n n y's o n -trac k perfor mance, but ra the r hi s off-track obliga tio ns to H onda that decided the issue, " That was a time when the sales department a t Honda was much more activ e in ge tting our riders to do persona l appea ra nces. David and j ohnn y mi ssed an appearance th ey had sche d uled a t a Honda deal ership in Atlan ta (in 1985)," sa id Arnold. "T he appeara nce had been advert ised in advance, and the dealer h ad spen t almost 15,0 00. The dea lers hip ended up sui ng Honda for the d ifference, and Honda ha d to pay for it. "Managem ent was down o n all o f us, and johnny seemed to be making a n effort, but th en the y (Ba iley and O 'M ara ) both d id th e same thing, at th e same deal ersh ip , th e foll owing year. That was the stra w th at bro ke th e ca me l' s ba ck . The sa les rep loo ked bad , H onda looked bad , and it was then tha t Honda said the y wou ldn 't sto p O'Mara from raci ng o ut his contract , b ut that was it." " It was the guys we never saw, the o nes who signed o ur checks, wh o got upset," said O'Mara . " O ne o f th ose tim es I got dela yed a t the a irport, and was n ' t going to d ri ve a h u ndred mi les across a to wn I didn' t kn ow. It 's hard to acco m moda te everyo ne. It 's a seven day a week job. " I don't regr et wha t happened . If it 's that big of a dea l, th e guy who . owns the deal ership sho uld be a t the ai rport to tak e us 10 the sho p. We 'do n' t always have th e exact directions, so I blew it off. 1 think I blew off two of 'em tha t yea r. T hey wa nted us to dr ive 80 m iles across town to ' H ickville' whe n we had testin g to do th e same day . Wh ich one is most important? A rider 's first in stinct is to ride, beca use you need tha t confidence LO win. It was a lways a controversial issue, bu t they have the ir opinion a nd I have mi ne." After th e parting of ways , O 'Mara was rea dy to ge t on wit h racing, stra ddling a screa m ing RM, b ut one tragedy after another tore away at hi s sp irit. j ohnny's father was killed in a tra ffic acci dent. A lifelong frien d was ki lled in a sp ri nt car raci ng accide n t. j oh n n y too k a terr ible fall on his bi cycle, a nd shea red a lot of Johnny O 'M ara is rea chi ng f or the t op and has had sever al st rong rides in th e Ca me l Supe rcross Ser ies , including a cl ose second at Houston ,

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