Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

There's another name coming in here real fast , that of Russ Peterson, M.D. Rob ert Lawson and I did a lo t o f talking, because sudde nly, there he was, helping J ay into a bu siness a nd becoming his manager. " Jay and I got a long fin e ri ght from th e beginning, sa id Law son. " You kn ow how he is, he makes everyo ne feel co mfortable a ro u nd him. We seemed to have a lot in com mon, fishing a nd boats and I used to race Co rvettes years ago. We a ll starte d having regular famil y ~ coo ko u ts eac h week with what we CX":I ca ugh t. I hadn 't kn own him long but >-- it felt easy talking to him , a nd I l-; became one of his fans. It seemed to . ro me th at someone wh o'd done as ::l much for hi s sport for so many years C as he had sho uld be in a bett er ro positi on fin ancially than he seeme d ~ to be. We talked some more. I have . a p rocess using ti tanium nitride, a hardened lubricant u sed in the cu tt ing tool industr y to reduce wear and tear a nd th e ultima te cost factor. Co sm eti call y it lo oks beautiful. Like a go ld watch and it never wears off. I kn ew I had some thing but th e ca r mak ers weren't interested because o f th eir huge after-sa le market. Still, I felt th e pub lic would demand it if they saw it - but how to get it o u t th ere? My head gears were working and it sort o f fell in to pl ace. Knowing th at J ay was serio us abo u t retiring at season's end and he had no real pl ans for 1990 - it would be to our mutual ben efit if I set him up in bu siness, So Sprin ger Gold Products was born. We have a 50-50 par tn ership. Ear ly stages yet but a ll th e testin g and stuff is done and no w we have to ma rke t. Aside fro m the titani u m nitride process, we'll be o fferi ng ot he r products as we go a lo ng. " I sti ll had n 't seen J ay race so She lly Wilkin son, m y secretary a nd th e pe rso n who in troduced me to J ay in th e first p lace, went down to Lou isville with he and Debbie a nd hi s folks. It rained like hell and every t h i n~ was dela yed for hours. For a while we were In th e ga rage ar ea talkin g and then I noti ced Jay was mi ssing but didn 't think too much abo u t it. But lat er Debbi e came ba ck in and said, ' Well , Jay's sick.' I went lookin g for him thinking I cou ld help or so mething. I'll tell you, it's just pl ain scary and viol entl y upsetting to wat ch . I' ve never, ever see n a nyo ne th a t ill a n d I felt abso lu tely hel pl ess to do any th ing to hel p m y friend, except to admi re h is streng th in how he's carried on in h i s p ro fessi on wi th t ha t," said La wso n. " A week or so later I was o u t boa tin g wi th a no ther fri end, Russ Peterson, a sports medicine doctor I ' ve kn ow as a budd y fo r years . .. and whose dad used to race agai nst Markel years before . .. and I got to tell ing him abou t J ay. Now Ru ss has wor ked wi th the Det roi t Lions and ot he rs and he said it was n't tension. So meti mes it's o nly a nervo us stomach a nd peo pl e will th row up befor e a n event and that's it bu t not a lways. He o ffered to see Ja y professio na lly if J ay chose to see him . J ay did." T o sho rte n up t he seq ue nce, Springer go t vio lently ill aga in just befor e leaving for th e next race a nd the p rescription from Doctor Peterson didn 't help. The doctor pl opped him in th e Lapeer hospital with a n IV running. In a sho rt matter o f hours in stead of the usual day s J a y was si tting up saying he wanted o u t o f th ere, he had a race to go to. Debbi e Springsteen wasn 't so su re, she' d lived for yea rs with th is a nd a lt hough he'd never recovered thi s quickl y befor e, she d idn 't want h im o u t of bed. Dr. Peterson said, "Well, 50 he kn ows how he feels. If he wants to go racing a nd th inks he's well eno ug h to do it, I'll release him." They kn ew the bik es wou ld be a t the track because a p ho ne call to Conway had confir med it. No w it was a mad da sh to ca tch the pl an e. Deb b ie fl ed to ta ke Ama nda to grand ma's house a nd packed clothes whil e Jay struggled to get dressed. A nurse came a nd as ked for an autograph fo r her little boy. In spite of a ll th a t was goi ng on, J ay . obliged. Lawson said, " I and had gained five seco nds o n him. The crowd was going nuts. J ay got o ff hi s bik e as th e crew ga thered arou nd, looked at Lawson a nd sa id, " Le t's go get wet." Parker was deli ghted as anyone to see Sp ringsteen up on th e pl atform wit h him and had his a rm arou nd his sho ulders the wh ol e uproarious time. Sp ri nger was back. Season's end was near and true to form Sp rings teen was conce ntra ting on the next race, but Robert Lawson Daytona Battle of the Twins winner. 1983. sudden ly realized how m uch more I had to learn abo u t J ay. There was none of th at , 'I'll catch you lat er. I'm in a hurry.' He sat and wrote a pe rso na l one o ut. I th ought I was loo kin g a t the rea l live Ba tman." J a y didn ' t beco me ill the rest of th e season a nd he raced his heart o u t. He follo wed u p with Dr. Peterson . who ha d ru n tests and done some serio us thinkin g a nd came up wi th three si m p le medi cines that do not a ffect J ay's performance. We'll keep ex pla nation as simple as possibl e. There is some thing in J ay's physical mak eup that can act up in his sleep pattern, the last three hours o f sleep and th e period o f aw ak ening. Wh at h e takes is a sto mach settler and it a lso break s up hi s sleep ing brain wave pattern s. " All th ese years! I sti ll felt th at I cou ldn 't be th e on ly one with thi s and I did everyth ing every o the r doctor to ld me to do," said Sp ri ngstee n . " I' d feel p rett y good inbetw een but I never got stro ng aga in. Not real strong in -between races lik e I a lways did. I do no w. I feel just , like I used to. Real strong." Lawson a lso has a theor y that is probably mor e fact tha n theo ry. For the first time J ay came up to a doctor w ho kn ew sports medicine and ' a th letes. He too k J a y for what he is, a professiona l motorcycle racer, no t so meone who "plays wit h bikes" the way a lot o f p hysicians view racers. Peterson look ed at him as someone ill whose ill ness was interfering wi th his profession, a nd figured out wha t was needed to a llow him to co nti nue wi th that chosen profession. J ay bein g J a y could n' t be drawn in to even agreei ng that if anyone had figured this ou t years ago a nd a lso given hi m th e psychologica l su p po rt, he'd have the record book in suc h disarray th at no one wo u ld ever best him or catch h im . The seaso n co nti n ue d. At Sa n J ose, Rob ert Lawson look ed a t h im o n th e sta rt ing line a nd said, " You Know, I haven 't ha d an y cham pagne o n me yet." Sprin ger look ed h im dead straight in the eye and sai d, " Let's go do it. " Do it he did. Out of turn one a nd in th e pack was Springer in full flight. By the ii me th e chec kered flag came down he was two and a half seco nds beh ind Parker was n' t. H e a p p roac he d Harl eyDavidson abo u t 1990 a nd the fact tha t no w J a y was health y a nd not really wa rning to quit. How did the facto ry feel now ? No t everyo ne was happ y at Ha rleyDa vidson. As in a ny organiza tio n, some u p pe r man a gem ent people still would h a ve liked to hav e seen Springer go away. In spite of a ll h is loyalty to the brand and a ll th e rest of it , in cludin g th e fact that th ey had helped him th rough a ll th e down years. But there was a lo t of balking go ing o n. H ow did Jay feel abo u t a ll thi s a t the tim e? "I've always been a Harley rider. Hell, if th ey hadn 't helped me I'd do it myself if I had to. I love it o u t th ere and I'm stro ng ag a in. You kn ow, no o ne has ever co me back after so me bad years and won th e Number One again." You ca n hear it' in his voi ce . ..·a ll things a re possibl e. If it happen s we ca n see a Rob ert Red ford mov ie now , a racing version o f " T he N atural. " We digress. The infig hti ng go t p retty ser io us. To give credi t whe re cred it is du e, Bob Co nway go t beh ind J ay. T h in k about Harley's position here. H ere they are with a very fine rider, Sco tt Parker with his seco nd Nu m ber One p la te, the nu mb er two rider Chris Carr, an d you ng co ntender Kevin Atherton wh o is hoping for a full spo nsorsh ip. a nd her e is a now healthy and sti ll da m n fast Sp ringsteen , who wanted to go o ut th ere again. Poor o ld upper man agem ent, heh , heh. They were now wo rrying about bad p ress. Wh at is bad press? T h is art icle was in the wo rks, ma ny people in racing knew it bu t m y taking a im a t Harley (to keep th is light) hadn 't occ u rred since m y su p po rt of the BSA Wrecking Crew! Bu t truth is truth , no t bad p ress. Ei the r Milwauk ee wou ld su p po rt J a y o r they wou ldn 't, and if th ey didn 't, just think of all those Harl ey riders a nd race fans wh o had su pported J a y a ll th ese years. So we j ust wai ted. So me a t th e factor y were not happy ove r deali ng with a race manager. " Is th is wh at J ay wallis or is it what yo u wa n t?" o ne exec u tive asked Lawson . " How much are you mak ing off him in this?" Bob Lawson 's answer surp rise th em. H e was doing it because o f hi friendship for Jay and how he fel abo u t him. It 's a fact that Lawsor is quite a bit o ut of pock et for al the travelin g he. did to be with Ja . a nd to start the new contracts ro lli n for 1990. J ay adm its with no prod ding that Lawso n has helped in lot o f ways, incl ud ing cu tting deal that he kn ew he himself co uld n ' have been a ble to genera te himself. Well , H arley came th rough, not a much as ho ped but detai ls o f th a have been a lrea dy published. The next big news was Jay Spring steen going road raci ng with T ea Del Arno-Yoshimura. If that shoe hi s dirt fan s, it sho u ldn 't, Jay wa o u t on road circu its in th e '70s. H did fin e and, o ld phot os show gr ea racing form . The Aermacchi-bas ra cers he .was on weren't an ythine to ge t excited abo u t. He also cause a stir, a lbeit a bri ef but nonetheles winning one in Battle of th e Twin competiti on more recentl y. Says Bill Bartel s, " I don 't th ink Jay knows how good.he is on pav em ent. I'v e seen him , a ll he needs is th equipment and I think he 's gain to surprise a lot o f people." Jay's th ou ghts? " I like racing on pavement. You don't get a ll that dirt thrown in you r face. Mayl e I should have reall y made th e cI ange five years ago but I wasn 't r eall y well en ough. I'll have some go xl stuff to ride next year a nd bo y, d o you get a lot of sea t tim e and that I lik e!" Th ere are some in TOdd racing circles wh o must wonder ",hat a ll the fuss abo u t Sp ri ngs teen is. Especially if th ey are goi ng to be competing agai nst him a nd th ere is a little envy ou t th ere too. Wh en he went to Daytona in 1987, some pa veme nt type s mad e fun beh ind h is back o f his " Ya rna-dog.' In 1989 th e wags sta rted aga in with hi s "do nkey." Well , th e o ld bik e master a nd hi s donkey had th eir a ttention wh en the weekend was over a t Da ytona. The so -called donkey was a 1986 Suzuki GSXR 750 that Bartels just happened to have aro u nd. He brou ght the bik e to Jay at Albuquerque in the back o f hi s van. Of co urse the press noticed it but th ey didn 't reall y know what wa s g oing o n a l t ho u g h it was obvio us some thing was up. Advice from tuner Bill Werner. T ea m Yosh imura decided th ey would gi ve Springer so me help a nd see wh at he co uld do with it. He did plenty, a lthoug h he fell o nce - "Dirt tra ckers have to test the so ils" he says - and go t in a mixup by not seei ng the pa ce ca r a t th e right time. Still , he mad e th e fin ishers' ci rcle and a ll that had been wa tche d very caref ully. Suddenl y not o n ly Yoshimura was interested but o the rs too , making inquiries. The decis io n was made to go with Yoshimura . They are happy abou t it.

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