Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

off the edge o f th at cliff. I kn ow a lot of you p robabl y do thi s on th e street, but it's a lot safer on th e track. We've , got roo m to run off, we've go t a mbula nces wa iti ng for you , we've got everythi ng you need ." Reg him self had a ho rrendo us accident early in h is road racing career. H e said that a ll o f hi s riding before that pa rticu lar get-off was just a wild blur. "That's when I decided I was goi ng to be a di fferent rid er, a more classy type rider, that I was going to develop an atti tude of being mu ch smoothe r in my 'operation , a nd th is is wh a t I wa nt you to do toda y. I want you to try to become a' smooth operator o f thrott le, clutch a nd bra kes. Don 't start ga llo p ing in to this thing a nd beco m in g a racer in one easy lesso n - it doesn 't work. All the stuff you wi ll lea rn today you ca n digest for weeks a nd mont hs afterward an d work on it. Work on it everytime you ride. Becau se everything we do today is directly related to some th ing yo u ca n Clo out there on th e street." , Reg 's man ner, his brogue, in fact his en tire a p p roac h to smoo th ness a nd finesse in rid in g, stro ngly reminded me of ano ther cha mp ion racer I have don e several film s o n, including a recent video tape o n better dr iving - tripl e Wor ld Driving Champion J ackie Stewart . Stewart a nd Pridmore sha re basic pr ecep ts, th e most sig nificant being ho w to app ly mod ified race tra ck tech niques to mak e us better a nd safer perform er s o n the s tree i. Wh en I mentioned th is to Reg, he was q uite hon ored with the co mparison to th e t Scottis h d river. And what J ackie hasn't done, Reg has - Pridmore, a n croba tic pi lot 'in h is spa re time, has Flown the a ircra ft of hi s childhood reams, th e legendary RAF Spi tfire. At lunch b rea k, we all gat hered a t tart -Finish , pa id o u r chari ty's five ollars each , a nd rod e behi nd Marnola igai n. And ate the good Ra ndy Burgers, md bou gh t more fun gas. Tha t afterloon, I was first in line to take a ride m the back o f Pridmore's BMW - wha t eg' s racer/instructor son J ason likes o ca ll " Dad' s Laps of T error. " Nothing ill teach yo u th e Pridm o re wa y [ui cker than thi s o n-trac k, two-up xperie nce, believe me. It's a ride and J half. Said Reg, " Wha t I try to do is lot impress you with speed, but with h~ fact th at yo u G ill o pera te th e bik e ust as smoothly as I can. Wh en I ta ke m ybody on th e back, I never ride more han six-ten ths , it's not necessary to. I 'a nt to impress th em with th e smoothess an d possibly sho w th em wh ere the 'ine is more tha n a nything. T o me it's I joy to ride wh en th ings fall int o place, md that 's wha t J try to teach a t my choo l. I try to help people ma ke ridi ng rat mu ch mo re enjoyable and safer, a a t safer. And I always leave myself oo rn. Always. Sm oo thness is one of the a in reasons why I think anybod y can ecome a good rider . If you get th at ow n, that 's th e base o f th e tree as far s I'm concerned." Pridmore, for su re, nows the who le forest. "S moo th ," did Reg say?Try, let' s say, u toma tic tran sm ission! For three reat h taking laps it was like all o ne ea r. And lean a ngles I'd never even o nsider doi ng on my own. No t once I my 40 years of motor cyclin g have learned more abo ut th e art o f rid in g suc h thorou ghly swi ft time. Lookin g ver Reg 's shoulder fro m the passen ger a t of his K-bike was like wat ching a ideo; no bumps, no jolts, no bangs. ridmore is as smooth as a TV screen. Wh en we were packin g up to go o rne, a nd as th at po st-partum blue a te was alread y sta rting to step in , I eked down th e principal s a nd talked them abo u t the Save The Children eekend. Mamola was in the back of im Doyle's restored Cad limo, holding (Abo ve) Reg Pridmore's son Jason calls riding on the back of Pridmore's BMW "Dad's Laps of Terror," but the author found th e ride smooth enough to snap a photo. (Below, left to right) Pridmore and MamoIa joined forces to raise $20,000 for the Save The Children Foundation. The duo plan to make this an annual event. hi s arm . By then it was gi ving him harsh pain. " I thin k Reg ru ns a really good cla ss," Ra nd y said, " and thi s is only from somebody wh o has seen it from the ou tside, They're not too hard o n th e stude nts, but ye t the y're hard enoug h to wh ere nobody hurts themselves. Of cour se, it's up to th e individual how hard th ey ride. Also, I th ought it was goi ng to be thi s thing like you're go ing back to school, like sitt ing a nd listening all the tim e. I was always th e one who wanted P.E. instead of th e classroo m. But you gu ys, some of my friend s o u t there, they were up to 150 mil es here today, easily!" Will Randy a nd Reg repeat thi s Save T he Children cha rity da ys school next yea r? Mam ola 's eyes lit bri gh t a t th e prospect. " I th ink we' ll end up havin g them mak e th is an a nn ua l thing, sort of like m y H erm osa Beach Co medy & Magi c Club ni gh t and Save T he Chi ldren event s wh ere Eddi e a nd Kevin Sch wa nt z a nd Wayne G ardner a nd ot her friends have hel ped ' ou t. I'd like to do this 'schoo l even more o ften but, you kn ow, Reg need s to 'mak e mon ey like everybody. But to mak e this an annual th in g, ma ybe just after Laguna Seca, like now , I th in k tha t more a nd more people wi ll catch o n. And thi s sort of new s should be hittin g the paper on the o u tside world . Twenty th ou san d bu cks!" Randy laugh ed a nd waved hi s good rig h t arm im pe tuou sly. " Yo u kn ow wh at really cracks me u p?" Marn ola said, ru shing, do wnshi fting into a bo yish tone. "T hey did a baseba ll game w i th a ll th e to p musicia ns, a nd even a cou p le of mo vie peo p le, and they only ra ised abo u t 12 or 14 grand in one da y, a nd here we're motorcycl ists, we're not su pposed to be somebody who even cares!" Suddenl y, the emo tio na l frog was back a t Randy's th roa t. " Wha t I'm trying to do no w is pu t toge the r a n interna tio na l thi ng where I get o ff-roa d mo torcycles from a ll the manufactu rers and ta ke these bikes to Africa for carrying vaccin es out to the kids. Because I ha p pen [ 0 be very well know n in motorcycles," he went o n, smoother, calmer agai n, " I'm taking my name a nd popularity arou nd th e world to try to get bik es into these areas a nd get th e vaccine and medicine ou t to th e bu sh. I started raising money for Save T he Children because motorcycl ing has given me everythi ng I have, it's give n me a lifetim e o f freedom. And I think, j ust like me when I was playing drums and wh en I first sta rted rid ing a nd raci ng , every kid deserves a ch ance." Ra ndy's unsh a ven face flash ed a sm ile, or was it a wince o f pain? H is U.S. GP save arm (he's left-handed , to boo t) was a big bu m mer. He to uched hi s cast (so me kids who 'd dona ted the ir all o....'a nce had a lready sign ed it) and said, " I'm sorry I h u rt my wrist, no t on ly for you peo ple but for my career. I rea lly wanted to come o ut her e and ride with everybody, a nd I will be back to do it because Reg is a good guy a nd he wanted to co me here." And then Randy Marn o la was ouua there. H e had to get hims elf hea led and in shape and ready to race his G P Cagiva aga in. Reg Pridmore was in the big white haul er t ha t h e ca rr ies h is BMW su ppl ied ins tructo r-Se-de mo bik es in, everyt hing tied down and read y to move ou t, to head ho me to Ven tura, Ca liforni a, a nd on to his nex t CLAS S a t Willow Sp rings, then Mon terey once more before heading eas t with his school for the su mmer. H e was sm iling , ela ted wi th the way Lagu na Seen's two days o f class a nd charity activities had go ne. " I detected that even whe n it came down to the simple auction Ra ndy a nd I did tha t peo ple were way overbiddi ng o n item s obviously beca use they kn ew it was going to a good cause, a nd tha t was 'g ood for me," sai d Pridm ore. " Most o f us have feelin gs toward h u nger and po vert y, I know I have. I grew up near a n airfield in En gland duri ng the war whe n , beli eve it or not , th ere was no food. We had to grow and make o ur o wn . It was dif ficult, but nothing like what we are faced wi th in some of th ese cou ntries now. So I feel good abo u t th e whole th ing a nd look forward to the possib ili ty of do ing a no ther one nex t year. I like people to smile. But I feel that the benefi t for the children is first and forem ost right now." T hat ni gh t I sa t o ut a no th er spri ng rain an d go t o n the roa d a t daw n. Like Reg a nd Randy and the rest, I felt da mn good abou t life. Save T he Chi ldren had j ust had a no ther strong cas h boo st (Ma mo la o nce even ra ised $60,000 in a single day by passin g buckets through the Bri tish G P cro wd a t Donin gton Park), and motorcycli sts had don e it again! Randy p rob abl y said it best: " I wa nt to show everybody that motorcycl ists are not bu ms, but instead are respectable people." Yeah , we are . You bet! And I felt that in the bargain I had become a better rid er, too. La ter in the da y, crossing the mountains above Los Angeles, it rained harder th an I've ever seen. The roa d flat vani shed in cascades, then nothing sho rt of river rapids. My tires were aq uapla ni ng . T ru cks were jackknifing and crash ing u p ahead. And I reme mbered right there what Reg had sa id a bo u t sm oothness, about "being a smooth operator " - exactly what it took to get me safely off th at in tersta te skid pad an d under a dry overpass. And I could still see Ra ndy in the classroom with hi s dog Suki, and Reg up at the chalkboa rd, saying, " I want to expand your awareness. You 've got to be aw are of wh a t o the r peo p le ar e doi ng . Know wh ere your limi ts are, and do n' t fall off the edge o f th a t cliff." In his riding school, whe ther for charity or not , Reg Pr idm ore gives, w hen wa rr a n ted , tw o di sti n ctivel y differen t co mmenda tio ns. One is " Most Improved Rider of the Da y." I d idn' t get tha t one; it went deserved ly to Laura Ness, one of several women in the class. Nor , fortunately I mi ght add, did I or a nyone else in herit th e o ther plaq ue, Reggie's "S pecial H igh Inten sit y Tra ining " award, its acro ny m unmistakabl e. Randy rai sed hi s cast hi gh as he could and ca lled out wi th a giggle, " I've got enough of those!" ~ 0 O'l O'l ........ II

• Cover