Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. ePREVIEW e • aun t eracers '~, 1991 Camel Pro Series By Jack Mangus ame and fortune comes in an instant. Creatness comes in longevity. Whoever first spoke or wrote those words, was probably not thinking of motorcycle racing, particu lar ly dirt track racing. In the wor ld of dirt track racing, fame can be fleeting and more ofte n th an not fort une doesn ' t acco mpa ny it. Greatness? A ha ndfu l of dirt track racers have reached that exa lted level. But it didn 't necessarily ta ke them a len gthy period of tim e. Longevity for a golfer means decades of pl ayin g, for a baseball player a decade of playing is required before one is consi dered for that sport 's Hall of Fam e, but for a football pl ayer less than 10 years o f part icipation is oftimes considered a career. And the same hol ds true in the highly competitive world of d irt track racing. An advertise ment p laced by Anheuser-Bu sch in a progra m that was distributed at a recent Bob Costashosted "roast" of baseball great Stan Musi al, carried the follow in g wo rds unde r an artist's rend ering of The Man: " Some men achieve greatness. Few become a legend." Unl ike " modem era" legends like Dick Man n, Bart Markel and Gary F l. Scott Parker #1 Age: 29 Hometown: Swartz Creek, Michigan he combi nation of Scott Park er, master tuner Bill Wern er and inhou se H arl ey-Davidson backin g has turned the champ' s effort into a j uggernau t. Ch allenged fiercely by Ch ris Ca rr last year, Parker never flin ched. And there's no reason he'll flin ch th is year. He's always relaxed and full of the confidence tha t separates champions fro m challengers. He's nea rly unbeatable on mile ovals and J ay Sp rings teen and Steve Morehead are the on ly active riders who have logged more National half mile victories. He has no wea knesses and barring physical injury - wi th Wern er spinni ng the wre nches you can forget about mechanical probl em s - he'll win h is record-tiein g fourth straight titIe. T 2. Chris Carr #20 Age: 23 Hometown: Manteca, California 22 hris Carr says he's not a patient man, yet patience might be the virtue he 'll have to again display C Nixon, three of the handful of dirt track legend s of th e " modern era, " Joe Leonard, Carroll Resweber and Kenn y Roberts, spent relativ ely short periods of time competing in the high ly competi tive Gran d National Championshi p Series. But reign ing Camel Pro Series champ Scott Parker is enteri ng his 13th year on the circu it. He achieved "greatness" in the last three years an d de~nding on who you' re talking to , he is either already a legend or is on the verge of becoming one. In winning three straigh t titles, Park er has equalled a handful of grea t racers and now he has h is eyes set on tiein g the legendary Resweber, who as the 1991 seaso n prepares 10 get underway is the only rider 10 have ,won four Grand Na tio na l Cha mpion sh ip titles. Parker is also closing in on the alltime win recor d set by another legend, the sti ll active J ay Sp ringsteen. More on th at lat er. We've pulled out our cloudy crysta l ball and used it to forecas t wha t we feel th e top 10 riders (based on the 1990 Camel Pro Series point sta ndings) and a few other racers will do in the 1991 Ca mel Pro Series. Let's star t at the top. at th e end of the year. H e'll be ent eri ng h is se ve n th year o n the Camel Pro Series circu it and he 'must keep in mi nd th e fact that it took the man who sta nds betw een h im a nd th e Num be r One pl ate H a rl eyDavidson teammate Scott Park er - 10 years 10 first win it. Like Parker, Carr has no weaknesses. His mech anic, Kenn y T olbert, provided him with bulletproof eq u ipment and Carr's only DNF of th e year was th e result of a cracked oil tank. That he'll wi n the sole TT on the schedule is a give n. Carr owns Peo ria - period. But last year Park er finished righ t behi nd h im ; th e ch am p 's n o slo uc h at Peoria. Li ke Parker, Carr never fini shed lower than th ird in the five ha lf mi le events of last seaso n and they each won one. On the mi le ova ls the edge goes to Parker, and Carr all but concedes that. But he doesn' t concede the title. Li ke last year, he'll be right there all season , bu t also like last year, we feel he'll come up short an d be forced to sett le for second. 3. Ronnie Jones #16 Age: 30 Hometown: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma onn ie J on es had a frus trati ng year in 1990. Most riders would be pleased with a privateer effort th at placed th em third at season 's end, but not J ones. No matter wha t he did, he knew by mid-season that third wa s the best h e could accompl ish , both on the track and in th e point sta nd ings. He sip ped the victor's cham - R p agne once in 1990, at th e fall Ascot Half Mile. Aside from a short track win at H ouston and a TT victory at Sa n ta Fe in 1980, h is four other Na tional wins hav e come on half mile trac ks. H e'll return to th e circui t on th e G arvis Ra cing H onda 'RS750 an d tu rn in double du ty wh en he promo tes th e Oklahoma City Na tional H alf Mile in July. Seeing as h ow he gives away, accordi ng to Scott Park er , two or three horsepower on th e mile ovals, the pop u la r rider will have to fin d those few el usive ponies an d a lso perform at pea k level in each of the eight half mil e Na tio na ls if he ho pes to be ab le to mou nt any type o f cha llenge to Parker or Ca rr. The increase of h alf mi le events whe re rider effort can mak e up for a lack of hor sepower will mak e th e 1991 Ca mel Pro Seri es more interest ing, but will also o pe n th e door to o ther privat eer s who would like nothing bett er th an to do wh at J on es did at th e end of th e year . And that 's pi ck up th e third place $20,000 p oint fund chec k from Camel. We see a top five fin ish by J ones , but he'll have to scramb le hard to fin ish in the top three. Our crys ta l ball says fourth. 4. Jay Springsteen #9 Age: 33 Hometown: Lapeer, Michigan he legend ro ll s on . Jay Springsteen's best season since 1983 wa s th e result of one thi ng - he remained healthy. H e missed o n ly th e Albuquerque Mil e as a result of th e deca de- lo ng sto mach a ilme nt th at h a s redu ced him from bein g an unbeatable racer to on e who rel ies on a wealth of experience to place high. While he stood on th e victory ro strum just once last year - after a third p lace fin ish a t the a u tu m n Sp ringfield Mil e - he turned in 10 top five performances in th e 15-race series. Co mpeting as a privat eer backed by Los Angeles-area H arl ey deal er Bill Bartels, Springsteen found him self com ing up sho rt in th e horsep ow er departmen t - sho rt to the point tha t he was left beh in d at th e fi n ish line o n mile ovals more tha n o nce after havi ng been in the mids t of a dra ftin g pack o f ri ders wh o a ll had a shot at the wi n. Although no one expects h im to ride with the abandon he did a deca de ago, age hasn 't slowed down the th ree-t im e Grand Natio na l Champion a ll th at much - h e fi n ished fi fth in the demanding Peo ria TT, but horsepower, or rath er the lack of it, has relegated him to the ro le o f chaser rather th an lead er . H e'll have trouble fin ishing as h igh this year. We see h im slip pi ng 10 sixth. T , a pri vateer in th e strictest sense of the word - r iding hi s own Harley XR 750, Steve Morehead had one of the most financially rewarding years of his long - 17 years long - Grand National Championship career. Contra cting out engine work to Hank Scott pa id off and Morehead won two Nat ional s - both on half m ile ovals. His victory a t th e Hagerstown Half 'Mile was swee ted by a win in the Ca me l Ch allen ge ra ce. The double ena bled Moreh ead to deposit over $20, 000 in the ba n k on Monday mo rning. He ra n ks th ird i n career ha lf mil e wi ns, o n ly J ay Springsteen wi th 18 an d Bart Markel with 15 have more tha n th e Findlay Flyer 's 13. Moreh ea d ' s smi li n g over th e increased a mo u nt of half mile oval s and he's a lso smi ling over th e fact th at he's found a new maj or spo nsor in th e Shepard Ch emi cal Company o f C in cinnat i . H e 's also quite pumped ove r a recent trip to Spain wh ere he becam e EI Rey (T he King) wh en he int ro d uced dirt track racing to the Spaniards in a winning way . We predi ct he'll fin ish the season in third , behind Parker and Carr. 6. Dan Ingram #31 Age: 26 Hometown: Clermont, Indiana fter finishin g a ca reer- high third in 1989, Dan Ingram slipped to sixth in 1990. After getting his season underway on th e highest of notes by win ni ng the openin g round, the Daytona Sh ort T rack, and then fin ish ing third in th e Sacramento Mile, In gram con tin ued with mixed succ ess o n H ondas ou t of th e Mike • Sponselle r/ Skip Eak en stable. But just past th e mid-point of th e season In gram and tuner Eaken had a falling o u t and In gram left th e team. The rest o f hi s seaso n was spe nt riding Men Lawwill -prepared Gardner/. Lawwill H arleys and hi s best finish do wn th e stretch was his first ride on th e Lawwill XR7 50, a seventh at his hometown even t, th e Indianapolis Mil e a t th e end of Au gust. Ingram was tied fo r thir d i n the point sta ndings going into th e Indy Mil e, but ma de the short drive home to Clermont in fourth pl ace. For all practical p urposes, his season was over. In gra m was still seeking a rid fo r th e '91 season as we wrot e this. There's a chance he'll rid e a HarleyDa vid son XR7 50 that bel ongs to. Scott Park er (one th a t th e cham p put together for some ice racing th is ' wi n ter ), bu t if that or another soun d ride does n't ma terialize, Ingram will face a lean year. As th ings stand now. 'we ca n' t see hi m rep eatirig his top 10 finish of last year. A 5, Steve Morehead 7. Rodney Farris #42 #92 Age: 35 Hometown: findlay, Ohio Age: 27 Hometown: Cockeysville, Maryland T h e "old man " of th e ci rcu it finished the 1990 season with a smile on his face. Operating as od ney Farris finished the I98~ season in seventh, the '89 season in ninth, and then bounced back R

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