Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127413
~ INTERVIEW Dirltracker Ricky Graham ! Fighting back 'w anew attitude ith By Donn Maeda F or 33- year-old Ricky Graham, the 1991 Camel Pro season brought some of the brightest and darkest moments of his career. While Graham broke a five-year dry spell with a win at the spring running of the Springfield Mile and backed it up with a Camel Challenge win at the Louisville Half Mile, controversy surrounded the former Team Honda star throughout most of the season. The future looked bright for the former two-time Grand National Champion as he ' began the season aboard the Eaken-Sponseller Racingbacked Hondas, but before the season was three races old, things began to sour. Graham missed the spring Pomona Half Mile after being detained by police the day before for having an open container of alcohol in his van. Following the incident Graham was released from the Eaken-Sponseller race team, but after some reconciliation between Skip Eaken and Graham the pair decided to continue racing. Two races later, Graham emerged victorious and scored his seventh Springfield Mile win, and two weeks after that, stood atop the podium at the Louisville Half Mile Camel Challenge. But only a few weeks later, Graham again found himself in trouble with the law. While returning home from former Honda-teammate Bubba Shobert's bachelor party/golf tournament, Graham was arrested for driving under the influence. When word of his arrest reached Eaken, Graham was fired - this time for good. . Graham spent the next few weeks touring the country in his motorhome and reflecting on what had happened. Only three days before the Oklahoma City Half Mile, Graham received a call from FIG Racing's Johnny Goad. He finished the season aboard Goad's Honda, posting five top-10 finishes and ending the season ninth in the point standings. Ninth overall is the best season finish that Graham has had since 1987, and he accomplished that despite .missing four rounds of the 16race senes, Since the season-ending Sacramento ' Mile , Graham has taken time to gather his thoughts and relax, and he's looking forward to the upcoming season with a new attitude. " I 'rn pumped up, I want to go racing," said Graham, as he hammered away at a punching bag in the barn of his Salinas, California, ranch. "For the past five years or so, I was kind of burned out and had the wrong attitude. For a while, racing 'was no longer fun, and I would only go to the tracks that I liked." After finishing the 1987 season fifth overall, Graham's schedule did indeed begin to shrink. In ~ 88, he competed in 10 races, seven in '89, and he only made six National appearances in 1990. " I had reached the point ' of being I started racing because it was fun, but it had become a job. The pressures of being number one when I was on top began to get to me," said Graham. " I didn't like the slippery half miles," he added. "Racing is like a b~d out. 44