Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW Dirt lracker Ricky Graham ; With· the start of the season a few months awa y, Grah am pl ans to spend alI of hi s time preparing for the new year. "To tell you the truth, I never did get really p umped up again after Skip' let me go, but I am now, and I plan to give it all I've got in '92," said Graham. But for . now, Graham has other things to deal with. A court date is yet to be set, but it looks as if he wilI have to serve at least 17 days of wo rk alternative community service and , possibly enter a re ha bilitation program. " I know that dri nking has been a problem, it 's caused so much damage," adm itted Graham. " Instead of dealing with my probl ems, I would just have a few drinks and forget about them . " I' ve made a few mistakes, but unl ike everyone else, I 'm in th e spotlight, so I gu ess I have to be more careful ," he added. - " I can 't forg etihe past, I can only learn from it. I've been sober for quite som e time now , and it feels great.J'm not saying that I'll never drink again, but what I can say is tha t I'm not drinking no w, and I'm enjoy ing it. Instead of hi tting the bottle, I' ve been hitting th e bag , motocrossing and lifting weights. I feel like a kid again!" T outed as one of the most naturallytal ented ri ders a ro u nd, Graham realizes that he has been letti ng h is talents go to waste. " I want to give racing one more shot, thi s time with a clear mind," said Graham. " I know what I am capable of; if I didn 't thi nk that I could win , I wouldn't be racing. I'm not goi ng to be content if I'm not winnin g, I' m going to be in the hunt." " I'!Jl goin g to giveit my best, every week," he added. " And in the end, I know tha t I'II be sati sfied with what I've done." . With each ne w year comes a ,new ba tch of resolution s. This year, Gra ham 's resolution is to keep a straigh t head and attack the Camel Pro Series with the same in tensity that carried him to two Grand National Championships and 25 career National wins. And if he sticks to hi s word, few doubt that he'll deliver. m Graham an d fian cee, Leeza Foreman, ha ve spent the last few years remodelin g their northern California home. 46 field," by posting his seventh-career win at the track. "All these years, I knew that I stilI had it in me to win ," Graham said. "A nd I think everyone else knew that when I get serious I'm a legitimate threat , and that I hadn't been hitting the races whole-heartedly." Graham carried that momentum with him to the Louisville Half Mile, where he qualified Second-fastest, ~ h is heat , and' won tIiel17,500 Camel Challenge, Only a slip off. th e groove kept him off the podium in th e ma in even t. " I was so fired up, I was more pumped up than I had been in years!" Graham recalIed with a sm ile. " It was almost too good to be true." U nfortu n a te ly , th in gs w ere too good. The folIowing weekend, Grah am re tu rned to Cal ifornia a n d attended Shobert's bachelor party/golf tournamen t. Knowing that he was on " pi ns and needl es," Graham had a strange feeling earlier in the day. That st range feeling may have been a prelude to hi s later arrest. " I did have a weird feeling about go ing, but I went anyway, " sa id Graham. " It wasn't like a drunken night on the town, though, it was 2:30 in the aftern oon (when he was arrested for driving under the influence) and I wasn't drinking heavily. I didn't calI Skip (Eaken ) to telI him what had happened , I figured that I'd wait and tell him in person at Lima the next weekend. I didn't want it to affect things, my head was stilI clear and we were on a roll. " But things did not go as planned. Word reached Eaken, and he fired Graham. " Ski p just called and sai d, ' It 's over,' " said Graham. "When we sat If things go as planned, Graham expects to stand on the high step of the podium many times in 1992. And what ranch would be complete without a cow? "She's gonna be our Christmas dinner," joked Graham."We ' had to tic her up because 'she kept running away." in th e bam and talked, he said that I cou ldn' t drink an ymore. I gu ess I took it the wrong way, obviously, he meant not at all. I can't blame h im ; I didn't uphold my part of th e deal and he couldn't let it slide twice. " I sai d to myself, 'WelI, if I have to end my career now, at least I won Sprin gfield and the Louisvill e Chal lenge ,' " Graham said. " I wasn 't realIy depressed, and I wasn 't goin g to let it get me down. It occurred to me th at in alI my years of racin g, I had never realIy seen th e country, so Leeza and I packed up and hit th e road." The couple spent tim e seeing the sigh ts in a large part of th e cou ntry before Graham was con tacted by Goad. " I didn 't realIy expect to get such a good offer so soon," said Graham. " I was realIy fortunate. " Graham and Goad spent th e rest of the season getting a feel for each other and managed to post a fourth-place fini sh at the Peoria TT before the end of th e season. Small mechanical problems plagued th e FIG Racing H onda RS750, but together, Graham and Goad met their goals . " We just set out to do good," said Graham. " And we did. N ext year, we're planning on winning."

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