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/127536
GINTERVIEW Tim FrazieI e By Timothy H all ast year, Tim Frazier, a 2i·year· old rider from rural Lancaster, Ohio, set the professional hil/climbingcommunity onitsear by becoming the first rider to win every round of theAMA National Championship Hil/climb Series, In a sport where/irst and last place are often separated by less than acouple of seconds, thiswas a truly remarkable feat, The unprecedented perfonnance by Frazier earned him the 540cc class title for the third time, Frazier, a machinist b~ trade, is the president of the recentlyincorporated Professiorwl Hil/climb Association, a rider's association that helps theAMA- L 8 fonnula te rules andworks to promote thesport ofhil/climbing. The association's theme for the coming season is "Hil/climbing isgoing straight uP!" Nobody goes straight up better than Tim Frazier, We recently . had theopportunity to sit down with the champ andtalk about his sport. H ow did y~u becom e in volv ed in hilldimbing? My dad was in to mo tor cycling, a nd he used to be a profession al hillclim ber up to abo u t 19i2, a nd (he ) sta rted me ridi ng wh en I was a bou t four on mini bikes. An d th en wh en I go t arou nd seven or eigh t, ab out the rim e whe n he qui t racing, he used to take me o u t every weeken d. We'd go rid in g o u t in Wayne Na tional Forest, a nd just go trai l rid in g everywhere. When I was 12. he started me motocrossi ng in the 80cc class. We motocrossed until 1983. After high school, he said it was tim e to sta rt doi ng for myself , af ter all these yea rs of him helping me. I did it (mo tocross) fo r a little bit lo nger. bu t then I cou ldn' t afford to work a jo b a nd do it rig h t, so I had to find a not her form of mo torcy cle raci ng tha t I co uld affo rd , that co uld pay for itself. And motocross is a n awfu l lot o f work , a lo t o f ra cing, and few peopl e can say th a t th eir racing actually pays for itself and gives th em extra mo ney. So I turned to hi llcl imb in g with th e help of Earl Bo wlby; he tal ked me into it . I haven ' t regr etted it one bit. I' ve been havi ng a good time. Motocro ss ta kes a fu ll -tim e com mi tme nt , j ust like hillclimb ing, but mo tocross has thou sands of riders after so many sp onsorship s and on ly so mu ch to go arou nd . T her e's a lot of riders wh o were like myself, who did okay, b ut weren ' t th e fastest o nes th ere, a nd co uld n' t afford to keep it up. Righ t no w, th ere are a bo u t 56 li cen sed professio na l hillclimbers a nd th e average hillcl imb event has abo ut 40 riders. It 's more o f a unique sport. 'Yo u have to be ab le to bu ild th e bik e a nd th en to be able to ride it. Proba bly abo u t i 5% o f hill cli m bi ng is th e bi ke and th e rest of it is th e rid er a nd luck. And you have to have lu ck go ing yo ur wa y to get a good rid e in . You don't get to practi ce o n the hill , so yo u ha ve to hope your first rid e up is good. How do yo u practice hilldimbing? I don 't practi ce o n th e bike. T he fuel is too expensi ve (ni tro -methane) and it 's too mu ch wear o n th e bik e. The p ra cti ce I get is from trail riding and rid in g with m y fri ends. A lot o f m y ex perience came from m ot ocross a nd ridi ng in har e scra m bles a nd end uros. I di d it so mu ch that it mad e me a better rider. I' ve never go ne down, h ill cl im b in g . n ever n ot mad e th e hill o r crashed in six years. I don' t thin k you' ll find anyon e else ou t there wh o can say th at. Luck went my way. I had my share o f injuri es i n m otocross. I broke m y co lla rbone and wri st a nd assorted in juries th at ca me with mot ocross. \ Vho were so me of yo u r in flue nces , a nd how di d they help you make the transiti on into hilldim bi ng? I qu it mot ocross a nd bo ug h t a B5A street bike. I wa n ted it fo r a road bike just to ride arou nd . I was restorin g it. putt in g it ba ck to g eth er when Earl (Bow lby, o f h il lclimbin g fa me) ta lked me in to ma king it in to a h ill climber. Mo m a nd Dad were agains t it, bu t I did it a n yway. So wi th Earl 's hel p , a nd la ter m y dad ca me in a nd helped too , we built the bike. Five weeks la ter I got my pro li cense. When it co mes down to peo p le wh o hel p me with hillclimbing, Ea rl ga ve me ad vice of wh a t did a nd did n 't work before, a nd still does, a nd h is son G ary a n d m y dad buil d everyt h i ng a n d s ti ll d o toda y. Ga ry mai nly hel ps me get the engi nes ready and Dad bui lds the frame. Each h ill cli mber is a u niq ue bike that a person has bu ilt o n th eir ow n, bu ilt th e way th ey like it. It' s not like you can bu y a bik e o ff the sho wroo m floo r a nd go raci ng. A lot o f peopl e in the 540cc clas s are doing that bu t they sti ll need cha nges to be co m pe ti tive . T h ey need to len gthen the bike a nd most run o n a lco hol o r nitro mi x. . So a stock bike wo n't do very well ? Well. a new guy sta rt ing, like someone from motocro ss wanti ng to go p ro h illclimb, they co uld very well go on a single 500cc two-stro ke motocrosser. Bu t after they co n vert it, and do the wo rk, th ey'll p ro bab ly o n ly get abo u t 90 horsepower ou t or-it. On th e other ha nd . a fo ur -cyl in der or good running twi n wi ll be pushi ng 100-130 ho rsepower. The two-strok e wi ll be lighter. a nd handle better, and th at wi ll help on certa in hills that are more techn ical. But on open , fast hill s, whe re horse-