Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ~ ~ INTERVIEW Steve Lucero By Scott Daloisio Photos by Jim Thorn ieve Lucero has a booming la ug h that echos arou nd th e pi t areas of southern California speedway trac ks. When he is arou nd, fans, fellow rid ers a nd officia ls know it. T he boi stero us rider mak es a lot o f noise and says exact ly wh at is o n h is m in d whe ther it lea ves hi s listen er s happy or o therwise. Steve Lucero does not kiss bu tt! L ucero a lso ha ppen s 10 be o ne o f th e most deco rat ed ri ders in Am erican speedway h is to r y. Am on g o thers , tro ph ies fro m th e U ni te d Sta tes Nation al Cham pio nshi p (1988), Ca li fornia Sta te Cha m pions hip (1985 & 1989) a nd AMA Points Cham pions h ip (1985) resid e on a mantle piece in hi s Riversid e, California, home. ali an unu su all y warm da y in lat e February, Lu cero journeyed to th e fam ous Ken Maely Ranch in Corona, California, for a practi ce session . Whil e th ere, he' pull ed o ff. hi s helmet, grabbed a bottle of water and pati ently answered qu estions conce rn ing hi s ca ree r and th e sport o f speed way raci ng. S • • a In oreo usnes ***** 18 You have raced speedway for a long time, How long? . I sta rte d wh en I was 10 years o ld back in 1974. I rod e Jun ior Speedway until I was 14. From 14 10 16, I rod e o u tla w racing in H anford and th e middle o f Ca liforn ia. I ga ined a lot of experience th ere racing wi th Dubb Ferrell a nd J ohn Cook. At 14 you were riding against Ferrell, Cook and other top pros? Yes, I was . I lied a bo ut my age . It helped o u t prett y good. You staned racing speedway in 1974. That is quite a long time ago. You are only 27 now, correct? Yeah, I turned 27 in June. In this June co m in g up, I think I will be 28 (la ug hing). I am not sure. We will see. What year did you come south to race? I moved down here wh en I was 16, so 1980 or 1981. The day I turned 16 I moved. Why did you come down here at such a young age? I co u ld p rogress quicker. I had bett er opportunities down here 10 make a littl e bit more money and have a good time. You did pretty well righ t from the time you got here. For some speedway riders it takes time to. be competitive in southern California. Why did you do so well, so quickly? I really don 't kn ow . It is hard to exp la in. The money down here mak es you rid e better. You know it is th ere so you rid e harder. I always kn ew th at I had th e abili ty to rid e well. It is just th e experience th at y.ou need . When I first ca me down here, I kn ew wh o was do wn here. The best! You can on ly learn fro m th e best. R ight now I a m happy 10 be where I a m because of th at (rid ing against th e best ). These days some of the newer riders may look up at you as one of the best. I hope so me day th ey do. It is hard to get that from people. I think a lot of people who adm ire m y riding a re not really th e you ng o nes. People wh o a re co m ing up from motocross a nd stuff like that. They kind of pi ck me out a nd see my riding. It is basi c riding. I don 't hang o ff th e bik e that mu ch . I a m pretty much like a Michael Bast. Rid e smoo th. You are not what most people picture when they think of a speedway rider. What I mean is, most speedway riders are pretty compact. You are a big guy. How big are you? Well , I a m not too bi g, but I a m bigger' th an any ot he r rid er. I a m not th e typ ical speed way ri der, but Barry Briggs', Ri ck Woods and Ala n Christian were not typica l speedway riders ei the r. They were tall a nd bigger rid ers. It helps me in certa in ways, too. I feel you don 't have to be a 5'6" 140-pou nd speedway rider to com pe te down here. Do you consider your size to be an advantage or disadvantage? II is both. I hav e a di sadvan tage o n th e lar ger tra cks because I give up a lot o f hor sepower' because of my size. I don 't have that mu ch of a di sadvanta ge on th e sm all tr ack s. I think so me times I have an ad vantage on people because th e tra ck is so sma ll and yo u have to get th at tracti on soon . You have not had many injuries. Is this a result of your size, physical training or experience on the track? I think it is all o f th em . I have not had a ny serio us injuries yet - kn ock o n wood. Most of all I don 't snivel abo u t th e minor on es I ge t, so it seems like I don 't get hurt th at often. Wh en I get home, I kind o f feel th em . My size is 10 my adva ntage. I ca n tak e th e . bumps a nd grinds wh en I lay it down. My experience? I ca n see a cras h coming and I a void th em . The p hilo so phy is, ' II is better to g ive th an to recei ve.' With your size did yo u ever give football a try? (La ugh in g) No ! I a m too sma ll for th at. II is kind of physical. I would be to football wh at Ronnie Correy is to spee dway in regards to physical size. I do enjoy th e ph ysical co n tac t (in speed way). A couple questions back you mentioned snivelers. There're a fair amount of snivelers in speedway, aren't there? I th ink th ere' are. They are more like prima donnas. A lot of th e speed wa y rid ers. fall into that cat egory. I think I kind of sta nd out because of that (no t sn iveling). I say a lot o f things. That is j ust the way people ar e. They get into spee dway a nd see wh at is going o n. They fal1 into someone's footsteps. Myself, I didn't. That is wh y I am prett y much different from everybody else. Wh en I do win , it is a little bit different from wh en Mike Far ia or Bobb y Schwartz wi ns . You are more of an Alan Christian type when it comes to personality. Yeah , I do m y bu sin ess o n th e track. That is wh ere it sho uld be. Wh en we ge t off th e tra ck everything shou ld . stop, Four times a week we see eac h o the r. If it stayed on th e track I think it would be mu ch bett er for everybod y in the sta nds a nd in th e pits. It would be better th at what ever happen s on th e tra ck , happens o n th e track. Let 's settle it ou t th ere, not in th e pits. You have been the AMA points champ, two-time California State Champion and National Champion to name a few of your titles. You do not win as much as many of the other guys during the season. Why do you always come up big on championship nights? Preparation is th e main key. I am th ere to win , especiall y on the big nights. I get myself mentall y and physically prep ared for those cha mp io nships. I

• Cover