Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW eT - Dirt tracker Dan Ingram chased the late Steve Eklund's Honda RS750 and hired Ingram to race it. But lack of mechanical experience caused the team to flounder at many of the races with improper bike setup and engine failures. "They're good guys, I just don't think that they knew what they were doing," By Donn Maeda .... " L .... :-:::l .7 I-t '-l.., 22 ake a stroll through the pits at any Grand National dirt track race, and you'll most likely see a few of the racers comparing lines, bike setup, and even sharing a laugh or two. But just as often, you'll probably see Dan Ingram sitting alone in the M&M Racing pits staring off into the distance and keeping to himself. ''I'm a little quiet, and I just like to do my own thing and try to stay focused," said the 28-year-old Indianapolis, Indiana, native. "I've been called shy, but ... nah, I'm not" Quiet? Yes. But put a helmet on Ingram and he's anything but quiet. On the track, the second-genera tion racer takes on a whole different personality, a loud one that has carried him to three Grand National wins, his most recent coming in start-to-finish fashion at the season-opening Daytona Short Track. "It's funny," said Ingram, the son of Sam Ingram, a former dirt tracker of the 19605 and '70s who perhaps received the most attention for claiming a Yamaha motor from Kenny Roberts at his hometown race, the Indy Mile in 1974. "I've always wanted to gain the reputation as a good mile racer, but it seems like most of my wins are coming on short tracks. What's up with that?" Ingram's first-ever National win did come on a mile track, though, at the SYracuse Mile in 1988 on then Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert's personal Honda RS750. At the time, Shobert was a member of the powerful Honda factory team and he and his mechanic, Skip Eaken, offered Ingram a ride aboard Shobert's personal back-up machine. "I had been riding Eddie Adkins' Harley-Davidsons in 1988," said Ingram. "But I jumped at the chance to ride Bubba's Honda." Ingram made his debut aboard Shobert's Honda at the '88 DuQuoin Mile where he finished an impressive fourth, before posting a second at the Springfield Mile and then winning at Syracuse. "I couldn't believe how much faster the Honda was," said Ingram. "I kept asking myself why I didn't get on one three years earlier. I went from being a guy that barely made the top 10 to a race winner. Even though I had won a race, I was still kind of awe-struck being pitted with the champion. It was cool." In 1989, Shobert left the dirt track ranks to further pursue his career in road racing, and Ingram found himself paired with veteran Steve Morehead as a member of the Eaken/Sponseller Racing Team. Shobert's former mechanic Eaken, along with racing enthusiast Mike Sponseller, a well-heeled contractor, sponsored the two riders aboard a pair of former-factory Honda RS75Os. Ingram went onto enjoy his most-successful season to date, finishing third overall "I didn't get another win, but I finished in the top five six times and was only out of the top 10 once," said Ingram. "I was totally jazzed, I had never done that well before." Ingram carried that momentum into 1990, and he won the Grand National Series opener, the Daytona Short Track. "I felt like that really could've been my year to win the championship," said Ingram. "I was pumped up and ready for the rest of the series." But things soured for Ingram, as he and Eaken had a falling out midway through the season and parted ways. "It's nothing that I really care to talk about," said Ingram. "Skip and I just had a falling out. I still liked Skip - he's a good guy - we just couldn't work together anymore." When Ingram left the team, he was third in the series point standings and had little trouble finding a motorcycle to finish the season on. Ingram paired with 1969 Grand National Champion Mert Lawill, who provided him with a Harley-Davidson XR750 t<;> race. "I was excited to race one of Mert's bikes because I had heard that they were really good:' said Ingram, who struggled to adapt to the Harley and slipped to sixth in the final standings. "But they just weren't fast enough. I don't think that Mert really had his head in it, though, because he had so many other things going on." The following year was a nightmare for Ingram, as he failed to find a fulltime sponsor throughout most of 1991 and finished the series 15th overall. "I was riding bikes here and there, but I didn't have anything secure at first," said Ingram. "But about halfway into the season I got a ride with A&R Racing." A&R Racing - namely Californians Craig Rogers and Louie Aruta - pur- said Ingram. "All we had were problems, problems, problems. The bike blew up a few times and then they asked me to cough up some money to fix it. I said, 'Wrong: and that was pretty much the end of that. Now they have Will Davis racing it and he's doing good. They hired Dennis Town to tune it. That was the smartest thing they could've done." After parting ways with Aruta and Rogers, Ingram swallowed his pride and gave Eaken a call.

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