Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW , e Dirt Tracker Davey Camlin By Donn Maeda t the beginning of the 1989 AMA Grand National Champion Series season, rookie Expert Davey Camlin had high hopes of taking the series by storm. But after failing to qualify for a single National main event by the end of the season, he finally came to the demoralizing realization that he was just one of hundreds of racers who struggle week after week without success. So, at the conclusion of the 1989 season, Camlin found himself faced with an important decision to make. "My dad sat me down at the beginning of that year and said we'd go racing, but at the end of the season 1 was going to have to make a decision between racing and everything else," A 18 , Camlin said. "If 1 didn't want to continue racing, we'd sell the bikes and 1 could go to college, go to work, or even just be a bum. Whatever I chose, he said that he'd back me all the way. I didn't qualify for any mains, even though I was close a lot of times, but there was something there tha t I couldn't explain. A bond between au of the riders. The season finale at Pomona was more of a good-bye party, you know? Everyone was saying, 'Have a good winter. Train your butt off.' I decided to stick with it and I don't think I'll ever regret it." And why should he? Now, four years later, Cainlin consistently qualifies for the main events and more often than not finishes in the top 10. Though the 23year-old racer's track record isn't very impressive when compared to riders like four-time Grand National Champion Scott Parker, who scored his first National win as a rookie, Camlin is quite pleased with the progress he's made and firmly believes that hard work will eventually carry him to the top. "I've never had things handed to me," said Camlin, the son of Don Camlin, a former racer and owner of a transmission repair shop in Rock Island, Illinois. "In my second season as an Expert (1990), we skipped Daytona and waited for the Sacramento Mile. There was all of this talk about Mike Hale and Larry Pegram going on, and 1 remember thinking, 'Man, I'm as fast as them, they just have better equipment.' I'm not trying to take anything away from either of them, though, it's just that they both had really good rides and I was on a bike that had only 82 horsepower." At Sacramento, Camlin qualified for the National on his under-powered Harley-Davidson and went on to finish 13th. That left Camlin in a tie for first in the 1990 Rookie of the Year point standings with eventual-winner Hale, but at the next round, the Ascot Half Mile, Camlin suffered a broken collarbone. Though the doctor recommended that he not race for six weeks, Camlin returned to the circuit in just three weeks. That choice proved to be a painful one. Camlin struck a downed rider in his heat race at the Springfield Mile and had a horrific crash. "I rebroke my collarbone and I had five teeth sticking straight out of my face," Camlin said. "The crash wasn't really that bad physically; 1 was healed up in six more weeks. But mentally 1 was gone, I had no confidence." Camlin returned to action at a nonchampionship race, but didn't fare well and decided to sit out the rest of the Nationals and attempt to regain his confidence at less important races. By the end of the year, Camlin felt comfortable racing, but early the next year - at the 1991 Sacramento Mile - he discovered that he was still a little gun-shy. "The track was a little rough in the comers and I got next-to-last in my semi. 1 was scared silly," Camlin said. "My dad was pretty upset and we both went home pretty bummed out." But at Camlin's "home" race - the Springfield Mile - things turned around. Though he failed to qualify for the Memorial Day weekend race, Camlin rode in the lead draft with Parker, Chris Carr and Terry Poovey in his heat before wearing out his tire. "I didn't know about saving your tire and all of that stuff," said Camlin. "But that was the turning point. It was at that moment that 1 realized that if things were right, I could go just as fast as those guys. All I had to do was do it. "Looking back now, 1 think that my crash was the best thing that happened to me. Before that, I had never really been injured. 1 actually used to tell pe0ple that 1 was invincible, that 1 couldn't get hurt. The crash really opened my eyes and I stopped taking all of the hairball chances that I used to." With his new-found attitude, Camlin qualified for three of the last four Nationals in 1991 and for the first time in his life began to train for racing in the off-season. "The day I got home from the last race, I signed up at a gym and started to train my ass off," said Camlin. "I had never really worked out before, but 1 knew that's what it was going to take. I was ready for '92." _ Camlin's off-season training paid off and he made the main event and ran fifth during most of the opening National of the 1992 series - the Daytona Short Track - until he fell victim to a flat tire. "That didn't matter, though. I had the speed and I knew it. 1 was on top of things. 1 didn't know what to expect before that race, but it was like, 'Bam!' I was one of the guys." During the rest of 1992, Camlin qualified for 10 more Nationals, scoring a series-high ninth at Springfield along the way. In the off-season, Camlin trained harder than ever and again, anxiously awaited the start of the new season.

• Cover