Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ INTER W racer JimmyFilice ' VIE Road ~ By Dean Adams Photos by Brian N elson and Adam s ~ T he lim p is not as pronounced as it once was. He is still very stiff when rising from bed in the mo rning or T"""'l getting out of a car after a long drive. ... Broken legs and a smashed pelvis will T"""'l do that to you, but for the most part the H inju ries he suffered three yei'rs ago in (]J the car accid en t that nearly claimed his life have healed. More im p o rta n tl y , mentally he is as strong or stronger than ever. And that is where Jimmy Filice's strength lies: question him ~ about h is U .S. 250cc GP w in in (]J 1988 or his six months in traction r.J) in 1990 and he waves his hand in the air, brushing the memories away, "That's the past," he says emphatically. Tunnel vision in to the future, d ragging only his w its and colossa l riding ta lent with him. Cereb rally rugged, Filice simply refuses to give up, persevering over the aforementioned horrific accident and three wild career swings that would have forced a lesser man ou t of the sport. He has been described as having the heart of a lion, but I like to th ink it is never end ing tenacity th at is his main attribute. With a near perfect record in 1993, winning every AMA 250cc GP Series race sa ve one where an electrical gremlin forced him to DNF (with a commanding lead no less), Filice is the 250cc rider in the States. His race-winning history, along with the fact that he is a 20-year veteran of American racing and the original Kenny Roberts' protege, means that attention has been focused on the diminutive Californian. Many believe he could be a player in the Grands Prix on a 250 or 125, including Wayne Rainey. When n o t engrossed in w in ning a fourth Wor ld Cha mpionship, Rainey is quietly removing the obstacles tha t would prevent him from taking his AMA 250cc team to Eu ro pe to contest the Grands Prix in 1994, and Filice along with it. As the seaso n winds down we sa t down for a chat. Cf') 0\ 0\ ..os than I've ever been. I'm smarter ridingwise, I think things out a lot farther. I have goals where before, I d idn't have m y goals set where I wanted to go . Right now I do but sometim es the political things get in the way and yo u have no control of you r destiny. I'm ge tting up in age, I'm 30 now and man y people look at the younger riders and some ti m es t h a t is very unfa ir. Younger rid ers have one thing go ing for the m - you th . They are ver y inexperienced but on the sa me hand, if I go to Europe, I'll be in the same boa t. If I go to Europe one problem I'll have is that I don't know any ra ce tracks . I know Suzuka and I know Eastern Creek and I kn ow Laguna, but I go to Europe and it is a whole new game for me. Many of those guys h ave been there for many years, so it may be a tough deal. I think if it is with Wayne and it d oes ha p pen, we' ll see. I know Wayne is trying. Wha t he is doing for me this season is just great. I know he has a lot of things going on in his life so I'm hoping things will work out and I know he is pushing for me, I can't even tell you how much he 's doing for me. If it happens, it happens and I'll just have to p repare myself. I trained a little bit with Wa yne, wen t riding with h im a little bit and I th ink if we d o somethin g we 'll really get serious. Maybe getting like he is, he's 33 and he is still in great shape and still beating their butts over there . For me, I feel young and I feel stro ng riding and I'll have to go there w ith a good mind and a winning attitude and accomplish some of my goals. It would have to be more than a one-year deal, not maybe with him but just to get over there and get the feel of things . Maybe with his help it would be possible to go over there and win a World Championship. I just ha ve to be real istic and see what kind of b ikes we get. Things are really rolling and I'm reall y glad with the choice that I made to go with Wayne th is year - Bubba and Ed Toomey, we all get along really w ell together. You really could n' t have imagin ed two distinctly different seasons li k e 1992 an d 1993. Yeah , last season was pretty frustrating. We went to Daytona and had a problem with Bruce (MOlus). I really think a lot of Bruce, he's a gr eat person and I know Bruce thinks a lo t of me but we were tryi ng to get a partnership going and it just di dn 't work out. I have nothing bad to say abo u t Bruce Mau s, he's a hell of a mech an ic, he'll tr y all of his heart for you, whoever he works for he gives 150 percent. It worked out for the best, I go t hooked up with Ed and the first race we go t ba ck to last yea r, Laguna Seca, we won. The m iddle of th e se ason w as th e to ug hest. Ed was new to the Nation al sce ne, he d id a lot of cl ub racin g an d hadn't done the Nationals too much so w e k ind of got off track a Ii ttle bi t. Brain erd we finished ninth, it wa s the worst race of the season. I rod e hard and I really felt good about my riding and I think everyone else could see the disadvantage we ha d at so me of the race tracks and they could und ers tand but s till, we weren't winning. And in th is ga me, if you're not winning you don't go anywhere. You ha ve certa inl y had yo ur s hare of ba d ti mes, wha t ke e ps yo u going th rough them? You do get deflated . I've got a good wife, Jamie, and she was really behind me after my accident. She sa t at my bedside for a month in the hosp ital and sev- r-- ---- - - - - - - - - - -----..., 2 What is goi ng to hap pen next season? Will we indeed see you contesting the Wo rld Championship Gra nd Prix races? 24 me w inning for Wa yne for what .he's doing for me. He does it to put back into the s p o rt and he does it to ke ep his name out over her e and he also d oes it to help a couple of friends like me and Bubba (Shobert). He rea lly help s us a lot and it's a pretty neat d eal for a frie nd, es pecia lly for one in h is pos it ion, to corn e back and he lp h is ot he r friends out. It's always been a dream of mine to r ace in Europe and w in a World Championship. I had an oppo rtu ni ty to be Wayne's teammate in 1984 to go to Europe on the Marlboro 250 team and I That's a good qu estion. We ll, I d on' t kn ow. Wayne (Rainey) is trying to put so mething together for me in Europe for next season but spo nsor-wise it's tough. He' s pushing for me to go over there this season, to do some racing. He 's behind this . To put me on good eq uipment, not to wi n a cham pions hip or to m is s a ra ce , but looking o u t fo r m y interests and trying to help me get over there. Wayne and I ha ve been friends for a long time and he wa nts to start his own team in Europe. What he is tellin g me is that it would be a one-rider team, but there is only one works Yamaha right now and (Tetsuya) Harada is on it. I guess I don't even know if it would be a 250, so there are other things he's think ing about. That's h is business and we really haven't talk ed in-depth about it. We talked once of doi ng this and I told him what he did for me this season was incredible. He put me on good equipment and is spendi ng a lot of his own money in doing this whole team. Man, it's good! The results are gr eat. There ar e a few things tha t make me try harder, on e is to get m y dreams accomplished in racing and another is • an In turned Kenny (Roberts) down, which may have bee n a mistake. Wayne didn't have that great of a sea son, b ut he got his feet wet. I've never been to Europe so it would be all new to me, it might be tough for me to do it. In '89 I had another opportunity to go ther e, I did it all on my own to ge t back to where I could ha ve been with Kenny. And that wa s real rewa rding, Honda started opening some doors for m e , g o t me a spons or a n d I h ad a Japan ese lady friend who helped me ge t my sp onsor Edwin and workin g w ith HRC with me. I had the deal, w e sa t down with the people at Honda, at HRC abou t go ing World Ch ampion shi p racing in 1991. In 1990 I was supposed to do four World Ch ampion ship races and all nine of the Japanese championships. I go t hurt rig ht a fter I signed my contract and it w as for more money tha n I've ever made. My dream was again cut short. I've worked ha rd. I' ve been racin g for 21 ye ars and I've on ly mi ssed one seas on out of those 21. So it 's a d eal where a lot of things that carne easy to me in my past, corning up. I was a factory rider for a lot of co m p a nies Yamaha , Honda, Harley-Da vid s on. After [ got h urt there was somethi ng, the desire of me racing and going to Europe and racing, that I lost. I lost on e thing, it wasn't the money, it wasn't a lot of th in gs, it was r idi ng the good equipment. Once yo u sta rt riding works bikes you're on the best equipment, a lot of fast motorcycles and that is a thrill in its ow n. That bothered me for awhile. So in 1991 I rode hard and last year I rod e hard because I wanted to ge t ba ck to where I was riding when I got hurt and now I'm beyond that. I feel I'm better era l months at home. My boy Justin and my little girl Alexsis help too, but what mainly keeps me go in g is m y family. My morn and dad have been involved in my ra cing forever, m y dad made my career for me. I ha ve a pretty stro ng desire to do well and prove m yself, that keeps me going too . I am so determined to win it is almost a little scary. I d on 't know how many chances I'll take out there but I try to ride sa fe because I' ve be en injured before and I d on't want to be inju red again, so it's fru strating some times. Last season was a little fru strating. Martin Adams really came through for me last year. [ can 't say enough about Martin, he is really a prince among men. He's a great guy and a great person. Bubba called me earl y in November, I believe, and ask ed me if I was interested in riding for Wayne and I said, 'Ma n yo u know it.' I had to talk to Ma rti n abou t it because we had become very good frie n d s and un d e r no circu mstances d id I want to bu m a brid ge with Martin because he d id a lot for me in 1992. So I talked to Ma rt in and exp lained the sit ua tion to him and wha t the offer was from Wayne and h e agreed with me that it was better to take that deal. HRC was offering us some good equipment so we could have probably been competitive on a Honda, too, but like I said, I've known Wayn e since 1978 and we have been friends and almost family. Sandy Rainey (Wayne's father) is like a second father to me, he is really a good man and he helps us a lot here and it is good to ride in that type of atmosphere. I feel really good about it. You ha ve done some tim e on a superbike, any t h o ug h ts o f racin g them again? Superbikes have gotten big and bu lky and my legs aren' t as strong as they used to be. That's the one weak po int I have, my upper body is very strong but my legs are not as strong. I work at it but it is difficult. [ could ride a superb ike, I can rid e any motorcycle. Bu t right now I feel that I can ride my 250 harder than anyone and harder than any other mo torcycle at this poi nt. If I needed to work on wha t I need to work on to ride a bigger bike, I could do it. Th a t Ducati is pretty awesome, I'd like to give that a shot. I've wrestled around Harl ey 750s and Honda dirt tackers, I've been around a Jot of race tracks so I'm confident I co uld do it but superbikes just don't int erest me right now. T here are people in th e States who cons id er yo u u n b ea ta bl e in 25 0 raci ng. Care to comment on that? We can ha ve an off-d ay and so mebody can get by us a nd I kn ow th at in my mind and I don' t wan t to be too overconfident. I don' t go out there and think that nob od y ca n beat me but I'm real confident and I kn ow wha t I hav e and wha t I'm capable o f. In a racin g situation and the bikes are eq ua l, basically wi th anyo ne, I feel that I can beat them, out race them. That's just because of my experience. That's expected of me. I've been here a long time and if I don't do that, I won't go anywhe re. [ told Dave Despain that I d on 't want to demo ralize the class or make any of the other riders look bad by go ing out there and beating them by 20 seconds. But I'm jus t trying to help Jimmy Filice right now. I thi nk I' m helping the m too by p ushing th e m harder. When you get ou t there and we all run at the same pace and nobody tries to go a little harder, you know you're not help ing anybody. I go out there and I try to go as hard as I ca n a n d get the pace goi n g up a nd I think that works for everybody. The riders com ing up even. I don 't th ink they s h oul d ever do away with the 250 class. Just because it is a starting point for racers. If someone

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