Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

now, I was probably the lowest paid factory rider out there, but I didn't kn ow any better. I had finally go tten my dream of being on a factory team." Though Huffman was glowing inside, he was forced to keep his new contract a secret for several months. "That was really hard," said Huffman. "I signed in July, which is really early. Suzuki asked me not to tell anyone until the team was officially announced. "There wa s definitely a lot more pressure on me to perform at the start of '93. It was a big change. Before, I was a support rider and I parked near the factory team, but I was still outside of the main Suzuki pit area. Now I was inside, and it felt like everyone was looking a t me." Along with his factory contract came a full tim e factory mechanic, and for the first time eve r, Dave Huffman didn' t spin the wrenches on his son's machine. "I think it was harder on my dad than it was on me, " said Huffman. "He's been my mechanic all of my life, and now someone else was doing his job." Once the owner of a successful carpet cleaning company, the senior Huffman abandoned his business to tune Damon's machines full time when he was still competing aboard pee wees. As Damon's machines ga ined the reputation of being the fastest on the track, Dave suddenly found himself filling more and more requests to modify machines for others and eventually opened his own race shop - Cycle Engineering Factory. "This year was the first time that I raced bikes that my dad didn't build," said Huffman. "My mom told me that the first weekend that 1 was away at a race, my dad did things around the house that he hadn't done in over 10 years." The '93 series started rather slowly for Huffman as he finished sixth at the series opene r, bu t only a few days later the new est member of the factory team broke the ice with his first win at Ana. heim Stadi um. "A t firs t, I used to wonder if I should have rea lly been there - on the team," said Hu ffm an. " Bu t after I won Anaheim I started to feel as if I really did deserve it." At tha t race, Huffman started second but wasted little time chasing after early leader Gaddis. Huffman made the pass for the leal! early in the race and qu ickly established a lead that would grow considerably by the race's end. "My thr oat go t real dry as soon as I go t into the lead," said Huffman. "It was strange, all during p ractice and in my heat ra ce I wasn't jumping this big .triple, but I did it on the second lap of the main and every lap after tha t. I saw Gaddis do it and I didn' t know h ow close Lawrence was, SO I figu red tha t I should do it every lap. On ce I got into .first , everything just went real smoothly. I didn't get tired, but I caught my mind w andering toward s the end of the race. I w as think ing, 'Sho uld I d o a one-hander or should I whip it on the last lap?' Then I realized tha t I wasn 't concentrating and just put it out of my head. I ended up d oin g a thumbs -u p to the crow d ove r the triple and a clicker a t the fin ish. " I was so exci ted a n d p r ou d o f m ys elf aft er I won. Th a t ni ght on the podium is wher e I learned that cha mp agne bu rns when it ge ts in yo ur eyes. It was funny; Phil had to help me wi th the bo ttle and kind a tell me what to do with it. Then he an d Jimmy doused me wi th th eir s. After th e trophy p resentation, I remember I ran all th e way u p to m y box van to get a jacke t, then up in to the ... t-, rl 1-< OJ S OJ > o Z st ands where my family was." Though Huffman ranks that night as the brightest spot in his young career, he was - as us ual - quiet about the whole affair when Mon d ay morning rolled around? "I wouldn't say that I'm shy, but I will admit that I'm a pretty quiet person," said Huffman. "I don't like to brag about myracing, My friends know that I race and I guess you could say that I let my friends d o my bragging for me." "A lo t of people knew tha t I was go ing to race at Anaheim, and the next day they asked me how I did. When I told them tha t I won, a lot of them acted like they d idn't believe me. All of the ki ds th at knew I ra ce d didn't really know what level I competed at. They would say, 'You're on Team Suzuki, so . does th a t mean you get a free bike?' When I'd tell them tha t it was more like six or seven (bikes) they would just say/Yeah, right:" Quiet by na ture, Huffman did little to voice h is displeasure at the next race in San Diego when he and his teammate Law rence collided and Huffman ended u p on the ground . Instead , his frie nds di d the comp laining for him. It was not the fir st time that th e two had come to geth er, as the y h a d a similar encoun ter in their heat race in Anaheim. "Ther e was a bit of friction between Phil and me for a little while, but we're past all of that now," Huffman said. "I think it was a .case of the older factory guy showing the new kid who was boss. When he s tuffed me at Anaheim that was the first time since I tu rned pro that I had been ram med. I learned to be mo re aggressive after that." After crashing in the San Diego main as a resu lt of the aforementioned collision with Lawrence, Huffman went on to crash again in the Seattle Supercross main while dicing with Gaddis for second. " I was ha ving lot of bad luck, but there was a long break between races in April," Huffman said. "I came bac k a t Dallas and approached it like it was a chance to start all over again. I finished third the re and it was a combined East and Wes t Coast race . Tha t p umped me up again and I won the next race at the Pasadena Rose Bowl." Huffman admits that he had a bit of extra incentive to win at the Rose Bowl. "A few days before the race I met a girl one of my cousin's friends:' Huffman said. "She came to watch me race , and well. .. she was so go rgeo us that it gave me an extra reason to win." "Winning the Rose Bowl race really gave me a lot of confidence. I had proven to myself that Anaheim wasn't a fluke, and that luck wasn't a big part of my first win. After tha t, I approached each race with a differen t state of mind." With th a t, Huffman was seem ingly u ns top pable at the fina l two races and posted runaw ay wins a t San Jose and Las Vegas. At San Jose, Huffma n led eve ry lap and enjoyed a 36-second lead a t th e finish after lapp in g up to fifth place, and at Vegas pulled off a similar . feat after passin g Gaddis for the lead on lap one. . "A t tha t po int, I was wish ing that the series was longer, " said Huf fman. "Now that the season is over, I' m lookin g mor e a 7

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