Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

By Paul Carruth e rs a; here's a sparkle in the blue of Wayne Rainey's eyes . You can see it when he looks at his son. The lines brought about by age and tension seem to have vanis hed from his face. You can see it when he smiles a t his wife. Wayne Rainey is realizing that altho ugh he is para lyzed from the chest down, he can be content, secure and happy. Life in a wheelchair seems to have brou gh t him peace. "God wasn't ready to take me, He just wanted to slow me down." Wayne Rainey will always remembe r the da y that his racing caree r was taken away from him. He'll always remember September 5, 1993, and his crash in the Italian Grand Prix at Misano. "1 remember going into the comer, a th ir d -gea r r ight-hander, prob ably at about 125-130 mph. I got in a little ho t so my lean angle in the middle of the corner was a little bit more than I wanted . When I started to pick it up ana accelerate, it stepped ou t on me. It carne back fa r t h e r than I wa n ted it to, and it pushed the front com ing off the comer. I didn ' t highside, I ~ lowsided. When you hit the ground going that fast, you can't tell which way is up and which is down. It all feels the same. But there was one pa rticular part where I felt a pop . When I stopped, I was hurting pretty bad and I had this deep burning sensation in my back. When I tried to ge t up, I couldn't. I thought, ' Man, so mething's not right: I tried it again and nothing. Then I started feeling my legs on the outside and I couldn't feel anything. I knew that either my body was in shock, or I'd really done something bad to myself. "I believe to this day that I was dying on the race tra ck. I wasn't blacking out, but my visio n went away even though I was conscious through the whole thing. I just remember thin king that God was going to keep me alive, but it was up to me to keep breathing. I didn't sleep tha t night I was afraid tha t if I went to sleep, I'd sto p breathing. So I stayed awake. I s tayed awake un til Sh ae (his wife) showed up in Italy. I figured by then that everything was going to be okay." All Wayne Rainey ever wanted was to be the best. He po ured his heart and so ul into racing motorcycles for 24 of his 31 years . And he was the best, a threelime World Champion in the most illustr ious class of them all. He risked life and limb to reach his goal, hoping tha t he would be able to wa lk away at the top of his game . He was never afforded that opportunity. "I kinda' had a feeling I wa s hurt pretty bad, even though I d idn't ask people what was going on. When Shae showed up, I asked her and she told me that I was paralyzed from th e chest down because my spinal cord was severed. I remember being at the race track medical office, having all thes e people around me - Kenny Roberts and Dean Miller. I remember the looks on their faces. I'd never seen that look on their faces before, and I knew something was wrong, really w rong. I was having a . hard time br eathing, my back was really hurting, I could n't move anything but my arms and hands . "1 was never scared. I just felt that I was goin g to be okay. I just kept telling myself to keep breathing . I kept wanting the oxy- gen bottle . I just wanted to live . It didn't matter to me at the lime what was wrong wi th me - but I d idn't want to di e. I had a funny sense of calmness through the whole thing. I was really cal m and I th ink that helped me a lot . Everyone around me was upset, but I wasn't that upset. It was, for sure, the closest I've ever come to dying. I really felt that it wo uld have been easy to die:' A burning question that he will likely always ask is - why? Why push so hard? Why the constant driv e to always win? With an 11-point lead over Ke vin Schwantz, Rainey didn't need to win in Italy . . HI wanted to be the best motorcycle racer in the world," Rainey exp lains . "And I was willing to risk my life for it. I made a commitment to it, and this was the only way I could do it. I never went into a race thinking I was going to die or h urt myself . You always race to a particular level. Some days your level is higher than the other guys, and some days their level is higher than yours. It just so happened that on this day everyone was pretty close. I was riding a little harder because I wanted to be number one. I d idn't want to get second. If I would have backed it down a little bit and just ran w ith th em, I probab ly wouldn't have crashed. But with that attitude, I never would have become World Champion at the highest level of road racing that there is . I would loo k back a t it somet imes when I was in the hospital and think, 'Why did I have to win that race so bad? Was first place worth risking almost dying, and losing the ability to walk ?' I say, yes - it was all worth it." Rainey is out of the hospital now, returning only as an outpatient for therapy and rehabilitation work. He's currently resid ing in a small apartment close to the hospital, along with his wife Shae and his son Rex. Soon the Raineys will return to their beautiful home In the hills of Monterey, California. The accident is behind h im now, and he's adjusting well to life in a wheelchair. His life has changed, but it's not for the worse. He can no longe r race motorcycles, but the lime and energy he spent being the best can be directed elsewhe re . His fo cus has switched to his family . "I'm in a wheelchair, but I'm not disabled," Rainey said . "The only thing I can't do is race a motorcycle again. It's taken me a little lime to figure that out. I did everything in motorcycle racing that can be done. I've won all the big ones; I've been at the top. To do that, you have to have a high level of concentration, motivation, ded ication , and you've got to put your life on the line to be the best. I would have loved to have been able to walk awa y from the sport, but it d idn't happen tha t way. In the beginning I was a bit upset, but now I can see that I can do everything that I did before. I can watch my son grow, and do things that maybe I wouldn't have been able to do if it had happened some other way." The only ti me the fr iend ly sm ile see ms to leave Rainey's face is when he thinks about not being there; when he realizes that come March 27, he won't be on the starting grid for the Australian Grand Prix . Kevin will be th ere, Mick will be there, Doug and John will be there, but there won't be a Wayne Rainey on the starting grid. "I think being on the sidelines will be the toughest part," Rainey said. "1 jus t wasn't ready to stop being the best guy in the world. "Damn, I'm going to miss racing that motorcycle:' Racin g that mo to r cycle brough t Rainey ma ny rewards, including millions of dollars. But in the last few years it also brought him some gray hairs and a few wrinkles. The wear and tear started to show... on his face, ...in the way he walked. Winning World Championships is not only abou t beating the rest, it' s about conquering pressure. Winning three straight World Championships and gunning for a fourth can take a toll on a man, even a man with the determination of Wayne Rainey. "Shae and I would talk about how much longer I was going to r ace," Rainey recalls. HI was already three- time World Champion. Why would I keep going ou t there and trying to be World Champion again? The thing that kept me motivated was lIlat I (slill) wanted to be World Ch a m p ion . I still wanted to train. I still liked everything about it. Well, it was starting to w ear a little on me, trying to be the best g uy, trying to w in the World Championship at every race. In the end, I was try in g to win a nother World Championship when I had my accident: ' The pressure. Most of us will never know what it's like to be under the gun as much as Rainey was . Phillip Morris was counting on him; Yamaha was counting on him; Kenn y Roberts and the crew were counting on him. In fact, though, Wayne Rainey's pressure came mainl y from Wayne Rainey. "It all came from myself," he says . "1 never felt any pressure from Kenny, the team, all my sponsors - all the pressure was put on by myself. It started in 1989 when I came so close to winning, when Eddie (Lawson) beat us out: I changed so man y things after that season in the way I approached my racing. I changed my surroundings so I could get even more focu sed on the job . I bought a house in Spain so I didn't have to travel around. I hired people to take care of all my things so I could show up at the race track and have everything ready to go. This was all stuff I used to do on my own. I was that focused. I didn't want to have to think about anything else but getting on that motorcycle. By 1990, I had dedicated my life and tha t was the only thing I thought about - about how I could get better, how I cou ld win the World Championship. You 're on the best motorcycles, racing against the best riders in the world; there' s so m uch mon ey bein g spen t, so much publicity. It's a real high-pressure situa tion. " Whe n I won iJ;l ' 90, I won se ve n races. I finished on the box in every race 11

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