Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTER IEW V e Wayne Rainey 12 but one, and in that one the brakes faded and I had to pull in. The second championship was more di fficult, but we still won. After winning two , I really wanted the third one really, really bad. I was used to that level of achievement. I just felt like I was so focused. I couldn't really even be with many people - I could be with them, but I didn't really listen to them because I was so focused on my racing. I put myself in my own little world that was focused only on winning World Championships. I probably missed a lot in my life because of that. But I just didn't want to finish second. Second place and last place there's no difference. You either win the World Championship, or you don't. They only remember the World Champion. I just didn't ever want to finish second again. We won it again the third year and I was going to win four. That's all there was to it - I was going to win. Schwantz cam e out and had a good off-season of testing. I think he thought a lot about his racing during the off-season and he want ed th at champi onship awfully bad, too . I never fo ug h t harder for a ch a m pions hip th an I did this yea r . I thought I had a good shot of winning it before I fell do wn." The wheelchair. They say that accepting the w heelchai r is the toughest part. Early on , Rainey st ruggled w it h the th oug h t of sp ending the rest of his life in a wh eelchair. That's changed, and lea ving the hospital ha s been a big part of that change. "In the beginning, I needed the rehabilitation. I needed to be in the hospital," Rainey said. "The things they taught me in the hospital were good, but towards the end I was frustrated. I was thinking, 'Damn, I'm going to have to get up everyday and get in that wheelchair.' Now that I've been out of the hospital for a week, I look at that chair and I don't think of it as a wheelchair. I think about it as being something that I've got to do the rest of my life. It's only been two and a half months. I think by th e end of the year I probably won't even know I'm in a wheelcha ir. People will see me in a wheelchair, but I won't realize tha t I'm in it . I think that's how life is going to be. "It's a big d eal w hen it firs t h appens - and you're in that chair. You don 't want to be pa ralyzed. The chair is the big obstacle. I used to be able to get ou t of bed and walk to the bathroom or to the kitchen. Now I get ou t of bed and get in my chair to do all th at stuff. I don't look at it as , ' Da m n , I've got to get in th at wheelchair to go do anything in my life.' I'm getting used to it now - tha t' s the wa y it is. It's been a little chican e in my life, but I'm going to get through this. In the beginning, I had problems becau se I just wasn't used to no t walking. Now I'm doing everything that I was doing before and I'm going to get better at it. 111still be able to sw im. I can play golf if I want. I ca n rid e Jet Sk is . I ca n go motorcycle riding." Few will ever d oubt the strength of Shae Rainey. Fe w can bla m e her for wa n ting 1993 to end, for wa n ting the new yea r to be a better year . In ad dition to he r h us ban d's acciden t, Shae is also suffering as her mother, Shirley Grigsby, battles cancer. Still. she manages to keep the Rainey smile, a nd the Rainey attitude. "Shae's my best friend," Wayne said. "She's been really strong th rough this whole ordeal. I thin k s he's happ ier. She's glad I'm not bolting on a helmet any more. I'll be able to sp end more time with my family. We're goin g to ha ve a g reat li fe. Sh e' s very exci ted about the future. We never got caught ,u p in the glamour of th e spor t. Shae didn't have to be in photos with me. She just wanted me to go d o my job a nd come back. She ne ver wanted to be in the spotlight." If Rainey wants to work again, he'll ha ve the op portu nity . The offers have been pouring in and he'll probab ly take someone up on one of them in 1995. But don't expect to see much of him in 1994. That' s his year for playing catch-up, for spending time doing the things tha t his racing commitments forced him to put on hold . He 'll start with Shae and Rex, and the rest of the family. "I've still got a contract with Kenny (Roberts)," Rainey said. "And I want to see our tea m w in again. Phillip Morris is use d to a certain amount of success and I wa nt my team to keep winning. I want to be a part of that motivation. I want the mechanics to still be workin g their butts off like they did for me, and I believe they will for Luca (Cadalora) and Daryl (Beattie). But it's going to be a lot differen t for everybody with me not bein g there. We raced for the Wor ld Championship every year, and that's what we 've got to make sure we keep d oing. I want to be part of that. I want to be able to help the riders out, the tire guys out, the engineers, the m echanics...but I won't be there that much. "1 want to take some time off to get my bod y more sorted out. It hasn't been very long, so I' ve got to watch how mu ch I do . My body is still recuperating from the trauma. I'm looking at coming back in '95 and owning a team. Right now I want to sp end some time with Shae and Rex and get my bod y back to normal. I'm really going to miss being out there with those gu ys on the starting grid. I can't believe that just a little bit of my sp inal cord is sev ered - bu t it jus t wipes out everything I need to be able to race motorcycles.n Rex Rainey is a one-year-old boy on the mov e. Still, he waits patiently on a nearby bed, sucking on a bottle and watc hing a Barney the Dinosaur video. His eyes light up when he gets close to his father, and a smile fills his face when he's propped up on Wayne's lap , the pair popping a wheelie together. "The positive thing for me is getting Rex out of the crib in the morning," Rainey sa id. "Just w orki ng with him, doing things on my own. Doing things without anybody's help - that's been the best thing. When I was in the hospital, I needed help because I wasn't used to not having feeling in my legs. Now I'm doing things. That's the best part." Ra iney has amazed doctors with his quick rehab ilitation, acco mplishing more in three months than most accomplish in a year . He credi ts a lot of his recen t success to wheelchair racer Jim Knaub, a five-time wheelchair class winner of the Bos ton Marathon. "What he's helping me do is take a short cut to my therapy," Rainey explains. "I've been out of the hosp it al for about a week now and he 's s h owed me so many things that onl y a guy in a cha ir would know . Things to make life a lot easier. It's all stuff I would even tu ally find out but, hell, I might as well go to the best guy and find out as quickly as I can." Pa tience never was a Rainey vi r tue. In order to d r iv e a car, most paraplegics take a course on driving with the unfamiliar hand controls. Not Rainey. "1 just went to the place and they hooked it up," he explains. "1 had my dad and Sparky (Edmondson) with me . Sparky had his phone with him and he had it set on 9-1-1 (the emergency phone number), and dad had his air bag - which was a pillow. Hell, we just we nt. The driving part's been easy." Rainey es tim a tes tha t he's received some 10,000 cards and letters from fans around the globe. Those well wishers helped him through some tough times. "The fans have been unbelievable in their support," he said. "That's one thing I'd like to do is thank the fans for their cards, lette rs and banners. It 's really helped us get through some bad times. It's funny because in a lot of the cards and letters that we got, people have their own stories tha t a re worse tha n mine - and th e y' ve co me through it fi ne . Time heals. That's a real inspiration for me because I can see now that I'm not handicapped." Handicapped. A strong word. Rainey doesn't believe in it. "I'm lucky . There' s a lot of guys that have had this happen to them wh en they're 19 or 20 - at a point in their life w hen they never got to achieve what they wanted to . Those same guys are happy today. This has happened to them and they've gone on with their lives - and th ey 're happy. I'm just starting again. That's the way you' ve got to look at it. You can be handicapped and not even be in a-wheelchair. There are people who have huge problems and they're not in w heelchairs. "1 still haven't been ou t in public at all- as far as being aroun d racing people or the fans. I kn ow when they see me it's going to be, 'Oh, Wayne, how are you doing? Are you going to be okay?' I'm o kay . I know they are concerne d because I'm in a wheelchair and (they think) I'm handicapped. That's the way I thought - but I can see now that it's not a han dicap . "This is just a little chicane in my life - I can get through this." ~

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