Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e - .~ ~ 0\ 0\ ~ .... I.!') >. I-t ca ;:::l l=: ca -. Japan, where he pocketed a $50,000 paycheck for his troubles. But in Tokyo, at his final overseas race of the year, McGrath was involved in a start-straight crash, banging himself up enough that he opted to sit out the following night. He's fine, but some wonder if participating in the lucrative overseas events is wo rth the risk of injury or burn-out. . "1 think for me, as long as I get some resting time before the season, they (the off-season races) don't hurt me. I don't think I'd ever risk or sacrifice my AMA season for European races. I know what it takes for me, and what I need before I race. I've got six weeks off, and I'm gonna treat at least three of them like a vacation." When McGrath says vacation, he means it - no training and no riding. He feels that R&R is vital to success, but don't expect to find the champ wasting his leisure time playing "couch potato." "1 like BMXand I like to go out in my boat," says McGrath, a former pro-level bicycle racer. "1 like to Jet Ski and I like to snowboard. You should see some of the stuff we do on our BMX bikes. I guess that stuff may help my riding a little, but I think it's kind of a combination of everything, and I couldn't tell you exactly what helps and what doesn't. I just know it keeps me from getting burned out. If I don't feel like riding, I don't think it does me much good (to ride) . "1 think that might have been some of the problem with Damon (Bradshaw, who shocked the motocross world by quitting during the off-season). I'd have done the same thing if I wasn't having fun. From what people told me, he's happier now than he's been in a long time, so I'm stoked for him. He's an awesome rider and he's one of the guys that I look up to when I look at racing. Just because I'm champ now, I don't look at myself as being champ. I still look up to Jeff Stanton and those guys a little bit. I can't help it. I kind of wish I didn't, but it doesn't change the way I race against them. It's just that those guys are good riders and I admire them for that. If Damon's happy, that's really important, because he said in that Inside Motocross interview that he used to sit in his room with a shotgun in his lap. He's probably so happy-go-lucky right now. He'll regret it a little later in his life, I'm sure, but it could have cost him his life, and nothing's worth tha t. : Money's not everything to me, but then again, I didn't have his contract (laughs). His contract was pretty big, so it might have been worth sticking it out. But I don't think what happened to him would ever happen to me, because of the way I am mentally. It seems to me that he let it all Be onto him, and I don't see that happenmg to me. 0 course, the pressure's there, bu t I don't worry about it." That ability to shrug off pressure is what makes McGrath so special. "1 think my biggest asset is that I can do what I'm doing at such a high-pressure job, and not even worry about it," he says. "1 just have so much fun. If someone puts pressure on me, it doesn't matter, and a lot of guys can't ignore it like that. I guess it might sta rt getting to me later on, but I don't think so. I can't see that happening to me." Though he normally remains unflustered, there are exceptions to the ru le. This year in Austria, for the first time in his young career, McGrath was a member of the U.S. MX des Nations team, which scored a record 13th-straight victory. At the des Nations, McGrath admits that he was affected by the pressure. "That race was pretty fun, but man, that was a lot of pressure. That was more pressure than I've ever had in my life. If Damon feels like that all the time, oh man, lie's:'lucky he quit. I think I rode 15

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