Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I tho ught that if Harley was going to go racing a t some po int, that the y'd give me a call. I vhad talked to them three years ago about do ing that project, and it's just been dragging on ever since. I'm definitel y one of the best guys in the country today on sorting stuff out, so yeah, I was kind o f surprised. I would have liked to have done it. It would have been a good project for me. Are you still pursuing a career in car racing, or has your recent success caused you to give that up? I started racing the car again this season after giving it up for two years. We're running a Ford Thunderbird at the local tracks - a Pro Stock car. At this point I think it helps me . It helps me because the road races are so far apart n ow that you kind of get out of the rhythm of racing. You run Pomona and then you get a month and a half off. Wh at d o I do for a month and a ha lf? Now I' ve been racing e very w eek. I would race tricycles if I could be comp etitive. It's not that I'm getting out of motorcycle racing to go car racing. It's mo re like, I want to go racing so what should I do ? I can race the car on Friday night an hour from me, and on Saturday night 30 minutes from me. Was racing a money-making venture for you last year? Yes, for one of the first years. In the past years, when winter comes it takes me all winter to recoup. The problem I usually have is this: since I usually have decent equipment as far as the p rivateers go, a decent truck, a decent-looking tool box, and all that, I spend eve ry penny on my racing. I run those cred it card s up all year long - God, bless those things - and then it takes me all winter to get them back down. I'm about zero when Daytona rolls back around . Then I start all over. Now that the Mirage guys are in, I get a basic budget to work with and we were like spot-on with the budget. How long do you plan to continue doing this? I would sa y, to me, the basic formula is this: When it stops being fun, when it's a rea l p ain in the ass, and I s top being competitive... At this point, for the past three years, I've gotten better every year - not worse. If I can go another three, four, five years - great. If I ha ve to stop tomorrow, I'll just become a father and a husband . I'll sit in the sand box w ith junior. You've been at this awhile. Is this the best the series has ever been? Is it going in the right direction? There are more fans at the races because there 's mo re television, so people think the AMA is doing a great job and everybody is doing a great job with P.R. Tha t's not really the case. They did one thing right - they acquired TV (coverage) and now the fans are showing up. I don't think the races have grown that much over the years, and the purses have grown zero. That's certainly not a plus, but they haven't grown in other sports so you can't gripe too much. The worst thing is that even the AMA still hasn't caught on to the fact that the races are about people and not machinery. I think even though the sport is growing, the AMA still doesn't have a clue. To me, that's the frustrating part about this series. I don't want to compare it to car racing, but when you sign up for the car race it costs $15. To go run a pro race, I send two entries in. The $15 goes to the racetrack and that money is used to promote the event an d to p rom ote yo u as a d river. The other en try goes to the sanctioning bo dy so they know you're coming, but it doesn't cost you anything other than the $12 pit pass when you get the re. So for $27 you can run a car race, bu t they charge us $50 to -r un a b ike race - plus each mechanic is $50. For the car races, the mechanic is $12. I d on 't think that part is right. I don't think we should pay all this money to run races. Winning Mid-Ohio was obviously the highlight of your career. Did you ever get to the point where you didn't think you 'd win a National? I was de finitely ge tting b ummed ou t, ha ving gone 10 years without winni ng a race. I never gave up. We stood a chance of winning every weekend, it was just a m att er of ho w the circumstan ces wen t. We always felt that we stood a chance. At Mid-Ohio, I kn ew that I could win that race after qualifying fourth . I knew I cou ld run those times all day long and no one el se .could, except for mayb e (Doug) Polen. And I th in k eve n if we went at it, I still could have ·won th at race. It was such a high. The only other h igh I've had like tha t was being right th er e when my so n was born. It was such a high an d a relief to have finally wo n a race. Not only did I win it, bu t I smoked 'em. Th at was the best part. I di dn't luck in to it. Wh en it got to th e end, I sm oked 'em. I won it and that's all there was to it. Did winning Mid-Ohio give you more confidence that you can do it again? Yeah. What it' s done the most is make me want to do it again. I won one, now I have to prove tha t I can win another on e. That way nobody can say it was a fluke. I've been on a pr etty decent training program for two and a half months so far, and there 's th ree a n d a ha lf weeks to Daytona. I've lost 10 pounds. I we ighed 197 pounds w hen I won MidOhio - I was trying to keep up with my good buddy Scott Gray - and I'm do wn to 187 right now. Is the training program something new for Dale Quarterley? Usually, I start running and doing some stuff three or so weeks before Daytona, and then as the season goes on I stop doing it. When I started last season I was on that program, but when we got a few races in - like at Laguna - I definitely felt a little tired at the end. At Road Atlanta it was 100 degrees and we were running third, and I just couldn 't deal with the heat. I had to slow down. We had a third-place b ike, but I just couldn' t d o it. That rea lly bummed me out. When Mid -Ohio was done, I wa s pretty d evastated , but I jus t wasn 't giving up. Th a t m ade m e reali ze tha t I could win more races if I could just run hotter all day. I don't need to go any faster, I just need to go ho tter. Do you think the new Kawasaki will be com peti tive w it h the new Ducali and Honda? . With Rob Muzzy at the helm, I d on 't think we have anything to wo rry abo ut. One of the cham pionship factors is this: fin ish 10 ra ces, don't fall d o wn an d don't break. Speed is secondary. Wh y do you choose to use Michelins when everyone else is using Dunlops? When I firs t popped on to th e sce ne, I wa s a Du nlop guy and everybody else wa s on Mich elins . In '84, I sat on pole and almost wo n Loudon. I led 32 of the 37 laps and the th ing broke. I was the only Dunlop guy. No w I'm the only Michelin guy. I must just like being the lone wolf. I think someti mes people get locked in to dea ls. The y've got a good d eal, Dunlop gives th em a good tire, why change? I'm not in that boat. [ think Miche lin is a bit better tire right now, but no one wants to sw itc h because they ' re locked in. They like the ir situation. Even though I'm the lone wolf, I'm on the cutting edge - I'm just d oing it by myself. I personally like the Michelin feel. [ like the way it accelerates straight off the tum. It doesn't spin off the tum. It accelerates faster forward than it does si deways and fo rw ard . [ think the Mic helin is w ha t's go in g to make me competitive this yea r in the Day tona 200. What would a win in the Daytona 200 mean to you and the team? First of all it would mean $26,000. That wo uld be awesome. The Daytona 200 is the same as the Da ytona SOO - there's not hin g we coul d do be tter in our life than to win one of those races. What better gift to give m y team o wner Peter than that? It wou ld also prove to the AMA that the factories and the machinery aren't the world - the people are . Let me tell you now that we've picked you to finish sixth in the championship in our pre-season predictions. Do you want to yell at me now, or save it up for the whole year? . That's all r ight, I'll p ick away at it through the year just like last year. If you write bad about me all year, I'll be stylin', You put that I'd be luck y to be in the top 10 last year, and I won a race. I . - was seco nd o r third in the championship a fte r w ha t, three races? You wrote, "The question isn't who will win the races, the question is by how much? Can anyone beat Doug Polen? I doubt it." Well, I won the ne xt weekend . You just ke e p wri ting. Okay, you tak e my job for a minute and give me a quick top 10 for the season. I th in k (Pascal) Picotte is goi ng to be one o f th e fa s tes t gu ys , b ut can he keep it r u n n in g a n d .up right? I doubt it. I don't know (Tro y) Corser a t all , bu t I would find it d ifficult for him to learn 10 tracks and win the championship . Bu t I think he 's in co nten tion to win a race. Merkel has been to the rac etr acks, but he's got to ad ap t to a new b ike a n d d eal with me again. He's probably the one that I'll be mos t nervous about beating for the championship. (Steve) Crevier is definitely fast, but he's a mental moron like when he ran into Jam ie James a t Sears Poin t, and blamed us for that. The re 's no way he can keep his head togeth er for 10 races. (Mi ke) Smith is certainly fast. On new bikes, he definitely stands a chance of not only winning races but getting a lot of pole positions. The way he thinks that he's got to lead every lap and go as fast as he can every lap - that's grea t if you're a GP guy, but he's not. You need to finish races, so I don't see him doing it. [ think (Kevin) Magee definitely has the speed an d the mental mindset to learn 10 racetracks without falling down on them. I think he will be a title contend er also . Jamie Ja mes has been there, d on e that. He ' s won races, won cha m pions hi ps. Last year he came back fro m being hurt and showed tha t not only can he go fast, bu t he can go fast and keep his head together and not fall down. Colin (Edwards) showed .wi th the wa y that he burst on the scene last year, that he certainly has the mental ability to put a season toge ther. Somewhere along the line, he lost it - but he was smart enough to slow down to make sure he finished the races. Can he do it for the whole season, if h e finds what he missed las t yea r? If he loses it again, can he gather himself back up? That would be my pred ictions on tha t stuff. H arley? There's no way they can come in from nothing and win a champ ionship. But until .we see it ru n, we can' t even gu esstimate. I do n't see them deve lopin g th e thing in a yea r with (Mig u el) DuHa m el. H e's one of th e worst gu ys out there as far as feedback goes. You've got new mechanics, new engineers, and a rider that can't tell you anyth ing - except that he doesn't like Dale Quarterley. One of the problems I have wi th the races is there are only a few people - and one of th em is Dou g Polen - who can separate business from pleasure. Once I put that helmet on, I'm doing the work, so leave me alone. I do n't care what it takes to win this race, or to finish sixth. I'm not going to take you out, but [ do what it takes. You ' ve got to separate business from pleasure. Now Crevier's doing it (not separating the two) and it kind of shows immaturity. Let's just put it this way, anybody who can 't get along with me is going to ha ve problems winning the ch ampions h ip because I'm going to be a thorn in their side all season long. And if they can't separate business from plea su re, there's going to be a problem. t.."i

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