Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

factory bike, with a salary. Next I wen t with Honda. Th at' s when m y career really began to move. I had a works Honda, a very good salary, plus incentiv e and bonus money, too . On top of tha t, my airfare, hotels, ground tr ans portation and food wer e all co ve red. That mak es a world of d ifference when you're trying to race professionally, and you're on the road all the time. In 1984 you decided to go to Europe and contest the '85 500cc GPs . How did that work out for you? First I had to get a federation license to race th ere. It wa s easie r for me to get one in Ireland, since I had famil y residing there. When I got tha t, I wa s considere d a Un ited Kingdom ri der. Then I could rid e th e Eng lish Ch ampionship and gath er points. You had to do this in ord er to be picked by the Federation to ride in the Worl d Cha m p ionship s. I began racin g in the United Kingdom as a 500c c rider, racing aga inst Th o rp e, Noyce' and othe r big-nam e Englis h rid ers, pickin g up plenty of points in the pro cess. I went ove r there with intentions to ride for Kawasaki, out of England. I had production bikes, mechanics, tru cks, and parts; and with all my other spo nsors, they were pretty much paying my wa y . So it was like, go out and prove yourself now. I did just that, and the Kawasaki ride started out pretty go od . Then one we ek end when there wasn't anything going on.in England, we went to an international race in France. It was the first time I had gone out of England to race against any oth er Europeans in an intemational race, and they paid me jus t to showup . I rod e against Graham Noyce, Georges [obe, Eric Geboer s, Hakan Carlqvist and a number of other big riders - and I won! I w on all th ree motos tha t weekend. Then, while flying back home to England, I was wi th Alex Wright. He was the English im p orte r w ho oversees where all the works bikes go. He was the man I had to answer to. We were sitting there on the plane, when he told me I couldn't beat Georges [obe. And I said, "What do you mean I can't beat him?" At first I thought he was bein g humorous - like I was lucky to have beat him . "Shoot I beat him!" He said, "No, we don't want you to win. We pa y [obe a lot of mo ney. We want you to cater to him ." " Wh a t do yo u mea n by ca te r to him ?" I asked . "What if he gets a 15th? Do I have to finish behin d him?" He says, "If we ask you to!" Then I said, "No, I won 't!" We got in a big argument. I wasn't going to waste another yea r of my career. When I got back to En gland , I told my manager wha t had happened. He didn't like it either - so we went to see KTM about a ride. We go t it. They gave me a small salary, bikes, mechani cs and a truc k for transportation. I went back to Englan d, got my KTM and began practicing every day. Th en we went to the firs t GP in Austria. I d idn't have my mechanic yet, so my wife had to wash th e air filters between mo tos . The Eng lish importer gave me the bikes, bu t no mechanic . I raced and got a fourth and a DNF. Then we went on to the second GP in France and I won both 500cc motos. Then the KTM factory stepped right in and gave me a larger salary, a mechanic and all the proper stuff that I needed . Then it beca me quite enjoyab le to ra ce the World Championship series. I ended up seventh overall that year in the 500cc GP sta nd ings, and that was after missing about one half of the races w it h an injury. So I thou ght I actually d id very well my first season in Europe. With the '85 GP season a su ccess for you, what were your plans for '86? I had just signed a very lucrative three- year contract with Kawasaki, as well as with othe r monetary sponsors such as Shell oil, Lazer helmets and Skoal (tobacco). I was finally becoming accustomed to living in Europe. I was getting used to the lifestyle I was living, th e travel and the food . I was really beginning to get it all figured out, and being that I enjoyed living and racin g in' Europe so much, I was looking forwa rd to racing three more years in the World Championships. With all the new contracts in hand for '86, and a hard-fought season just completed, did you plan on taking it easy for a while? Yes. I was going to go back to the States for a while, but Kawasaki wan ted me to go to Ita ly and France for Sup er crosstype events, and ride the new works bike. So I postponed my trip back home, decided to take the new bike and head to It al y for those races and then go home for a whil e. Those races were obvious ly you r last. Can you describe what ha ppened that night, in December, 1985? Everyt hin g starte d off pretty good. It was only a week or so after signing the new contract that we left for the races. The bike was working pretty good , but I wasn't quite used to it yet, althou gh I was excited and motivated to ride well. The supercross in Paris was a very prestigious even t. All the top European riders were the re, as we ll as many of the top American riders, so I really wanted to do good for the Italian Importer, and for Kawasaki . I did well in the quaIifier that night in Paris. I was running first on the last lap when I fell, but got up to finish second to Ricky Johnson of the United States. I still don 't remember the accide nt, but I've seen the video tapes of it many times. When I crossed the finish line in the next race, I jumped the hill there and put the bike sideways like I've In his prime. Chandler was known lor his flamboyant and tenacious riding style. You could always count on "Magoo· to provide a good show. done so many times without any problems. As I took my left hand off to wave to the crowd, yo u cou ld see a cam era flash and another one. Then you can see a third flash go off, and you can see the . whi tes of my eyes . So after seeing that o n ta p e, I realized that m y eyes had been camera- or flash-shocked. Then yo u can see me trying to grab the hand lebars pro perly, and at that instant I land and the bike starts to shoot off the tra ck. I wheelied over some hay bales, kick ing the rear into the air , throwing me over the handleba rs and hitting a cameraman wi th my head and chest. This turns me over onto my back while I'm still in the air. Then I hit headfirst into some concrete, bouncing me across the co urs e onto the other side of the starting grid. The first thing I remember was a n o th e r rider and friend, Eric Geboers, coming to m y side. I was yell ing, "I can 't mo ve, I can' t move," and Eric was telling me to stay 'calm , Shortly after that, I remember feeling so hea vy, like I weighed a million pounds. Then the next thing I remember, I was waking up in a ro o m so m ew here. I beli eve it was in th e sta di u m . Eri c Geb oers was holdin g m y hand an d telling me to be still. I told him I was h a v in g difficu lty brea thing. Th en I remember someone else by my side and Eric telling me they had to put a tube d ow n m y throat so I co ul d breathe properly . Next was the ambulance ride to the hospital, and I'm thinking I must be really hurt. At the hospital I remember1 couldn't talk because of the tube in my throat. So I tried to have them read my lips . Then they decided to operate " Cf) ,...; ...... ..... I-< 0..

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