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When i t selected an appropriate National numb er for Mulde r, the American Motorcyclist Association chose No. 12, formerly the property of grand master Carr oll Resw eber . This was revea ling. The AMA saw Muld er as the winner of the No. 1 plate immediately, and so d id the fact ory tea ms of Harley-Da vidson and Triumph, each of whom had been vying for Mulder's loyalties ever since Big Bear. Mulder, as the record shows, picked Triumph. He had the Brits salivating at the prospect of collecting the U.S. National Champ ionship. after a dozen consecutive years of failure . But whil e almost everybody else imagined Muld er in the sober role of No.1, Mulder himself didn't see things that way at all. For one thing, even without the No.1 plate, he already believed himself to be the U.S:s best motorcycle racer - he was that cocky. After winning Big Bear at 16, maybe he had the right to be. For another, he disliked all that gypsy-like highway traveling to the rough edges of the far flung National tour, with he and the other campaigners sharing cheap motel rooms, living on burgers - which was how y o u sub-e xisted while chasing points and No. 1. He kn ew ho w p leasant life wa s a t home in Los Angeles, where his com panions and admirers tended to be as celebra ted and loose as he was. They included Steve McQueen (he and Mulder got bombed out of their minds on a jug of rot-gut vino while spectating at an ea rly motocross), and the Hollywood stu ntrnan and Catalina Grand Prix icon Bud Ekins (he and Mulder helped establish a mad speed standard for motorcycles down the coa st of Baja), and all those other dedicated free spirits who congregated at Triumph of Burbank, a motorcycl e shop that was both clubhouse and asylum. These indivi d uals considered motorcycle racing mu ch more than mere fun . In their ju d gme n t, racing w as fa r too hilarious and wondrous a vocation to ever be taken seriously. Predictably, they were among the mos t unserious racers and members of the human race - who ever existed : a brotherhood of joyful characters living and racing with utter a ba n d o n in th e twice-monthly TT Steeplechases at Ascot. It was th ese gu ys whose antics so fru strated Gary Nixon whenever he mad e the Summer trip west to face them in Ascot's National TT. But Mulder and his cohorts were not clowns. They had .mad e their bon es together years before at De Anza and the other now-defunct scra mbles tracks; conse q ue ntly, th ey knew one another's wiles and mannerisms as well as their own. Ascot's Steeplechase hip pod rome measured five-eighths-of-a-mile per lap. It was a set of flat track turns separated by a series of hairpins to knock down speeds, with one modest jump for showing off. It was, for magicians like them, a ridiculo usly easy place to navigate, leaving ample time for pranks like exaggera ted wheelsta nds and flum moxi ng all the flagmen. An even better pran k was the evening when Skip Van Leeuwen, in futile pursuit of Mulder, blew up his Triumph on the main event's nex t-to -las t lap. Van Leeuwen next reappeared at the side of the track in the role of hitch-hiker. And Mulder' s lead wa s so vast he co u ld . afford to stop, give Van Leeuwen a lift to l-< 0.. the checkered, and still not sacrifice the victory. It was the only time in history that a Stee plechase was eve r wo n in tandem. The Ascot authorities proceeded to nail Van Leeuwen for misconduct and even mad e him pay a fine as high as Mulder's, who at least had won some prize money. For his performance, Van Leeuwen earned his nick-name, Van Looney. For his part, Mulde r was known forever as Squirre1. More than anything else, however, Eddie Mulder remai ned un pred ictable. He wasn't alwa ys Squirre1. Castle Rock, Washington, in the summer of 1966, was pulsating wit h the music of Triumph 4O-incherstrumpeting through their elephantine headers, and th e grand stands were rin gin g with shouts of "Put a hat on it, Squirrel!" This was clipped vernacular imploring Mulder to make another wheelie. 24 With two Nationals still to go, he was barely 21 points out of the lead in the championsh ip stand ings. This was when Mulder stopped being Steady Eddie and reverted to Squirrel. He d idn't bother showi ng up at .either Nationa l, thou gh Triumph had fast bikes waiting at both. Mulder had given boy wonders such a bad name that Tri umph no w aband oned all its Muld er fantas ies . Ga ry Nixon rose heroicall y to the occasion and presented the factory with harrowing National titles in 1967 and 1968. Gene Romero got the team another one, its last, in 1970. Mulder, meanwhile, was making only sporadic appearances, often to perform defensive d irty work for the ill- 1994l'rice List* 90055 CR $7,625 900555P $9,750 Ducati tradition ata more affordable price Classic design with real world funccionality £-900 M-900 $8,600 $8,950 The triple-purpose Paris-Dakar winner New sport cruising standard thoroughbred 888 LTD 916 $13.600 Racing heritage in street clothes $14,500 The ultimate in Style • Sophistication • Performance 'Manufacturer's suggested retail prices (U.S. dollars) for 1994 Ducati models, excluding destinationcharges, taxes, license, registration, dealer charges and options. Prices subject to change. See dealer foravailability. ..... - -< The night provided no theatrics, no starter-baiting. Mulder merely rolled to a steady victory. One week later, when the tournament was at Ascot, he won again. That Au gust, back at Peoria, Mulder cap tured his third Steeplechase National in the space of six weeks. Holdi ng its collect ive brea th , Triumph believed that if it could keep Mulder on the st rai ght and nan ow, keep him motivated, he might yet win No. 1 after all these wasted years . The factory even succee ded in making him enter Nation al competitions he didn't favor: road races, for instance, and even mile track clashes, where whatever he accomplished in the sweeping smooth comers seemed to ge t cancelled by his 180 pounds of bodyweight on the straigh ts. DUC::Ar~ • STYLE • SOPHIST ICATION • PER FORMAN C E Please ride responsibly - tion': ride ~nder theinfluenceof drugsor stcono: ,AlwaySwear properprotective riding gear. e 1994 Cagiva North America, Inc.