Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"JNI~"~vrE.Vf ,· By Donn Maeda ".?/you ~ ~OnUdUng oublUe if" youu#"b azu.Jing you~ p~u, you aiD wok oubWe youu#"fi~ M.. alUURJ. H - Dr. Robert Anthony fter enjoyi ng what can only be described as the most successful season in AMA Grand National racing hist ory, you'd think that Ricky Graham would have been on top of the world. After all, not only had he cap tured his third Grand National Championship and set a numbe r of re co r d s along the w a y - h e proved , to both himself and to his fans, that his checkered past was once and for all behind him. Graham d id, in fact, bask in the glory o f h is re markable seaso n for a fe w weeks . But then, things be gan to go wrong. Only weeks after the conclusion of the 1993 season, Graha m elec ted to undergo corrective a n kle s u rgery to "cle an up" all of the sca r tissue a nd bone spurs that had accumulated over the years from numerous brea ks and sprains. " It was just a rou tin e thing," said Gra h am . " My an kles had been hu rting me a little during the past season, so I figured it would be a good time to get them fixed , once and for all." But the su rgery , it turned out, did more harm than good. Graham contracted a staph infection in his tender ankles, and found himself bedridden throughout mos t of the winter. Unable to train, he found his win ter becoming more and more miserable as no sp ons ors came knocki ng at his d oor after he had parted wa ys with the Undo Racing team . Yearning to organize his own race tea m with a ma jor spons o r, Graham was certain that such baclcing would be easy to find . As it turns out, it wasn't. Tho u gh Grah a m secured a one-race d ea l with th e Sm okin ' Joe's H ond a road race team to contest the Daytona 200 an d Dayt on a Short Track, the rest of the '94 season looked bleak. The 40tim e National winner was withou t a ride. Things began to look up, however , on ly da ys before the Sacramento Mile, round two of the Grand Na tiona l Championship Series. Johnny Goad, Graham's Team Und o tuner, asked Graham to rejoin him for the res t of the season . "At Da ytona, I could see that Ricky and I needed ea ch other," sa id Goad. "We won that number-on e plate together , and we need to defend it together:' Itwas not to be, though, as Graham's ankles flared up on the evenin g before the race. Graham was a no-show, and altho ugh those close to Graham knew of his situa tion, most were left to wonder. Imm ediately, rumor s began to fly. "Graham 's drinking again, partying it u p af ter w inning th e championshi p," said one specta tor, who claimed that he knew it for a fact. Oth er rumors - some even more outlan dis h - began " circulate when Gra to ham failed to show for the third, fourth an d fifth rounds of th e series. Where e>1 32 Grand NationalChampion R Graham icky was the champ? Nobod y not even Goad - seemed to know. It's been thre e mon ths si nc e Ricky Graham las t threw a leg over a motorcycle, but now - it seems the melancholy rac e r is ready to retur n to the track. "Where has Ricky Graham been for the past few months? Basically, on my back. The surgery tha t I had d uring th e w inter to correct th e pain in my ankles from the years of abuse went wrong w he n the in fecti on cam e alo ng . It was a b ig g e r problem than I could have ever imagined . I was barely able to race at Daytona, and si nce then , th ing s haven ' t go tte n mu ch be tter. Are your ankles the only thi ngs tha t have kept you away fro m the races? No, I'm su re that I would have been ra cin g if I had some incen tive. For me to race the past two seasons, I had to to ta ll y turn my mind around. After I rod e for Team Hond a, it w as difficult to race for purse mon ey only. Through all those years it was hard to race as a privateer. Most people d on' t unders tand wha t it's like to be pa id a sala ry to rac e. So w hat I d id was tum my atti tud e around about racing a nd p ut ou t a ll th e nega tivity abo ut racing out of my mind. I figured that I'd been there, and I could get to the top again. Then after doing everything I did last yea r for what turned out to be no thing - no spo nsorship came along after that - I was very devastated again. It was real hard for me to get excited about racing anot her season for nothing. So you' re saying that your attitude went bad when no new sponsors came along? Oh, there's no question about it. When I went to Daytona th is year, I was in no way, shape or form ready to race. I was bedrid den all wi nter. Then I raced the Daytona 200 on wha t was pure hope. To be honest, I didn't really want to, but I w en t in good fa ith, h o p in g that I' d attrac t a sponso r. So I went and d id pretty goo d, but then it was the same 01' thing: nothing. It' s tough to be th e best a thlete in your field - in the world - and know that it's still hard to pa y the bills. You did all of the winning last year and say that you had a hard time pay ing the bills. How do you think th e racers who don't win feel? Well, I feel that I d on ' t re ally have an extravagant lifestyl e. I have a mortgage payment, a mo torhome payment and a car payment, but I d on't think I live high on the hog or any thing. I don't like to eat at McDonalds. I think I might live a little better than a lot of racers . But I thin k a lot of th ose guys just want to race. That's all they think about. They don't think about the secu rities in life . Your p rio rities cha nge w he n you get older. Hasn't it been hard to sit out this much of the seas o n ? Isn't it hard to stay awa y? It's a little bit difficult, but I feel tha t a stand has got to be made for a lot of the' riders. The races tha t I've been racing at all of these years ha ven't had a pu rse increase. I do n' t think the AMA or the pr omoters take a big interest in the ride rs. They jus t expec t number one to show up, bu t hey - numbe r one isn't a factory rider and he can do w hat he . wants. Number one isn' t happy with the way the riders are being treated. I think I'm making a stand, in a way. I just wan t everyone to know the way th ings ar e. I' m sitting here in Cali forn ia ove r $20,000 in debt to insuranc e companies because of injuries that I've sustained at AMA races. Th e AMA won 't pay fo r them - their insurance doesn't cover me well enough . So here I am th inkin g, 'Should I go out and race? Shou ld I go ou t an d risk getting hurt again an d getting deep er in d ebt if th e AMA w on' t pay for it? When I was younger, I d idn 't even thi n k about this stuff. You pay ins ura nce companies for these policies that don't even really take care of you. You reached an agreement with Johnny Goads before Sacramento. Is that deal still available to you when you decide to return? Oh yeah. Johnny and I will be together again. Th e re are qu ite a few rumors flyi ng at the races i n yo u r absence. How do you feel about that? Well, throughout my whole life I've always raced motorcycles, and all my life, I've been ex p o sed to parties. Until th e las t few yea rs , I didn't really see how bad it looked fo r a ra cer to s ta rt par tying up and drinking a beer after the races. It seems like peo ple are just wa iting for me to screw u p again. And that hurts, you know it reall y does . So I'm ju st go n na have to come back and s ho w everyone aga in tha t I'm clean. You said n u me ro us times last year tha t your comeback was a ll abo u t pride. You won the ch amp ionship, won 12 races and set a number of records. What is left for you to prove? Well, fro m th e sounds of these rumors, it looks like I have to prove everything all over again. And besid es, I can't let my oid bud dy Scotty take over again (laughs) . I' ve just been d own .in the dumps . Winnin g was m y chil d hoo d dream . What I did was way beyond wha t you could ever imag in e. I didn't expect to do w ha t I did . And after I did , I was thinking, 'Man, something's gotta happen, something's gotta ha ppen: Th en when no th in g did , I tho ught, 'Man, it's just not wo rth it!' But now I realize, hey, tha t' s how it is. I can either complain abo ut it and not do it, or just go ou t and make my liv ing. Everyone com plai ns about the way they make their living. I guess this is just what's there. I wish it were better. I wish more factories were involved. But they' re not, and I guess I have to accep t that. Hopefully, I can do something to change that and make it better for all racers. Are you in any condition to race right now? To be hones t with you, my ankles are really, really sore. I told Johnny tha t I will do the best I can to get ready for th e (Ju ne 25) Li ma Ha lf Mil e, b u t I don 't th in k that's r ea ll y possible. Mayb e th e race after th at - I' ll try the best I can to get ready. And that's from this day forwa rd, because I hav e not trained atall. When you return, do you think you'll be competitive right off the bat? Oh, I know I will be. I won' t return un til lam. Do you th ink that you've lost any fans during your absence? Tha t' s th e toughest part. I just wan t them to all un derstand that it's not just m y an kl es that ha s kept m e away . There's a lot of other negative th ings about racing that have made it difficult for me to return. I'll be back to try and change some things - an d to put the Honda back up front. lowe that to my fans. It's time to get it on. ~

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