Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127672
Do you thi nk that some people wrote you off after the '93 season? I' m sure there we re so me people who did. But I knew where I stood. We were getting beat by inches. For whatever reason, I just wasn' t winning. People look at my pa st - the five great years that I had with so many wins - they just expect me to win more and I wasn't fulfilling those expectations. I think in the long run,though, it was good motivation for me. I looked at the season and decided that I had to ch ange a few things. And as you can probably tell, it seems to be w o r ki n g. I'm not getting any younger, and the younger gu ys are training hard. I've upgraded my training routine and started eating better. You look much thinner this season. Yeah, I've lost about seven pounds. I've started changing my diet - less fast food. Instead of eating burgers for lunch, I'll eat a turkey sandwich or something. I think the whole country is changing; starting to eat better. I'm not saying that I'm the best-eonditioned gu y out there, bu t I'm defini tely in better shape this yea r tha n I have been in the past. You don't have to be a big, bulky, strong guy who can rip the wheels off the motorcycle to go fast , bu t you have to h ave endura nce. I' m in better shape than I was in last year, and in as good a shape as anyo ne else. If you had lost your factory ride after last season, would you still be racing as a privateer? . I. think so. I' ve had a couple offers this year regarding outside sponsorship, but bec ause I'm riding for the factory, my hands are tied. I think I could have pu t together a $100,000 program as a privateer , no problem. I feel that I could be jus t as competi tive.as a privateer. You've already won three races th is year - three times as many as you won all year last season. What has made the differen ce? Well, I th ink my we ight might be the differenc e. They say that seven pounds is equal to one horsep ower. When you can add a horsepower, that's quite a big difference. Me and Bill don't like to get bea t, and when you get beat you tr y extra hard. Last year, Ricky beat us with a single-shock chassis, so we went to a single-sh ocker too. We have it pretty dialed now, and it seems to be working . Both Bill and I want to win, and we ha ve something to prove. We wan t to prove to the factory, and to the fans, that I can still win . The fans corne up to me and say : Sco tt! You've only won one race this year.' And I'll say 'I know, I know!' Then they say, 'Scott, you 're still number one! ' And I'll say, ' No , I'm number two, and I was third last year!' They have the ir images of me way up there, and it's hard for them to see me not winning. Honest to God, I'm doing everything I can to win. Does the Oklahoma City crash stay in the back of your mind? N o, not really . I guess at last year's Oklahoma City Half Mile it did. I looked at the tum and said, That's where I cartwheeled the son of a bitch.' But all in all, no, I don 't think it sticks in my mind. I don ' t really consider my knee injury that I got in that crash to be very serious - thank God I' ve never been seriously injured. How has your knee healed up? Well, I can honestl y say tha t I can d o jus t abo u t anything th at I could do before I got hurt. I've recovered pretty well . When I was all busted up, a guy named John Parker called me up and said , 'Hey, I heard you hurt your knee. I'm gonna send you this bicycle because that 's the best thing you can do for a knee injury. I want you to get better and kick Chris' bu tt.' Four days later this bicycle showed up , and I started riding it. I really had no idea, but later on I found out that it was a real to p-of-the-line bicycle. He called me ba ck a few we eks later and asked how I was doing and how I liked it. He said tha t he used to race against me at a few west coast races a long time ago, and I vaguely remember him. Wha t was neat and really unique about the whole deal was that he was concerned about me, and wanted me to get better. He d idn't ask for any money, he just said: ' Hey, if you can put a sticker on your helmet, that would be great - if not, no pro blem.' That 's why I have that Yeti sticker on all my helmets now - I respect him . So how do you train now? Well, I do ride the bicycle, but I also go to the gym every day. I do the stair-stepper, then I do all the weight machi nes. I like to go to the health spa by myself when I go with a friend, I seem to slack off. I like to go in, get my hour and a half, and boom - I'm out of there. I also ride my motocrosser a lot. D u ring the off- season, you got knocke d unconscious while crashing your motocros ser. How hard do you usually push it on an MX bike? I push it just as hard as I always have. Wh en you start playing it safe, and be in g extra ca reful , is · when you really star t to crash and get hurt. I ride as hard as I can the whole time. What do you do in your free time? I like to golf. It's pretty relaxing , bu t so metimes it's not . You can be an ywhere across the country and play golf if it's sunny and warm outside. If it's nice o u tsid e, w hy coo p yo u rself u p insi de a nd play racquetball or somethi ng? The re 's always a neat golf course around, no matter where you are. You can only go to so man y malls, and you can only go to eat at so many pla ces. You can never go to too many golf courses. Are chil d ren in the future f o r Sco tt a n d Wanda Parker? Well, we 've been married · for five years now, and as a matter of fact, we 're in the process of tr ying to have a baby. We've been trying and trying, but for some reason Wanda hasn ' t gotten pregna nt. Right now we're seeing a fertility specialist. We've · had a couple insemi na tions, but they ha ven 't worked. Our next step is to co ns ider ad o ptio n . Wanda wants a baby really bad, and so do I - not so bad as she does, thou gh. I'm kinda in li mbo . The doctor s haven' t fo u nd any thin g wrong with either of us, so I guess that's the next step - ado ption. Well, since you don't have kids yet, what do you spend your money on now? Pu tters. I' ve got seven puller s. Golf clubs - I' ve got a lot of golf clubs - I spend a lot of mon ey on golf. I like to gamble. I like tools a lot. If I'm gonna do a job, I'd jus t rather d o it myself , whether it's laying carpet or putting up a roof. I have a lot of tools; I really like them a lou . This year, the Harley-Davidson race team sign ed wit h RC Cola. Do you get free soda? Well, I guess you could say that we get all the RC Cola we can d rink. It's great to see other people suppo rt our sponsors . I've had peopl e corne up to me in the pits and say, 'All I'm drinking now is RC Cola.' That's neat. Last qu estio n: Where did you get you r "woo woo woo" holler from? Oh, I dunno. (Laughs) I guess my mom has a loud mouth; maybe I get that from her . You know, I'll be going down the straight after I just won a race and the fans are all yelling for me. Well, I figure how can I show them that I hear them and am just as excited? I start doing my woo-woo thing and waving at them and we just seem to feed off of each other. After doing something that I love to do, and having them cheering me on fo r doing it, tha t's just a way for me to show how pumped up I am. Over the years, it's just become my trademark, I guess. Any last words? Woo!