Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I EXPAND ING " O u r fir st s ho p was 2000 s q ua re fe et," sa id P ayto n . " We used to say, 'Man, th ere's no way w e' ll need all this sp ace.?' . Littl e did they know. Pa yton looks back at 1984 as the company' s " b reak th ro ugh " year. Former Team Honda tuner Paul Turner offered Pa yton a Honda CR250 pipe design. "He said that it worked pretty good, and if we wanted to produce it, all we had to do was pay him a royalty," said Payton. "It turned out be ing really good, an d in 1985, Bob Hannah used it. Brian Lunniss was his Honda mechanic, and Brian was also m yoId Scott USA rep when I w as racing. H e believed in me and got Bob to try the pipe." That same year, a youngster by th e name of Ricky Johnson approached Payton for help. Though Johnson was a factory Yamaha rider, he had signed to ride w it h Te am Honda in the '86 season. Yamaha ex ec s were disgruntled, an d refused to provid e Johnson wi th a bike for th e fin al race of th e se ason . Bound by contract to race a Yamaha if he w ere to ra ce at all, Johnson recruited Pro Circuit to buil d a Yamaha YZ250 for him to race at the L.A. Coliseum. Though Johnso n fa ile d to win the race, h e wa s im pressed e no ugh by th e performan ce of the m achine to return to Payton and his boys w hen the new season roll ed along . . " RJ u sed o ne of ou r p ip e s o n h is Honda throughout the Go ld en St a te Series, a n d li ke d it so mu ch th at h e tal ke d H on d a into letting him ra ce th e w ho le su pe rcross series wi th it," Pay ton said . "That w as the first year of the p roduction rul e, so th at help ed u s ou t a lot. Hon da w as the firs t factory ' to u se Pro Circuit products." Th e first, but not the only. Th e Yamaha fact ory approach ed Pay to n only da ys before th e opening su pe rcross, with q uite an order to fill. Ap pa ren tly, Broc Glover h ad sn u ck in a rid e a boa r d Pro Ci r cui t e m p loyee Alley Semar's perso nal YZ, a n d was co n vi nce d tha t it performed better th an hi s factory bike. "The Yama ha guys ca ll ed m e th e Th u rsday before a race, and asked me if we could port eigh t barrel s for th em that day!" said Payton. " I sa id, 'S ure, but can I cha rge.yo u?' Theri, all of a sudd en stuff started go ing bonkers. It was like w e were so ine secre t w ea pon o r som eth ing." Joh nso n wen t o n to w in th e '86 Su percro ss Ch ampions hip usin g a Pro Circu it pi pe, and in ' 87 Kawasa ki's Jeff Ward nabbed the titl e w ith a Pro Circuit pipe . Johnson regain ed the title in '88, with - yo u g uessed it - a Pro Circu it pip e, " We won the supercross title d uring the first th ree years that the production r u le w as in effect," sa id Payton , " We . crack up on th at all the time. It was like a dream or som ething." In 1987, Pro Circu it found itself too big for the old building, and moved into a huge 8500-sq uare -foo t facility . Once again, Pa yto n thought th at th ere was "no way" he could use all of that room, but n o w - in 1994 - Pro C ircuit fi nds itse lf needing a larger build ing. "We're running out of room again," sa id Payt on . "As it is, our pipe sho p and race sho p are in d iffer ent bu ildin gs. We n eed to get eve rything under one roof again. It's quite a th ou gh t to loo k back a t A na he im H usky w here we h a d a small building and one em ployee other tha n myself . Now we h ave 35 employees." So what active rol e does Payt on still p lay? "I still desi gn every pipe tha t we se ll, an d I s till co me up w ith m ost o f the engine s pe cs ," h e s ai d. " Bu t Bones (sh ock man Jim Bacon) han d les all of th e suspension stu ff. He runs his own show back there. I don't know what he d oes, and I d on't care to. Bac k a t Anah eim Husky, I tried to learn to d o shoc ks for a w hile, and I hated it. It really sucked for me, because I had to be under th e bench . There I w as, covered in oil." A TEAM OF THEIR OWN In 1991, th e su percross w orld w as set on its ear when rumors of a fac to rybacked, outside-industry- sponsored, Pro Circuit-run team were heard. "Pro Circuit had always had a team!' said Payton. "Back in the Anah e im Husky days , w e had a local su p p o rt team . It was cool - even back then I always had our riders dressed identically . " A t the end of the 199 0 s e aso n, Hon d a approached u s and s a id th at they would be cutting ba ck on their 125 program. They asked if w e could help ou t with th e engines, and I said su re . Th en , all of a sud den, it went from help ing w ith m otors to runnin g th e w hol e team. I told them su re, I' d consider it, bu t only if I could find a sponsor to pay for the deal." Th us, Team Peak /Splitfi re /Pro Ci rcuit H onda was born , w ith team rid ers Jeremy McGrath, Bri an Sw ink , Jeromy Buehl and St eve Lam son . And things couldn't have turned out an y better, as M cGrath a n d Swink w ent o n to win their respective 125cc Regional Su percross Championships with ease. "We didn' t ac tually h av e th e d eal with Peak wrapped up until abo u t February," sai d Payt on. "We were alrea dy r acing at th at p o in t! At th e o pe n ing ro und in Orlando, w e w ere just shaking our h e ad s . Swi n k was cr a sh in g a n d Buehl was go ing slow. Bones and I we re th inkin g th at we were g o n na get smoked ! Th en in th e m ain, Swi n k and Bueh l w ere 1-2 in th e firs t turn, an d Swi n k went o n to w in. W e couldn 't believ e it." Without a doubt, the Pro Circuit pits were th e center of attention. With th eir identi cally prepared bi kes, m atching u n iforms, huge awning and team b ox vans, the team w as qu ite asight to see . "T o tell yo u th e truth, I th ink th at we cau ght everyone off guard tha t first ye a r," said Payt o n . "It was th e first time that anyone .too k th e 125 clas s th at serio us ly." Wh ile Payton's tea m was the firs t to have su ch a presen ce, the conce pt of a true " team look" wasn' t his idea. In th e late 1980' s, Payton h im self was bitten by th e racing bug, and b egan to take an in teres t in a u to raci ng . " I tho ught it w ould be neat to race something aga in ," he said . " So I s ig n e d u p for th e Bo b Boundra nt Dr ivi n g School an d started to race a showroom stock Honda CRX." Pay ton progres sed r ap idly and moved up in class, wi nning seve ral championships and hono rs in a short amo unt of time . " I was re all y in to it," he sa id. "It w as like a new ch ick or so me th ing . It was all I wa nted to d o o r think abo u t for a w hile." But eventually - after a car deal go ne bad - Payt on realized that m o torcycle racing w as w here h is heart really bel o nged . " Mo torcy cle racing - ban g for the bu ck is the best sport in th e world," Payton said . "All yo u need to ra ce is a bike, a picku p tru ck and a gas can . Car racin g is a m ajor undert akin g, an d I was spe nd ing too mu ch money. You need a car, a trailer, extra wheels, jack stands - it's a never-endin g deal. Motorcycles are awesome." But if th ere w as one thing Payton gain ed from his car racing experien ce, it w as h is und erstand in g of th e importan ce of appearance. "Everyone thinks that we invented th e "te am " lo ok, but w e re all y ju st copied it from the car racing guys," he said . "If you think ab out it, motocross is a real dirt farmer spo rt , and it needed to be cleaned up a bit." In '92, a revised version of the Peak team - McGrath, Buehl, Buddy Antunez and Mike Brown - returned to the track. McGrath su cces s fu lly defended his Western Regional Championship, but n ew Tea m Su zuki rider Swink again captured the East ern title. In '93, the Pro Circuit team changed colors, m achines and spons ors. "H ond a d idn't make an offer, so we starte d talkin g to Kawasaki," Payton sai d . "When they finally di d, it w as for hal f of the money, and they still wanted . to d o b oth coas ts wi t h four rid ers . Kawasaki only wa nted to con centrate on the Wes tern Region, and that' s who we . wen t wit h." O ne of th e most uniqu e spo nsors of the new tea m ' was Hot Wh eels, a d ivision of the MatteI Toy Co m pa ny . "Ho t Whe el s h a d a to y th at they called 'Pro Ci rc u it,' b u t we had the rig hts to th at name," ex p lained Payt on . "Ins tead of go ing to court and all th at, I sai d, ' H ey, h ow abo u t sponsoring m y ra ce team?' and they d id . " We' re lu ck y th at th e wh ol e d eal pulled together. I th ink it was a goo d chan ge. Honda was a big team, run like a hu ge team . Kawasaki is a b ig te am, r u n li ke a sm all team . Everythin g is more personal, and m ore appreciated ." The in au gu ral H o t Wh eel s /Splitfi re / P ro Circu it Kaw asaki team w as composed o f Br it James D obb, M ike Ch amberlain and Jimmy Gaddis, a former te am Suz u k i r ider w ho n e v er seemed to reach h is p ot ential. Ga ddis went on to wi n th e '93 Wes te rn Regional title with consisten t fin ish es, but the season w as di sm al for the other team m embers . Chamberl ain faile d to yield th e results exp ected of him, and Dob b spen t a good part of th e seaso n inju red . He d id, however, ea rn his first ou tdoor Nati ona l w in a t the tou gh Una dilla 125cc Na tio na l. "Jamie w as a good guy," said Payton . "When we were puttin g the team to gether, o u t Brit ish importer, Colin Harrison, called and said that Dobb was looking for a ride in th e sta tes . He ha d ' been racing Grand Prix, and w anted to try his hand in the U.S. That's how we got hooked up with him." In ' 94, Dobb returned to the team, and w as joined by Mexican Pedro Gonzalez and hot shoe Ryan H ughes. Whil e Dobb and Gonzales had res pe ctable performances, m ost o f the team' s hopes rested on Hughes. The aggressive Californian w on his share of ra ces, but in the end, came up a few points shy, lo sing th e title to Suzuki's D amon Huffman . For the firs t time since th e incep tion of th e team, the 125cc We stern Regi onal Ch ampionship w as not w on by Pr o Circu it. A ll w a s n o t lo st, h o w ev er, as H ughes came to life and won tw o ou tdoo r Nationals lat e in the season. Nex t y e a r , th e Sp litfi re /Pr o C ircu it/ Ka w a s a k i te am will co n si st of H ughes, rookie Casey Johnson, David Pi ngree, and teenage French se nsation Mickael Pich on. Things look good for th e team, and Payt on is optimi stic that they can regain th crown. So what lies in the future for Pay ton and the Pro Circuit boys? "Ultima tely, we don 't wan t to race for th e rest of our lives, I see us having a team fo r at least one m ore year, " said Pay ton. " Realis tically, we have nothing m ore to accomplish . We're a co mpany who m ak es pipes, modifies suspension and sells a few T-sh irt s . We eventua lly need to return ou r atte n tion to the business, not raci ng. "Yeah, racing ha s been a burden, but I woul d n't trade what we've done fo r any thing in the world . Racin g is'a shortterm goal for us, but the sh op is a longte rm co m m it ment. There a re a lo t o f companies out th ere w ho come and go, but we w ant to be in this spo rt for a lon g tim e to come. "We 're for real ." t~ ~ CJ\ CJ\ ~ C"'"l ' C'-l l-< (l) S (l) >o z 15

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