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/127698
INTERVIEW Five-time Grand NationalChampion Scott Parker Did that stra in your relationship at all? I don' t know . Since then, I haven ' t spok en to h im w ithout h is h elmet o n . Nobody really kn o w s w hat's going o n with him . There were some new faces in winner's circle tlris year. Yeah, I th ink it's grea t th at th ere were some new wi nners. I' m jus t like the aver, age fan . When I go to the races, I like to see th e underdogs win, too . Bu t I' m on the other side of the fen ce. I ge t paid to race and win. ice, close races w ith differe nt w in ners w ould be g re a t, but m y job is to win and win b ig. I d on 't ge t paid any m ore mon ey to mak e it a close race, so if I ca n, I sp lit. Towa rds the end of the series, the point lead switched hands several tim es. It was quite exciting. Did the drama ever keep you up at nigJrt? No . Well, [ guess one night after Cas tle Rock I was thinkin', "A w shoot; I was so close to qu alifying and I didn' t." But I put it behind m e. Tha t's one thing th at I'm good a t, pu tt ing s tu ff behind m e. No sense cryin g ove r s p ill e d m il k . After Pomo na, for ins tance, a fter I broke d own I went out an d had a few beers and went to slee p . The next morning I woke u p and d id the 01' "What if" deal, an d then put it ou t of my head. I jus t focused on what I had to do at the last race. Going into t're series finale at Del Mar, most people assumed that you would do w hat you had to do and win the race. WI,at makes it so easy f or Scott Parker to do w hat he has to? Pre-race preparati on. Is t"ere always a little bit that you have in reserve, that you save for those tim es? 1986 . .' ' 1st, Springfield Mile . ~ Qualified for 21 Nationals' , -. 1st, San Jose Mile , - Qualified for 12 Nationals ' , ', 1st, Sacramento Mile ' 1st, Sacramento Mile ' Grand National Champion , - tst, Louisville Half Mile : 1st, DuQuoin Mile ' " , : - lst,lndy Mile : ' '-'Ranked 2nd overall ' 1991' , Ranked 9th overall ' '1987 ' Qualified for 15 Nationals ,1st: Pomona Half Mile , 1980 . Qualified lor 17 Nationals -tst; San Jose Mile . : 1st, Springfield Mile , Qualified for 14 Nationals , ,'1st, Louisville Half Mile ' -fst, Louisville Half Mile . - 1st, Hinsdale TT ' ' , 1st, Lima Hatl Mile ' • - 1st, Indy Mile , - Ranked8th overall ,,1st, Springfield Mile · 'ls t; Sacramento Mile · : 1st, San Jose Mile ' Ranked 2nd overall 1981 ' : Grand NationalChampion , Qualified for 14 Nationals , 2nd, Sacramento Mile . . 1988 1992 . Ranked 11th overall · - Qualifiedfor 16 Nationals ' Qualified for'13 Nationals . - tst, Middletown HatlMile . 1982 ' . · ' .151, lridy Mile ' " 1st, Pomona HalfMile ', l st, Springfield Mile - 1st, San Jose Mile - Qualifiedfor 18 Nationals · ' 1st, Springfield Mile ' 1st, Ascot Half Mile , , : -tst, Ascot Half Mile , 1st, Syracuse Mile - tst, Sacramento Mile - Ranked 5th overall , ile ' 1st, Lima Hatl M , ~rand National Champion • 1st, Springfield Mile 1983 ' : ,lst, Sacramento Mile , Qualified for21 Nationals 1989 . . ' 1st, Pomona Hatl Mile . , 2nd. Harrington Hall Mile ' ,Qualified for 15 Nationals - tst , Sacramento Mile ' , Ranked 2nd overall - 2nd, San Jose Mile , Ranked 5th overall .. 1st, San Jose Mile. . , ,1st, HagerstownHaf Mile 1993 ' Qualifiedfor 18 Nationals , . - t st, Springfield Mile 1984 · , , 1St, DuQu Mile oin , 1st: San Jose Mile . : QUiiHfied for 20 Nationals ' .-Hanked3rd overall -tst, Albuquerque Mile : 1st, Ascot Hatl Mile ~ 1st. Lima HallMile ' ,1st, lndyMile , Ranked 4th overall, -tst, Springfield Mile 1994 ' , Qualified lor 20 Nationals ' ,1st, San Jose Mile , - 1st, Sacramento Mile' , ,', 1st, Sacramento Mile 1985 · , Qualified for 19 Nationals • Grand Nationili Champion , ' 1st, Pomona Hall Mile , 1st, HoustonTT , - 1~, Parkersburg Hal Mile l - fst, OklahomaCityHalf Mile ' , 1st, Indy Mile .. 1990 ' : 1st, Goshen Half Mile ' ~ '1st, Sacramento Mile ' Qualified tor 15 Nationals " 1st, Springfield Mile ' t st, San Jose Mile ' Ranked 3rd overall , 1st, Springfield Mile , - tst, Sacramento Mile " 1st, Del MarMile -fst, Lima Hall Mile ,1 st, Indy Mile ' ' : Grand National Champion 1979 - Tumed Expert" .. ~ a ~ Lt') 0\ 0\ ,.....; ~' e-, et: ::l l-< t:: -et: 12 I think so. When it comes down to it w hen yo u hate to h an g it ou t a little, I can. Tha t's what it is abo ut Ricky Grah a m , h e always rid es like th at. Tha t' s why it's so hard to beat h im w he n he 's on a ro ll. H e always goes as fas t as h e can, while I can always pick it up just a smi d gen if I have to . worth a $100,000 . You ca n tak e a pencil and paper figu re ou t the rest, what I mad e a t all the other ra ces. I won eigh t ra ces, and they pay about five grand ea ch. I finished seco nd four times, th ird three times and so on. The only thing yo u can 't figure ou t is w ha t my salary is. (La ughs) You can gu esstimate abou t tha t. It was a good year, let' s put it th at way. What are yourfeeli ngs about Chris Carr going road racing? I th ink it's perfect for Ch ris. Maybe not for me, but it's great for Chris. The bo ttom line is all about dolla r bills, and if I was as yo ung as he is and had th e sa me opportuni ty, I'd do the same th ing. Road racing seems to be a popular transition f or dirt trackers. Carr, Mi ke Hale and Larry Pegram are the most recent to make the switch. Why didn't you try it out? Ther e wasn' t a bike th at the com pa ny had for me to try, an d I mad e mon ey racing d irt track. Nobody ever mad e me an offer to go road racing, so how could I qu it feeding one hand to try to feed it with the other one? I h ad a gu a ra n tee d sa la ry to dirt track, SO why should I try to d o something that I don 't even know abo u t? Were you ever offered a ride on the VR1000? No. Would you ever lik e to throw a leg over it? Oh, yeah. I'd maybe like to race it once, m aybe at Dayt ona or so me thing, but only once . But I don' t even know if that would ever even happen. Do you think that becaus e of the new road racing program, the HarleyDavidson factory is losing interest in the dirt track program ? I think that the guy in charge of racing d oesn't give a heck about d irt tr ack. He was a road racer, he loves road racing, Sci if yo u had aho ld of the reins, w hich wa y would you go? The way th at yo u kn ow and love, righ t? YOIl Who do you see being a threat next season? you ' re going to win. But I kn ew that's what I had to do. I had to win, and Chris Ca rr ha d to finish worse than seco nd . Th ere' s a lot o f open in g sp o ts now, especially since Chris won't be racing full tim e. Kenny Coolbeth is fast, so ar e those brothers fro m Northern Cali fornia. (Ben and Eric Bost rom) Will Da vis could be going fa st, so co u ld St e v e Morehe ad . Davey CarnIin won a race th is year, now he has had a taste. knew you were going to win when you lined up for the final at Del Mar, didn 't you? (La ug hs ) Well, yo u never know th at What w as'the first thing you thought w hen you looked back and saw Kevin A therton in second? Well, I knew who was champion! I was like, "Right on!" We had finall y pulled it off. It was such an u p-and-down season you co u ld n ' t ha ve written the story any different, any be tter. I can jus t imagine the people w ho rea d Cycle News every week, following the series. One wee k yo u open the paper and see that yo u r favorite gu y is w inning, th en the next week th e pape r says the opposite. That's how we felt, but abou t a hundred tim es more in tense. So how did you celebrate your fifth championship? I d rank a few cold beers, wen t to bed, then flew ho me the next d ay . No elaborate vacati ons or fa ncy nC!" toys? No pe, no new golf p utters, and no tri ps . A few years ago be fore I wo n one of my cham pionships I to ld myse lf th at if I won, I'd join this fancy cou ntry club ncar my home. Well, I never got arou nd to it, so I figured w ha t's th e use . I still ain ' t a mem be r. How much was your fiftJr championship wo rth? Well, let's just say that winning the last ra ce and ge tti n g the championsh ip was Chris Carr w ill concentrate on road racing and only race selected Grand Na tionals, and no one seems to know w hat Ricky Graham w ill do next year. Will next year be a cakewalk for Scott Parker? Well, that's what everybody is saying. You wou ldn' t be lieve how many people have sai d tha t to m e. But I can ' t let myself slip into tha t mode. Th at's when you get bit. I'm trying to start with the righ t atti tude right now. It ain't over until it' s ove r. On the other hand, that can he lp motivate the ot her guys, too . They'll figu re, "HeIL Carr is gone no w, tha t b um p s m e up a position!" That will ge t everyone pumped up a b it. With five championships and 60 National w ins, what keeps you motivated? Do llar bills. . Do yOIl th ink you w ill reach a point wh ere racing is no longer any fun? No, I th ink I'll retire before then. I'll mo st likely race for tw o m ore year s. Now tha t I' ve fina lly go tten th at fifth champions h ip, h e ck , now th at six th ch a m pionshi p d oesn' t seem that far away . I think 1995 can be a very good year. t ~