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
Five-time National Hare &Hound Champion Dan Smith those probl em s to light. But Smith feels that some of the teams have gotten carri ed away with their pre-run tru cks . "Wha t they are is race tru cks, really . Th ey' ll h a v e 200 grand w ra ppe d u p in .a pre-runner so they can go aro un d almost as fast as a race truck will . Holy mackerel, th at's a lot of money to spe nd !" The expense of tru ck racing is something that Smi th stiIl hasn 't go tten used to, despite th e fac t that h e negoti a tes p ri ce s ove r th e phon e every day ., A good, top-of-the-line race truck can cost a qua rte r o f a million d oll ars - n ot in clu d ing replacing p arts after every race and providi ng sup port. "It's a hu ge u ndertaking, to ge t in to truck racing ," says Smith. Huge ind eed. Ash ley's En du ro Racin g sq u ad is just one of five that ra ce under th e Rough Rider s banner. Ford has an independe nt team in every class each one wi th their own semi truck. On race d ay, the se mis are parked at vario us s po ts a lo n g th e co u rse, a n d, a s Smith puts it, "Everybody helps everybody out. "It's a really good deal. We' ve got an airplane up in the sky with a repeater in it. If the Me xicans have built a huge ju mp or dug a ditch or some th ing, the first guy across it goes, ' H o ly sh it, they ' re building this thing!' Everybody else driving a Rough Riders truck hears it. It's a big advantage." The mone y can be overwhelming, but Smith feels that moving into truck racing was a good career move. Financially, he 's not ligh t years ahead of his motorcycle da ys, but he's smart enough to recognize the potential for bigger things. NASCAR's new Supertruck pavement racing se ries has been luring a few off- , road teams away, thanks to its affordability, but Enduro Racing has already taken that into account. Ashley has been contesting th e preliminary Supertruck races,"an d in ' 95, he ' ll sw itch ove r to pa vement ra cing fu ll tim e. That will leave Smith soloing the SCORE races. " I think I'm going to stay involved with th e o ff-roa d e n d of it for a few more yea rs. I'd (even tua lly) like to get in to so me kind of p avem ent racing . I th in k the op po rt u nity's th ere fo r me .d ow n th e ro ad - g ua ra n tee d, wi th Endu ro Racing . I just have to put in my the country's low est point - and finished 18,000 feet of climbing later at Mt. Whitney - the high est point in the continental U.S. "H was a 24-hour death-ride," says Smith. "H kiIled me." ' While th e physi ca l as pect of tru ck ra cing may not be as demand ing, th at jus t p u ts m o re e mphasis on prop er setu p. "With a motorcycle, if your shock starts going away halfway into a race, yo u ca n compensate with yo ur body, be cau se you weigh two-th ird s of what your motorcycle does. You've got a big weigh t transfer that you can ma ke happen with you r bod y. In that car, you' re time ." Putting in time is what truck racing is all about, an d the career longevity is one thing that makes the spo rt so attractive. Smith qui t racing motorcycles at 28, and is now 31. Larry Roeseler is stiIl com petitive on a bike at 37, but he's the exceptio n - and even L.R. h as been experimenting w ith truc k racing of late. "I can kee p d o in g th is u n t il I' m 65," say s Smith. He's probabl y right. Phy sical conditioning comes ea si ly .fo r Smith, as it a lways h as. In h is m ot orcy cle racing days, Dirt Bik e ma g a zi n e took the champ to a sports med icine cardiologi st, and had variety of tes ts performed on him . The doctors det ermined tha t Dan was ind eed a natural athle te. His resting heart ra te was an unbelievably low 42 b ea ts per min ute. "Tha t was a lot of fun," recalls Smith. "But I wasn't the low est . They had test ed som e French b icycle r a ce r w ho rod e th e Tour d e France. His heart rate was only 27! They had p ictures of him and everything." Ap ar t from ri di ng moto rcycles, Smi th d oesn 't trai n much anymore; he doesn' t have to. The last time he rode a bicycle was two years ago, when he and hi s fath er-in-law contest ed th e Death Valley Run, a bi cycl e road ra ce that started in 118-degree heat at Bad Water- a in the sea t an d you can move your head this far (leans head slightly) - that's it. If the car's not wor king righ t, there's not a damn thing you can do to make' it better, as far as your driving." Smi th is up to the task . He has settled into his role as a tru ck racer, and things a r e g oi ng well. He and Rh o n d a are about to celebra te th eir 10th an niversa ry , and he' s h a ving fu n with n in emonth-old so n Jak e. ("I fina lly bit the bu lle t and di d it, and it's really fu n.") And if h is p rese nt results are any ind ication, Dan Smit h has a big future ahead of him in truck raci ng . But d oesn 't he yea rn for the d ays of motor cycle competiti on, at least once in a while? You be the ju dge . "The year after I got hu rt, we were down the re p re-running for the San Felip e 250," says Smith. " I ha d a b ig s le dge h amm e r in m y t r u ck, and I stoppe d an d fou nd th e rock th at I hit. 1::\ It's not there any mo re ..." Down in it s o there we were, just me and the five-time National Hare & Hound Champion, out for a spin in the desert. We roosted out of a sharp right, side by side, and opened it up down a mile-long straight of twofoot whoops, accelerating to around 60. As we both devoured the bumps at an enormous rate, I sawafour-foot rain ditch up ahead, and I looked to my left at the champ, who was so close I could reach out and touch him. The champ looked back at meand removed a hand from the controls longenough to point at the fast-approach ing obstacle, and I could see him laughing under his helmet. "Could he... nah, he wouldn 't, would he?" I thought to myself "Is he really going to hit that thing without backing off? " As if to answer my question, the champ shifted up and pinned it, a demented look in his eye. "Heck, I guess if he can do it, so can I," I thought, as I directed my full attention to the ditch. Now doing about 65, we bottomed the suspension as we slammed stTtright into hejace, and caught major air as we emerged from the obStacle, stiltside by side...