Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

least two, and if yo u' re lucky, yo u'll get on a hot strea k. That's w hat ev eryone looks for . Will a supercross win elevate you to a new level, confidence-wise? Oh, yeah, there's no dou bt. Si nce Yamaha asked you if yo u could wi n a s upercross like that, do you think their main goal this year is to win in doors? We ll, I do n' t know . With th e ir r id er selectio n, maybe yo u·wouldn' t think so. Bu t in my case - with me - their main goal is to wi n in supercross. Speaking of Yamaha's rider se le ction, tell me about your ne w teammates. I'll sta rt ou t wi th John Dow d . He 's a real good guy, a hard work er, a real bu lldog. He' s al w ays tr yin g to b etter himself. There ' s n o doubt th at he rides motocross real well, and now he' s tryin g to take on supe rcross head on. He lacks so me confiden ce, I think, maybe bec ause he th inks his age will hold him back . But I don 't think so. He's a racer just like the rest of us.. And as far as Kevin Wind ham , he' s come a real lon g way in the off-season tests. He's been working a lot with Bob Ha nnah, working out a tra ining p ro gram. I think Bob is hel ping hi m develop the rig ht attitude - tha t he can win. He's a big kid, he's a s trong kid, and that's what he has going for him. Both of them are real good guys, we ge t along real good. Lo o ki ng back at yo ur caree r so far, what is your mo st memorable SX race? I guess the East vs . West 125cc Shootout at the Los Angeles Coliseum in '91. I had crashed in my heat race, and things weren't going that well. Then I won. I was p retty excited about that. . 1991? It seems .Iike you've been racing for ever, doesn't it? We ll, I'm 24 now, and this summer I will have bee n racin g for 20 years. I'm still having fun , thou gh . Ho w d o you s tay foc u sed ? Ha ve you ever gotten burned out? Well, I try to set aside time for extra-curricu lar activities, but this year Lrealized tha t whil e I may be having fun ou t pla yin g hockey or so m eth ing, it' s winning races that really makes me happy and makes me money. That's the only thing, you know? When I don't win races, I' m not too happy, no matter what I do. It's like, I could have a crappy week, but if I wi n the race th e weekend be fo re, it doesn't seem that crappy. Know wha t I mean? . What do you feel you r s tren gt h s and weaknesses are? Well, with 20 years of racing under m y b e lt , I g uess that experien ce is my stre ngt h. As far as a weakness... Hmm ... I don't kn ow . Are you typically a slow starter i n a new race season, or do you start hard and fast? In the past, I've been a slow star ter, but last year I made my best starts ever in b oth mo tocross .and supercross. I' v e tried to turn my slow-starter image around. I'm gonna be th ere a ll year long; BMX-style antics seem to be th e rage nowadays. Are you in to that stuff? Na h, not too much. I dunno, I've got my sty le, and I' m not to o worr ied about everyone e lse . Th e firs t an d foremost thing for me is to win races. Once yo u can win races, that' s whe n yo u can start wo rryi ng abo ut jacking a round like that. This year, the Yam aha Eactory signed ' wi th Fox Ra ci n g in o r d er to gain a "team look," bu t you w ill fu lf ill your contractu al ob li gatio ns to Thor. Wh at do you think of th e im age they are try ing to present? Well, the deal I alrea dy had with Thor continued into '95. This w ill be my ninth ye ar with Th or , but if th e d eal I come up with in '96 requ ir es me to wear so me th ing else , then m y relat ionship with Thor wi ll have to be put on hold: As far as the team look goes, I'm kinda th e "eve ry gu y h a s his own sty le" type. But if the tearn look is gonna be the trend from now on, then so be it. What's your favorite SX? Well, it used to bethe San Jose Superc ross, but they don 't have th a t any more . I li ke d it because it had a grass parking lot, it was usua lly warm in the su m mer, an d because there were a lot of girls. And I liked the city itself. My favori te city to visit, though , is p rob ably Da lla s. Daytona is fun, too. I bet you have some pretty good sto ri es about th ings you' ve done on the road. (La ughs) Oh ye ah. But I think th o se are thi ng s I wo ul d ra th e r n ot sh a re wit h the med ia. (Laughs) ,Wors t place you'v e ever visited? Hmm ... I've been to some pretty b a d places, but what I hate the most is the d rive to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) when I fly to Europe. The international races are pretty fun, but there's a lot of crap that yo u have to put up w ith - the travel and the language barrier. H o w hard do y o u actuaHy try at th e offs eason European races? I give them a go, but you alw ays have to remember th at thi s is n ' t yo u r job to w in th e se races. Th is year, for insta nce, I had to rem ember that I still haven' t sign ed my contract for '95. No sense taking chan ces and getting hurt - that would jeopardize my contract neg otiations . So you ha ve yet to actually sign your contract for '95? Yea h, b ut I' ll probably go down an d actually sign it today. (lanuary 5) What can you tell us about your ne w contract? Well, it's for one year, a n d it's very restricting. Yamaha definitely wants a team look. Th e y wa nt everY9ne to dress in team apparel at all tim es, and they are working very hard to develop this new image. I don't know exactly how it's gonna co me out, but I know they really want to look more professional. So w ill the team casual wear cramp your personal style? . Well ... Yeah, I guess. But that's only at the races, and they are my first and foremost sponsor. That's all a part of my contract, that's my job. If you don't wanna do that job, then you shouldn' t sign the contract. How lo ng do you see yourself raci ng? For a while; [ am on ly 24. I ima gine that I'll be one of those gu ys who will race until I' m 30 or so. At this point, could you b e financially secure if you were to quit? Yes, bu t probably not as comfo rtably as some other racers. You seem to have a "responsible" attitude about money. Ha ve yo u always been that wa y? I've had my share of fun, just like every on e else, but I feel my best earning yea r is s till ye t to co me. I bought a lo t of toys a t firs t, but I' ve rea lly sta rted' to slow do wn. One of the things that I really want now - that's relatively inexpensive - is a video camera. But I've yet to buy one, because I don't want to spend the money. I think I'm getting into that Broc Glover "I can pinch a penny out of my ass" stage. I think Broc wa s kinda like me. I'm sorta following in his footsteps - we both had a lot of fun when we were young. But boy, I sure hope I don't end 'up as tigh t as he is. Away from the track, what does you r day consist of? Well, ou tside of mo tocross, I'm really trying to slow down. I used to try to do a million things each day, but now I try to leave some free time. I run a lot, and I work with my weight trainer, John Hall. Working with John is the most important part of my racing . No one seems to give him much credit, bu t he really is important. Even if the weight training didn't do a th ing for me , jus t being around the guy is a boost. He' s real po siti ve, and he was a racer him se lf. Whatever he can do for yo u, he'll d o it. What about your me chanic, Steve Butler? We ge t along real well. I think that we both had a tough tim e last year. Ther e we re tim es whe n we were bo th on the same wavelengths, and p art of th at is my fault. He was little distrac ted at the end of last year, but he's go t everything s tra igh tened out n ow . N ow he ' s married , and he'll have all his immigration s tuff s o rte d ou t s hor tly . (Bu tler is a na tive Austra lian) Wh o do yo u hang out with away from the track? Any racers ? Well, I have some clos e friends, and I hav e some buddies th at ar e racers. As far as racers, Buddy Antunez is one of my best friends. Jeremy Albrecht, the Pro Circuit mechanic, is a good friend ofmine. Pedro Gon zale z is really cool, and then th e re ' s the infamous Denny Stephenson. Ronnie Tichenor's one of my good buddies too, but since he's in Japan I don't get to see him too much. I hear that the Emig vs. McGrath fiasco ha s come to an end. Yeah, we have so many mutual friends that it was kinda dumb to be enemies. It was more trouble than what it was worth to be mad at each other. After the season we sat d own and worked everything out. You mentioned hocke y earlier... Yeah, I pla y ice hockey in an adult no nchecking league. I've been hitting that pretty hard for ab out tw o ye ars now. Hock ey is cool. Last question: Som e racers have taken on a trademark: Rick Johnson had the bulldog, Damon Bradshaw had the skull and Confederate flag , and Damon Huffman has the T-Rex. We' ve no ticed th e bull on the top of some of your helmets - is that you r trademark? Well , I don 't know wheth er or not it's my tradem ar k or not. It's just some thing that me and Troy Lee worked out. The bull just looks like he has an a ttit u de, and I look at it to get the sa me atti tude before a race. I'll make sure an d look at it befo re the Orlando main eve n t. 0 15

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