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/127717
·IN R IE Steve Morehead TE V W It's jus t a nu mber. I thin k as far as the racing goes, th e o lder you ge t th e smarter yo u ge t an d the more mature yo u get. If some thing happens then you . nee d to record it and write it down. A lot of my years we re wasted ridi ng for somebody else where some thing would be wrong with the mot or cycle and I'd bring it in and say, "fix it." We'd d o p retty good by the end of the year. But when I wen t so mewhere else the next year, then maybe I wouldn 't do as good beca use that gu y didn't know how to fix it. The n all of a su dde n you get wise and s tart payi ng atten tio n t o h o w each adjus tme n t changes th e m otor cycle . There's three or fou r differen t ways to fix the same the push. Do you thi n k that's wh y s o many of th e younger gu ys in competition struggle at the Nationals? I think that the riding talen t is there like it was 20 years ago. But 20 years ago we all had a ki t bike. All the motorcycles were pretty m uch equa l. at th at time everybody hadMert Lawwill cams and Branch or Axtell heads. Back then the re was no weight rul e so we all had 340pound motorcycles. You could buy stuff right off th e shelf a nd boltI t on. We we re able to call Ha rley- Davi dson, and Dick O'Brien (Harley-Dav ids on's Team Manager) wo uld say, "Th is is what cam combination, or these are the head s that Springsteen an d Pa rker h ave on their bikes," and I co u ld h a v e th e sa me motorcycle. Now, they d on't share the techn ology like th ey d id back in th em d ays. I mean, t hey ran Nikasil cylinders a yea r or two before we even knew th ey had 'em. And if someo ne hadn't claim ed one of their motors, we wouldn't have even known then. On ce Honda go t involve d, Harley-Dav idson pret ty much shu t the door on the res t of us as far as techn ology stuff. Tha t's pa rt of the problem with being a privateer. I can go ou t a n d hu stle sponsorship m on ey to ge t me to an d from the races, pay for my motels, gas and food, and get my tires and part s. But we've never bee n a b le to land enough money for R&D to go ge t a coup le sets of hea ds, to have Ha nk Scott or Phil Darcy do this or that , have different cams made. All we've ever been ab le to do is come up with enough to kee p our stuff the same. D o y o u think that dirt t ra ck raci n g would profit from Harley-Davidson disbanding its factory team or .at least reopening the R&D information pipeline to Harley privateers? Yes. Harl ey-Da vidson is always crying that they don't have the budget to d o th is or that. Well , why in th e hell are they paying Parker and Carr to ride the mot orcycl es ? To me th a t' s rid icu lo us beca use Honda' s not involved, so tha t's not a threat right no w. They could cu t those salaries and help the top 20 gu ys ou t better on a parts p rogram. I mean, Harley-Da vidson has don e an awful lot for me, and thank God they' re invo lved in the spo rt becau se if it wasn't for their continge ncy p rogram, then it wo uld n't even be wo rth racin g. If yo u wi n a half mile Na tional. it pays so me th ing lik e $4000 to win. If I' m riding yo u r bi ke, yo u get $2000 and I get $2000. Big deal, we just wo n a National. Bu t right now, Harley-Davidson pays ano ther $2800 if you wi n and you're on a Ha rley. So now that's $6800. I just bo ug h t a brand-new pickup tru ck tha t I feel Ha rley-Davidson bough t for me, what w ith all the con tinge ncy money I won . Speaking of money. Guys like yo u and Geo Roeder hit the loca l races and the Regionals a lot mo re than most of th e gu ys who ri de the Nationals. I would guess that th is improves you r program and your bottom line at the en d of th e year. It helps an awful lot. It's just like anyth in g e lse . If you're going to be a plumber, then you've got to do it seven days a wee k. If you're going to be a carpen ter then yo u have to use that da mn hammer as much as possible to sharpen yo ur s kills. So me guys s how up a t N at ion al s wh o can 't e ve n m a ke th e sho w, but when they come to a Regional they ride the 600 class becau se they say tha t they can' t afford to keep their 750 going . 1 honestly don't think that it costs th at much mon ey to kee p a 750 raceread y. I can tell you that for every $1000 1 s pen d with Sk ip Eaken to build m y motors, I make $12,000. You have to ride the. m ot orcy cle to s tay s ha rp for the Na tionals. Really, I may only make $800 for winning a Regional. bu t that's more ex perie nce on th e bike an d $800 more that I' ve go t in my pocket to ge t me to the next National race. Then wha t I make at the Natio nal. I can take to the bank . Can a top 1 0 gu y stilI m a k e good money in dirt track racing? I'd say a top five guy could. Th e AMA has p ost ed another $100,000 points fu nd for t his y e a r, so tha t sho u ld help. It will. But stop and look back to when Camel was involved three or four years ago . Wh at did we h ave then ? A $1 mi llion series? It used to pay a $100,000 to wi n, n ow it ' s $100,000 to tal. Why is that? It's beyond me. Is the competition poorer than it used to be, say, 10 or 15 years ago? The biggest difference I see is that wh en I fir st started racing we all had long