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/127718
Daytona Supercross Track Designer Gary Bailey a ry Bai ley h as been ridin g at Dayt on a every year since 1971. On a tractor. Known first for h is skill on a mot orcycle as one of the most dominant motoc ross riders in the late '60s and early 7 0s, he h as every year for the past 24 design ed and been pa rt of the const ruction crew fo r th e su percross tra ck at Dayton a. The "P rofessor," as Bailey is kn own, virtually invented the motocross school (he nce th e n am e ) an d coaches' .some of the top ride rs in the U.S. Supe rcross Series, Lar ry Ward amo ng them. The 1995 ed ition of the Daytona Supercross b y Hon da m a rks th e s ilve r anniversary for Bailey and Daytona, and accor ding to Bailey himself it looks like he'll be going for go ld. And that's quite a tra ck record . It seems ab out the only person who has been abl e to sto p Jeremy McGrath lat ely is Ga ry Bailey. The Daytona Supercross track is definitely not one of his favorites. I think, probabl y, beca use it's a little mor e outdoor than indoor. You try to make it as supercross as possible, but with the layout of it, it's obviously a lot faster race track. The outdoor guys rea lly sh ine on a circuit like this. Con di tioning plays a big ro le at Dayt ona so the guys like Mike Kied ro wski and Jeff Stanton, the tough ones really into trainin g, dominate. Mike Kiedrowski ha s had the ke y to winning at Daytona over the la st two years. Is there anyone else out there who has the same detennination? I think Mike LaRocco, defi nitely LaRocco. He may even be a bit sha rper , righ t now, tha n Kiedrow ski is. I' ll tell yo u what, this may be the year McGra th gets the job done. McGrath h as wo rked with a person al train er this year (former MXer Gary Semics) and he's try ing to get himself in better sha pe overall. He's not only try in g to be in b e tt er shape for th e Supercross Series, but also for the outdoor Nationals. He wants to prove th at he's a National rider as well. I look for McGrath to be seriously in the hunt. If he gets a good sta rt, I don' t thi nk anyo ne will ru n away from him : & There are certain limitations - su ch as a sprinkler and drainage system - which you have to work aroun d when you design the Da ytona Supercross course. What's in store th is year? I tho ught last year's track was a rea lly good layou t. I've got some new ideas on some jumps and I'd also like to change the way the course runs - but it's quite hard to do tha t given the limitations I wo rk with. I had no complaints from the riders so I'm a bit leery of making any drastic changes si nc e e ve ryb ody was pretty happy with the track. Wh at does it ta k e t o construct the course ? We used limerock for years and it did a p retty good job. A few years ago we started using clay for the jumps and that makes them hold up a lot better. I use a lot of clay, a lot of limerock, I also try to use clay in the tu rns because if you use sand if ru ts up and becomes a single-file line. We used to bu ild the course wi th 50 lar ge tru ck-load s of material. Now, we use abou t 85 becau se we buil d the ju mps bi g ge r. We s till don 't u se nea r th e amo unt the stad ium courses do . We're in a fortu na te situation because we can tear the grass up and it doesn't make any di fference. . We begin the layout and ma rking of the track about two days after they run th e Dayton a 500. Because of other de m ands at the track during the break before Cam el Motorcycle Week, it ultimately takes abou t 10 days to finish construction. It wou ld take about five days if we could wo rk at it all the1ime. Does it seem like you've bee n design- in g and building the course for 25 years? The amazing thing is that I raced in the first four events and it reall y doesn' t seem that long ago . To me, it only seems abo ut 10 years. It' s cha nge d a lot. I've go t photos at home for 1971 and '72. I though t the track was rough then... I thought w e had a lot of obs tacles'. I laugh when I look at those pictures because there reall y wasn't anything there . One of the things I've tried to do was change with the Speedway, so I try to make the track b lend in with the "feel" of Day tona, like it's a per manent fixture instead of he re for the race and then gone. Ho w did you get involved back in '71? It was bo th Bill (Fra nce [r.) and Jimmy (Fra nce) who had the idea. They were riding enduros at the time. They wa nted somebody to come and look at the facility and give them some ideas. I was racing the Flori da Winter-AM A Series at the time . I tho ught it was a good idea. My brother (Bob ) a n d I ha d b een invo lved in build ing a man-made course at Ascot Park so I kind of had a feel for wha t it was all abo ut. I cam e over and so did Jimmy Weinert. Wei nert wante d to be more of a supervisor where I got ou t an d d id the hands-on stuff - staki ng out the track and things - while'Jimmy pointed things out. When it came to building the first track, I got on the equipme nt and did the wo rk while he still wan ted to be a supervisor. I think that's kind of why I got the job, The first track was constructed in the infield. It was in th e area o f th e Eas t H ors esh oe tur n n e ar th e ro a d race course. We thought we had a good track. We though t we had some water down. We th ought th e grass w ou ld hold. It turned int o a nightmar e becau se it got dusty right away. Can you pick ou t one or two riders out of all those who ha ve competed h ere. riders who really caught your eye? I'd have to say (1984 winner and oldest so n) David Bailey . He had some good perfor m an ces here. He was always in th e s itu ation where riders said, "O h ·yo ur dad built the race track." He was expected to do good. Mos t of the time, he hated the track. He would have built it di fferen tly than I di d . I di dn' t consult him I built it the way I wa nted to build it. Bob Ha nnah put in some great rides here. In the whoops, he was spectacular wi th his hang-on. flying -off-the-back-ofthe-motor cycle-style of ridi ng, bu t still wide open. Jeff Stan ton wasn't spectacular, he jus t go t the job d one in no-nonsense sty le. Any thoughts on the next 25 years? II's been an honor to work for the Speedway and do this. I do n' t know how long ' they'll keep me do ing it, but I h ope they ha ve me do it for as long as I come here an d still get ou t there and do the handson work. For 25 years, I' ve driven the stakes, put up the pennants outlining the course. I do n' t have anyone else do that. I still help build 30 to 40 percent of the ju mps with the equipment. I enjoy doing i t. I d on 't li ke stand ing arou nd just watching things get do ne. IX