Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.TURN FOUR By Donn Maeda . in ce I' ve be en an editor a t Cycle News, I've learned abo u t severa l sorts of different mot orcycle competiti on , visited m any ne w pl aces, and mad e quite a few good friends. And of those friends, Ricky Graham stands out the most. There's a fine line between professional an d persona l relationship s, and as an editor reporting on a race, it is my du ty to remain as objective as possible. Frien d sh ips w ith racers sho ul d not be allowed to inter fere with my repo rting of who wo n, why they wo n, and why everyone else d idn' t win. As far as I know, none of them have. G ra ham's cha mp ionship-winning 1993 season was th ri llin g, to say th e least. Prior to th e start of that series, Grah am and I had spent several wee kends pl a y rid in g in the hills near h is Northern Ca lifornia' hom e. Wa tch in g Grah am d emolish the competition was a pleasu re, both as a n editor, and as a friend . Shiver s we n t up and down my spine w hen Graham clinched his thi rd Grand National Ch ampionship a t the Labor Day Sp ringfie ld Mile. The events tha t unfolded for Graham in the months that followe d were equally as emotional. Unfortunately, it would be on the opposite end of the spectrum that most o f Graham ' s ex periences would lay. For me, hearing the troubl es that Graham encountered following his record -setting season was sad dening. It was difficul t to hear of th e hardshi ps that he encountered, and I found myself faced with a d ifficult decision. Where do you draw the line? What is news - or rather - what news need s to be passed on to the mo torcycle ind ustry ? Though my form er editor probably would have ruled that as a Grand National Champion, all of Graham 's actions should be documented in Cycle News, I decided against writing such reports. I also decided against answering all the qu estions tha t naturally came my w a y . " You and Ricky are bu d d ies wha t' s going on with him?" was the most comm only asked question, especi ally from G raham's fellow racers. Assuming that if Graham wanted his personal business known he would have told them himself - I elected to play dumb. Then came the rumors, and there were plenty of them . In Graham ' s absence from the 1994 Grand National Championship Series, I heard rumors rangin g from prison to drug addiction. S 1 In the Dallas Half Mile pits, I ove rhea rd a g a p-toothed hill billy saying to his friend, with total conviction, "He started partying real hard after winning the title last year and couldn't stop when it came time to race again." I wanted to punch the re m aining teeth ou t of his hea d. Eventually, the rumors began to die down. Graham then made a brief return to racing in the middle of the season, w inning the Hagerstown Half Mile after several mont hs off the bike. That seemed to silence the skeptics, but when Gra ham vanished after a being invo lved in a ro ugh riding controversy at the following race, the rumors began to fly again. Still, Graham returned at the end of the season, anxious to race in fron t of his home-state fans atthe final two races of the year. Unfortunately, he suffered a broken a n kle durin g practice a t the Pomona Half Mile and would spe nd his second off-season in a row tr yi ng to recover from injury. Things took an even grea ter tum for the wo rse this February, when Graham sus tai ne d se rious head injuries while riding h is mo torcycle in front o f his yard. Graham was not wearing a he lmet. . Now, the latest rumor that I've heard is that Graha m was in a drunken stupor as he raced his motorcycle up and down the street. Enough, already. I spo ke with Ricky on the telephone for quite some tim e a few days ago. Though doctors were not initially optimistic, he has come a long way since his accident, He still suffe rs a considerable amo unt of memory loss - mostly centered around people, rather than occurrences. I was quite relieved to find that he remembered me. "It's time to come clean, " I told him. He agreed. After wi n ning the Grand National Championship in '93, Gra ham was su re that p o ten tial sponsors wou ld come aknockin'. They didn't. During that off-season, Graham ha d surgery on his ankles. Over the years, he had broken both of them several times, and hoped tha t a "clean up " surgery would elim ina te the constant pain tha t had nagged him all year long. It didn't. As a matter of fact, things got wo rse for Graham when he contracted a staph infection and was forced to spend several months in bed. Since he was injured while raci n g, he as sumed that the AMA's racer insu rance would help pa y for the expensive doctor bills. It d idn't, and he so on fou nd himself in se rio us financial trouble. For '94, Graham expressed an interest in road racing, and was g iven a chance to race the Smoki n' Joe's Hond a RC30 Supe rbike in the '94 Daytona 200. Gra ham rode a steady race, and hop ed ,that his very respectable 15th aboa rd the outda ted machine would earn him the cha nce to finish out the season for the team . It didn't. Depression soon se t in , and in late May, Graham began to drink again. "So much stuff had gone bad, I was really sin king into a d eep depressio n," said Graha m. "I was expecti ng so man y things after winning the championship, bu t none of them materialized. As far as money goes, thin gs weren't good. I lost the mo tor home, the Suburban, a lot of stu ff is gone;' The fact that Gra ha m was d rinking again makes his Hagerstow n Ha lf Mile win all the more incredible. "I shou ldn't have even wo n that race," he said. "I wasn't training - I was in no shape to be able to beat those guys." Some times na tural talent pays off in a big way. Gra ham d isapp eared from the series only one week after that, when he was fined for rough riding after making contact with ano ther racer. "I had only been back th ree races and I fig u red, 'You , know wha t, I don't need this: so I left," said Graham. But Graham would not find solitude at ho me . Ins tead, thi ngs con tinued to get worse. , He retu rned to the series for the pen ultimate r o und at Pomona, b u t injured his already tend er left ankle. Yet ano ther straw atop the camel's back. Thou gh Graha m didn' t care to fu rther elaborate on his tro ubles, a tum of eve nts late in the yea r broug ht him to his senses, and he realized that he needed help. "I was just tired of all the bad stuff that was happen in g," said G raham . "This January, I decided that it was time to seek he lp. I had been so ber for two and a half years, and tha t's where I wanted to be again." With the help of his father, Bill, Graham checked into a rehabilitation center in Northern California during the first week of 1995. There , Graham's attitude began to cha nge, and he found a renewed desire to tum his life around. " I hadn't trained since I won the number one plate: ' he said. "My ankles pr evented me from wo rking out, and to be honest, I just didn't feel good eno ugh abo ut m yse lf to ge t out and workout." During his 3O-day stay in the rehabilita tion ce nte r, Gra ham worked out every da y and emerged fit, rested and ready to face his problems . "I felt so good wh en I came home:' said Graham. "I really wanted to race. I really want ed to get my life in order. Things were looking good. " But things weren't good for long. On February 21, Graham hopped aboard his Honda CRSoo motocross bike and took a quick sp in up and down his street. It was then tha t he lost con trol of the bike a nd cr as hed , hitting . his head and spe ndi ng the next two weeks in the hospital. "I was just p utting up and down the stree t to run my dog," said Graham. "I d on't know why I di dn 't p ut on a helmet - pr obab ly because I was just going to go up the street. I was going so slow, only in second gear, and I gave her a little thr ottle to get sideways. It just high sided." Since his acciden t, Grah am has been s taying with his paren ts Bill and Pa t. His recovery has bee n slow , yet steady an d encou raging. At this poin t, doctors have advised Gra ha m not to return to racing, or riding for tha t matter. "I rea lly do n' t know what I'll d o: ' Grah am said. "I'd love to race aga in, but it ju st doesn 't seem wo rth it. Getting hurt like this really gives you a different outlook . Tha t, and the fact that the re 's really no mo ney to be mad e, makes it seem pointless. "I d o love motorcycles, though, and I wa n t to stay involved in the indus try somehow, whe ther it be racing or otherwise. I'd really like to teach a dirt track school so me day, but I ha ve a lot - a wh ole lo t - of thi ngs to ge t togethe r first." Beca use of his mos t recent inj ury, Gra ha m finds hi mse lf w it h an even greater financial burd en, A tru st fund has been created to help aid Graham in his recovery, and do natio ns can be sent to the Ricky Graham Recovery Fund, Bank of Am erica accoun t n um ber 0400602567, in care of William Graham, 11 Harrow o , Seaside, CA 93955. G raham 's mother pa t summed up her son's situation best, sayi ng , "Ricky has been staying with us since his acciden t, and he and h is fa ther have remai ned very close. Bill is like an angel on Ricky's shoulder. "He's a good kid . Ricky ha s ov er come hard times before, and he'll d o it aga in. He'll make it," . l~ LOOKING BACK...': 1 25 YEARS AGO ••. April7,1970 ~;:;::;"::::"':o::=--_J._pla y If oad r ac ers Art Baumann and 'the la te Ro n G rant were featu red on the cove r "Forming a perfect pa ra llelog ra m " in close ra cin g at the AMA Kent Nation a l in Kent, Washington. Grant won the 125mile r ace on a Su z u ki.. .Ha rley-Davidso n took firs t and secon d place at Ascot. Crediting Me rt Lawwill's tuning for his bike's perf orman ce, Mark Brelsford placed firs t ...ln San Fra ncisco, Cycle News reported the motorcycle show, "Cycle '70," drew record cro wds. BMW' s di s- R -......;.----t:...!._J was h ighli ghted by on e of th eir nia. Broc Glover, interviewed in the ties as well as a ho t lap of th e rac e models fi tted with a Volkswagen very same issue, got the holeshot, H ' I ' . course o n board w ith engine...Campaigning a Sachs at th e but after the first tum Myerscough ~ _ . , I , John Koci nski.. .Round Hangtown MX, Gary Bailey was st uck a w heel in and was ne ver guna eight of the AMA Camel injured - by a footpeg in the leg - an d hea d ed .. .Som e th ing s do n' t Supercross series was held was forced to skip Su n day's raci ng change: "Voices" was filled wit h at the Rose Bow l. Jeff actio n. The 125 Sen ior comments about "environmen talWard dominated the 250cc Q main event, while now-road honors wen t to Lars '~~"~~~. ists" and the BLM possibly closracer Jea n -Michel Bayle Larson. ing ridi ng areas...At the Ascot half mile opener, Wayne Rainey placed th ird...Master tuner and Ricky Graham battled, Erv Kane moto was inte r15 YEARS AGO... wi th Graham ultim ately tak ing v iewed , le nd ing som e April 9,1980 firs t, relegating Rainey to secin sight into his in cr edible p ram e of Dayond. caree r that includ ed three tona 200 winner World Championships with Pat ri ck Pons Fred die Sp enc er, and a season tuning 5YEAR SAGO ... graced the pages of Eddi e Lawson's Hon da du ring 1989. It Issue #13. The cover April 4,1990 , was the fou rth World Championship for featured a shot of bot h of them ...The Las Vegas 300 held in he thir d Grand Prix held at Laguna Brian Myerscou gh , Seca was p reviewed , fea tu ring a the Nevada desert was domina ted by a the ru naway winner of the 12Sec class team of two Dans - Danny Hamel and look at the GP seaso n, an out line of non-race-related sightseeing opportuniat Saddleback Park in Southern CaliforDan Smith - riding a KTM. L ~ sec A T

• Cover