Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,T AR O N, ' E DW B yPaul Carruthers , ill he or won't he? Th at seems to be the m ost asked question in ro ad racing at the m omen t. Will evin Sch wantz make a return to the OOcc World Championship at the next ound in Ital y o n June 11, or have we een the last of th e man w ho has proided u s with many a thrill si nce h e egu la rly sta rted throwing his leg over Yos him u r a Su zuki so me 10 yea rs go? One th in g is certain - even if he does e-ap pear at the Itali an G rand Prix, it o n ' t be the Kevin Schwantz we a ll emember. Thanks to th e wrist an d hip nju ries th at ruined th e end of his 1994 season a n d the b eg innin g of hi s '9 5 a m pa ig n , the swas hb u ckling Kevin hwantz of old is no lon ger . Gone are he d ays w hen Schwantz co uld reguarly run the Lucky Stri ke Suzuki into zorn e rs beyond the absolu te limit of he brakes , fli ck it on its s ide a t the pex, and slid e its Michelin tires over nd above any form of adhesio n on the xit. And gone also is stand-on-the-pegs icto ry celebra tion th at is often copied ut never duplica ted . For that reason lone, I' m h oping th a t Sch w antz has ind eed d ecided to call it a career. While here is no d oubt th at even a less-thanea lt hy Kevin Schwantz is s till good no ugh to run in th e top five a t a ny ive n Grand P rix , t op fiv e d o esn 't uch in terest th e Kevin Schwantz that know . Of all th e racer s w ho have come and gone during my 10 years her e at Cycle ews, Schwantz is th e o ne w ho reall y ta rted a t about the same time that I id . In May of 1985, I covered my first MA Road Race N ati onal a s a freeance writer and was told by th en-edior Joh n Ulrich to keep an eye on this id from Texa s, Kevin Schwantz. Wh en wen t to intro d uce m yself to th e st ill aby-fa ce d Schwantz , his arm wa s !rea dy in a sling. Kevin, it seems, had ee n o ffered a rid e o n a Ducati a nd, ell, since it was a motorcycle, he we nt head and rod e it . The bike threw a ha in , flicked Kevin off and broke his ' ollarb one . Alt hou gh I couldn't help but. think that Schwantz was a few french fries hart of a Happy Meal for ridi ng and ra shing some guy's Ducati when he appeared to be so cl ose to signing a b ig-time contra ct w ith Yos h im ura Suzuki, I took a liking to him im mediately. Alt hough I never did get to see him race th at d ay a t Sea rs Poi n t, I saw h im r ace at each a nd eve ry AMA National from that point onward in his fas t- risi ng ca r ee r . From that d a y in Son oma on , Schwantz and I hav e had a good relationship - although th er e were several other times that I found m yself fru strated b y hi s a b ility to crash at inap pro priate times. He has lon g been a w e lc om ed h ou s e g uest, a nd he always will be. There a re cert ain m emories I' ll always ha ve of Schwantz, with most of the m coming in 1987, his fina l fu ll sea son of AMA racing. I re call a sud de nly m ore d edicated and se rious Sch wantz ("I tried to stay ou t of as much trouble as I could at Dayt ona," Schwan tz sai d then . "With all the stuff going on dow n at th e beach I was always wan ting to go down th ere and chase girls and stay ou t late and do all tha t.") crashing ou t of the Daytona 200 that year. I rem ember p laying tennis with him just hours after he'd cras hed at 160-plu s mph in Braine rd 's firs t turn. Just ho urs after the ambulance attendan t asked him severa l questions : "Who is presid ent?" "Reagan," "Whe re ar e yo u?" "Braine rd , Minnesot a." "Wha t day is it?" "Saturday, but as far as I slid, it could be Sunday." I remember h im h obbling around th e tennis court - until Wayne Ra in ey emerged fro m his hot el roo m adjacent to th e court. Th e me re sight of Rainey fo rced Kevin in to a n ormal gait, the Texan not wanting his rival to see hi m in pain the ni ght before a race. If nothin g else it said : "If I'm okay to play tennis , I' m okay to kick you r butt tomorrow." He didn' t, but not fro m lack of effort. I w as fo rtu n a te eno ug h to cover Kev in ' s fi rst-e ve r A MA Su per bi ke National victory - a stunne r at Loudon w he re he beat Rainey for th e first tim e all ye ar, just two days after turning 23. Kevin took an immed iat e likin g to thi s w inn ing th ing . Th e very n e xt weekend, he bounced back from a practice cra sh to beat Rainey at Road Amer ica, taking his second AMA Superbike National in as many weekends. But just as quickly as he put himself EARSAGO... JUNE 9, 1970 Lamppu, Ron Jeckel and Jimmy Weinert made up the N ew England team . According to th e report, the West team i m Rice wa s fea tured on the co ver 25 years ago fo llow ing his third National dirt track w in of the season, a t the 4th Annu al Re ading Natio n a l Half .j' f Mile. Th e win put i 1 him in t o second ------~ ~J place b eh ind Dick Mann in the series point standi ngs... More than 500 peop le attended th e annual Greenhorn Enduro in Pearblossom, Ca liforn ia. Th e two-day enduro, totaling over 500 mil es, saw o nly 40 percent of th e field make it to th e finish line... Th e Eas t a nd We st square d off in a motocross show dow n in Pepp erbell, Massachusetts. Jim Wilson. Tim Hart, John DeSoto, John Rice, im O'Neal, Jim West a n d Bill Clements made up the California team, while Barry Higgins , Bob Ismail of, Seppo Makinen, Glenn Vincent, Peter won the battles but ~~~~.~i\Ilil:_ ~ th e East won the II war. J 15YE SAGO... AR JUNE4,1980 phot o of Ed Lojak g ra ced the cov er 15 yea rs ago . It was taken during th e Tr ask Mountain Three -Da y ISDT Qualifier in Oreg o n . Lojak was one of four class winners that weekend ; the o th e r g o ld medalists we re Dan Leimbach, Mark Hyde anq John Ayers. Lo jak w as al so th e o verall w in n er .. . Bruce Pe n hal, Bo b b y Schwartz, Ron Preston and Dennis Sigalos was just some of the "Yanks" competing in Gre at Britain during the GB vs. USA Speedway co m p eti tion . "British riders ha ve 'ne v e r feared a ny o t her nation until A back into contention .iot the Superbike crow n, he threw it all away. At Laguna Seca in Jul y of 1987, Schwantz was in th e catbird seat. Rain ey had blister ed a tire in th e firs t leg a nd co u ld m anage no better than 12th , Schwantz had won. But in leg tw o, Schwantz threw it away in turn nine - aga in fru strating his fan s with his abilit y to sna tch defeat from th e jaws o f victory. Ra in ey fin ished fifth ov erall - Schwantz wa s 13th. And the battle for th e titl e was over. Kevin went on to win the final th re e rac es of the season at Mid-Ohio, Memphis and Sea rs Point, but the ever-consi stent Ra in e y w a s crow ned a s th e AM A ' s Superbik e Cham pion . 1 also remember seeing Sch w antz ride in th e Fre nc h Gra nd Prix in 1987. It was pouring rain at Le Mans th at d ay, and Randy Mamola dom inated on his Lu cky Strike Yamaha . But Schwantz mad e a n impact . He qualified' o n the front ro w, cras he d in th e final corner of the fi rs t lap in the Grand Prix, a n d remou nted without a ri ght footpeg to charge from 36th to ninth at th e finish line. Tha t's the Schwantz I wan t to re me mber. Perhaps m y finest racing m em ory of Schwantz comes from the 1988 seasonope ni ng Ja pa nese Grand Prix . Schw antz sen t s hock w a ve s throu gh t he G ra nd Prix w orld when h e bea t Wa yne Gard ner in a s traigh t fight at Suzu ka, in th e p rocess e nd ing a sixyear win less drou ght for Suzu ki. While m any predicted it wo u ld be Sch w an tz _w ho wo u ld m ake an error in th is fight wit h th e defending World Champion , it was th e Austra lian w ho erred, running off cl ose to th e s p o t w h e re Mi ck Dooh an ran off in thi s ye ar's Japanese GP - a n d the r ace b el on g ed t o Schwantz . I remember Kevin fighting b a ck tea rs w he n w ha t h e 'd a cc om plished fin all y hit him at a party th at night. It didn't take long for Schwantz to become a hi t wit h road racin g fa ns all o ver th e gl ob e . If he w asn't th e m ost co nsis te n t m ot orcycl e racer in the w or ld, h e w as arguabl y th e v ery fastest. Though hi s on -track performances were sometimes ' inconsistent, his offtrack demeanor was the co m p le te op posite. Win, lose or crash, Schwantz r emained t h e same friendly kid that I first met that day a t Sears Poi nt. I n ever fou nd the Texan to be moody, unapproachable or stand-offis h, and he had th e ab ili ty to look back at hi s o wn mi stakes a n d laugh. If this is no lon ger true, th en it is o nly further proof that no longer being able to d o the things he wants to do on a motorcycle has become inc re as ing ly frustrating. It is unfair tha t w hen Kevin finally won the 500cc World Cha m pions hip it w as overshadowed by Wayne Rainey's career-end ing in ju ries . Kevin ca m e to the United States Grand Pri x in 1993 as the World Champion, only a wee k after Rain ey's acci dent - bu t no one w anted to co n gra tu late h im with th e th ou ght th at by d oing so they wo u ld be disrespectfu l to th e in jured Rainey. And so Schwantz' s gre a tes t moment was also pr ob ably on e o f h is w orst. While Rainey was h is fiercest rival , he w as also the racer he respect ed most of all. Althou gh I felt dreadfull y sorry for Wa yne, I also felt so rrow fo r Kevin. Still he was able to smile and go on . Bu t after ha ving spent a few d ays with him at his ranch home ou tside of Austin th e wi nter of his World Ch ampionship, I got the feeling th at it was never go ing to' b e the s am e . Sure, trying to beat Mick Dooh an had its ups, bu t I don't think Kevin ever reg ained th e ins p ira tion to win. At least no t the sa me ins p iration that he fou nd in trying to beat Wayne Rain ey. Now it appear s to be the end of the road for Schwantz' s road racin g career - a n d w hy not ? He's wo n h is AM A Superbike Nation als, he won th e Daytona 200 and he wo n his World Cha m pionship. When w e all s it back in 10 ye

• Cover