Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

FINALChris Jonnum· MOJO .B y t may be a cliche, bu t one of the unfortu nate d ownsides to the amazing gift of life is tha t we only get to keep it for a limi ted tim e - a fact we' re periodically remind ed of when someone near to us is asked to turn theirs back in . I go t one such admonitio n while coveri ng a perso nal waterc raft race last w eek end in Rich lan d, Wa sh in gt on , when wo rd re a ch ed m e that Dann y Hamel had returned his gift during the Baja 500 . I'm still fairly young, and ha ve only gotten a few of these reminders thus far. While I feel th at eac h should be taken seriously, I'm still learning how to deal with th e occasion of death. I'm alw ays skep tica l about the way p eople seem compelled to talk (and write) of the recently deceased in grave tones, speaking respectfully about th e blameless lives that they led . " Everyone who di es can't ha ve been so exemplary," I think to m yself. "Perhaps it ' s just wishful thinking - the appropriat e response to the situation ." But at the risk of being hypocritical, I have to ad mit that I find myself experiencing similar emotion s as I accumulate experience with th e unappealing su bject. N o, not every one who dies is a sa int, but each th at I'v e p e r s on ally known was indeed a vi rtuous human being, and th e w orld is a les ser place wi th their absence. I d oubt th a t m y acquaint ances are unusually moral, and am forced to conclude that most peop le are in herently good - a comforting thought to aris e from so me thing as terrible as death. In the moment s after photographer Ki nney Jo n e s fi rs t informed me of Danny's passing, the obvious thou ghts came immediately to mind . How could ' this happen to someone so good - someone w ho was qu ite lit era lly the best? Hame l had alrea dy acco m plished a lot, but h e a lso h eld the promise for so much mo re. Despite his relative lack of serious co m petitors , Da nny was s till improving as a rid er . But as I pondered the situation in the d ays that followed , I bega n to recognize tha t his impressiv e list of accomplishments on a motorcycle didn't necessarily make Danny good . Making such a judgmen t w ould b e aki n to someone decid ing m y value as a person b ased solely upon m y performance as a journalist (excep t that Danny w as far bett er at his' occu pa tion). Wh at rea lly mattered wa s not Danny H amel th e ra cer, but Danny Hamel the person, and that was som eone 1 didn't think I knew that well. The relationship b etween jo u rna lists an d athletes is a s tra nge one, a nd I'd probably be kidding myself if I sa id Danny and I were good friend s. Aft er all, few r id e rs co u ld m e asure th eir word s t o the press as carefully a s Dmny. He was the consummate professiona l. That bein g said, peop le' s actions can s9metimes provide clu es as to w hat's insid e , and I do remembe r one such glimp se at Dan ny. Desp ite my limited ability as a mot orcycle racer, I've often particip at ed as an en thusiast in p res tigious off-road events, just for the opportu nity to ride the sa me trail as m y hero es. At last year's Desert Mountain Natio nal En duro in Wickenberg, Arizo na , I was ex periencing a typically humb li n g thi rd loop w hen the co urse turn ed on to a long, technical , s ingletrack goat trail alon g a boulder -strewn hillsid e . Recalling u n pleasant ex perieaces in the p ast, I sto pp ed and look ed bac k to make su re there was n o one behind me befor e tackling th e secti on. No s oo ner had I co m m itted myself, however, when Hamel began to close in. I N o need to lo ok ba ck this time; th e unmistakable m oto cros s s crea m o f Hamel's KX2S0 wa s unalter ed by trail cond itio ns reminiscen t of an observe d trials. Danny was clamped to my back tire wi thin seconds, and my blood pressure w ent up a few poin ts as I realized ther e was no room to let him by for the next half mile or so. I fumbled alo ng for what see me d like hou rs, d abbi ng like a centi pede and desp erately sea rching for a spot to pull off, all the w hile cowering in th e ni ghttim e of H am el ' s s iza b le shadow . Finally, I d et ected (o r rather imagined) a tin y turnout, lunged for it and lai d m y bike against th e hillside, still blocki ng a lmost all of th e trail. Again, I re me mbe red past clas hes w ith ot her riders, and figured th at the best I could hope for was Danny' s su perior ind ifference and a s hower of rocks . Slightly worse w ould b e an a n noyed snarl and the use of my bik e and right leg as additional traction . But w ha t I got was a polite "thank you, C h ri s," as Danny squeezed carefully b y on th e inch an d a half of trail I' d left for him. H e didn't even raise his voice, instead expressing his g ratitu de in a normal co nversa tio na l to ne, w hic h was so mehow easily au dib le above the how l of his mot or . I decid ed to talk to someone who kn ew him a little better, and put in a call to Dan Smith - the man whose record of five-straight N at ional H are & H ound Championships H amel equaled this year. Smith chuckled befor e recounting a sto ry from 1990, w he n the tw o w er e KTM teammates, pre-running for the San Felipe 250. "Th at race just ha s these long sections of w hoops, a nd Danny was com plaining abo u t the arches of his feet h urtin g fr om all the pounding," said Sm it h. "My w ife had some tampons, so we just gra bbed a co u ple of th ose an d taped them to the bottoms of his feet. It worked well, but I sure gave him a razzing." I presume tha t they a ctually used sanitary napkins, though I p refer the ment al image of H amel wi th tampon s ta p ed t o h is feet. I didn ' t know if Sm ith's anecdote got me any closer to d iscovering Danny Hamel th e p erson, but I found it amusin g, and humor can be extremely therapeutic. My next call was to Ann e Van Bevere n, who cove rs much of the d esert racing scene for Cycle News. Like me, Anne felt that her position as a journalist prevented h e r fr om seei n g much of Danny' s person al side. She called him a "thinking person," but said that Da nn y ' s pro fessional ima ge ex t e n d ed fu r t h e r th an h i s words. "He always showed up on th e start line turned out in im maculate con di t io n," said Anne . "He had brand n ew boots and his gear wa s all clean . Even at the fini sh line, he wa s always dust-free, since he u su ally led the entire race ." Anne related a s tory fr om thi s yea r's Delta , Utah, National H are & Hound , i n which Hamel s u ff er ed a rare fa ll. Whil e he w a s unhurt, Danny b roke h is h elmet visor in the crash, and Anne was su rprised by hi s ac tions at th e ne xt pit. "Th e first thing he did was say, 'Get me another helmet:" sai d Anne. "He took off the one he wa s wearing and threw it - not ou t of anger, but more 'bowl, ing' it where it wouldn't be seen. At first I thought he must have d amaged his helmet, but I don 't think that was it. Later he asked Tom (Anne's husband, and a CN ph otographer) if he had taken a picture of him with th e brok en visor. H e was w orried that he might look bad." An ne and I are n' t sure, but we think it was not van ity, but a sense of duty to his sponsors tha t had Hamel so preoccupied. Of course if that is th e case, it is o n ly another ex a m p le o f Da nny the racer's hi gh level of professionalism , a n d a not her layer b et w een m e a nd Danny the person. The b est racers u su all y ha ve nicknames, and it has often surp rised me that Da nny hadn' t b een s tuck with a hand le . A t lea st I thought h e h a d n ' t u ntil talkin g to David Hamel, who had tw o di fferent monikers for his younger br oth er. 'We were best friends from day one - th e three yea rs of age difference did n't really ma tter:' he sai d. 'We'd do Riding gear isn't exactly hard to come by for factory rid ers, but I like the fact that Hamel resisted the urge to turn the situ ation into a P.R. opportunity . It sho ws tha t his kindness was more than an act for the press. I'm very close with my mother, an d I wonder h ow she w ould handle it if I h appened to die prematurely . I lik e to think she would be as brave as Marcia H amel, who ex pla ined to me th at her so n had a good consci ence - something she feels he learned from Bob Williams, another famil y fr iend . " (D anny) believed in karma," she said . "He would never take advantage of anybody. His bicycle just got stolen, and he was honest right down to the last penny when he reported it (to the insurance company ). H e didn't want to profit from the situation." Marcia also mentioned that Danny w as a n o r ga niz er, a n d that h e w a s always arranging ou tin gs with his friends. "He'd organize trips to go fishin g, boating, skiing - w ha tever," she said. "Everyo ne just loved to be around hi m. " My deadline was looming, but I still d idn't feel l had p en etrated Dann y' s flawl ess ex te rior. As I contemp la te d , Jimmy Lewis returned my call. Lewis is yet another journalist, but unlike Anne and I, he h as ridd en as a teammate of Hamel's. "The one th in g I have to say about Da nny is th at w henever we raced in Baja - every time he b rou ght m e th e bike with the overall lead . Every time. An d I can' t say I di d the same for him . But he never showed any sign of being mad . If it was me, I thi nk I'd be pret ty pissed after go ing to all tha t wo rk, but h e kn ew that he di d his job and (that) I had d on e th e best I co u ld. That was enou gh." Before wri ting th is co lu mn, m y impress ion of Danny Hamel was that of everything together - d r iv e Tonka trucks, rid e BMX bikes, go out and catch lizards. We had a game where we called each othe r Bud . It w as always, 'Hey, Bud , let's go do thi s or tha t.''' The o the r nickn a m e was " Di ve r:' which Dan n y ea rned years a go on a v acat ion at Lake Powell in Utah with family friend Jack Hammond. 'We were riding around in .a boat, and every tim e we wo uld stop , Danny w ould ju m p in the wa ter:' explained David. Da n ny' s fa ther Roger recoun te d a story from the Ren o N at ional H are & Hound, whe re an auction was held to be nefit District 38. A lady and her son had go tten involved in a biddin g wa r fo r Danny' s jersey, an d th e p rice w as eventually driven up to $300 . The lady had to d rop out, and ano ther gen tleman got the jersey. "The little boy was heartbrok en:' says Roger. "Later, in the pits, D a n n y g ra b bed ano th er jers e y and rolled it up tight and ga ve it to Mik e H odges (Danny's mechanic). He sa ys, 'This is for that bo y . Find him and give it to him.?' s omeone who always did t h e right thing. His ra cing record wa s nearly flawless, as hi s a cti ons o ff the tra ck see med to be as well. Always the skeptic, I assumed that m y spotless conception of him was merely an image th at he h ad su ccessfu ll y managed to convey through careful efforts. But having spoken to his friends and family this week, m y impression of Danny Hamel ha sn 't really changed that much, and I think it just ma y be accurate. Danny Ha mel the racer and Danny H am el the person are basically the same. So w here d oes this get m e? I don't know . I'm s till fai rly co nfused as to w hat - if anyt hing - we shou ld learn from Da nny's death. I still don 't kn ow if our habit of praisin g the d eceased is justified , and I still don 't kno w if we' re all ba sically good p eople ins ide . I d on't kn ow , but I think Danny was. If you w oul d like a free sticker in th e design show n above, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Danny Hamel Memorial Sti cker, c/o Kawasaki Team Green, 9950 Jeronimo Road, Irvine, CA 92718. 0 \ 79

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