Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Hanging tough in the National rourth place Rapid City. SD. Aug. 7 ny ability to make youngters who follow it into men before their time. We decided to take a trip with Hacker during the Grand National series' version of Hell Week, the one week in August which forces almost all of the teams to stay on the road to meet' a demanding schedule of three Nationals in one week. In that time we saw it all - the daily grind, the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory - and in the process, we learned what it takes to survive on the road. checkered flag fell on the main event, trapping Hacker in third place - worth only $250. The team was crestfallen, for victory appeared to be certain. But Hacker was pleased with the bike, a):ld he tells Owen that they are on the right track. "That's the best that I've felt on that bike," Hacker said. "In the hea t, it just kept rolling through the turns, it didn't want to slow down. But it was hooked up in the main event. I think I could have won if they hadn't shortened the SATURDAY, AUGUSTS After a late dinner, it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. Hacker would have a big day tomorrow. earlier experimented with a· house unit cut into the nose of the sleeper, but it did little more than fill the bunk area with water, necessitating the change to the "big" unit. The house unit is still in place, however, adding more than its fair share of character to the box van. The new unit is hokey-looking, to be sure, but effective. Once the air conditioner was fired up, you'd have sworn it was snowing in the cab. We arrived in Des Moines around 6 p.m., The Peoria National IT is schedul.ed for the next day, where Hacker is set to ride J&M Racing's factory-backed KTM 600 in both the National and the CBS Camel Pro Invitational, which will be broadcast live on national television. After landing in Peoria at about 4 p.m. and checking into the hotel, I rolled downtown, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then headed to Peoria Speedway to catch the local short track action. That's where Hacker could be found as he, Oliver and bike owner Mike Owen had decided to test some of the suspension. changes that have been made to the bike before tackling the tough Peoria M.e. IT course. , Even in the face of some heavy competition from some of the other National riders in attendance, Hacker had his eye on first place, which paid $1000. After the first practice session, Hacker pulled ~ complaining of the bike's bump steermg problems. The crew made adjustments and Hacker headed out for his first heat race. He again struggled, finishing fourth - just good enough to make the 20-lap main. The trio conferred and made some more changes, like shorterung the wheelbase just a tad and softening the inverted forks. After a lengthy delay in the progr~ due to the many classes being run, Hacker got a lousy start in the main event, which started after Peoria Speedway's curfew time of 10:15 p.m., but at least he appeared to be more comfortable with the bike. He knifed through the pack on the outside line to come from near last to fifth place'in just five laps. Two more laps down and Hacker was fourth behind Larry Pegram, Davey Camlin and Will Davis. Hacker went on the attack once more, blowing by Davis and setting up to pass the two front-runners, when after .just eight laps, the race." SUNDAY, AUGUST 6 I arrived at the Peoria M.e. clubgrounds just after 10 a.m. hoping to find Hacker already in the pits, because I could have sworn that he told me he wanted to get some extra sleep and then ride to the track with me. But when I called his room he had already checked out. If I would have had to go back to the hotel to get him, he'd never make the show, but he was in the pits and all was well. Peoria was a grind today. It was like attending two Nationals in one because of the TV race. Hacker managed to get both a good and a bad start to the day depending on how you look at it. The bad part came when he was involved in a gnarly-looking ,crash with Aaron Hill during the first heat race; both riders were all right. And the good part came when CBS commentator Ralph Shaheen elected to interview Hacker for details of the crash. Hacker appeared to be wellspoken for his age, and he did a .good job of explaining the incident to the viewing audience. He was able to continue racing, too, and although he managed to crash again after the checkered flag, he earned a spot in the Invitational main event. After a disappointing start in the feature, Hacker soldiered around the track only to crash once again in the middle stages of the Invitational and smash the two small fingers on his l.eft hand. The television cameras missed the accident, but they did pick up on Hacker as he rolled around on the infield like a fouled soccer player melodram~tically playIng It up for the referee. Even with the severely swollen digits, he was back again to try to make the National, but , the pain was too severe. Hacker couldn't hold on to the bars and failed to transfer out of his heat race. He elected not to ride .the semi, calling an end to a rather disappointing day. MONDAY, AUGUST 7 It was nice to be able to sleep in late, and that's just what we did, barely making our 11 a.m. checkout time. I expected all the rest of the teams to be long smce on their way to Rapid Gty, South Dakota - the site of the midweek National to be held in conjunction with the an~ual ~lack Hills Motorcycle Rally, which IS Just up the road in Sturgis - but I was surprised to see that the Road Rider/Rogers team of Will Davis and the Modesto Harley-Davidson-backed Nate "Gator" Wait were still in the lobby, just getting set to leave. After a bit of discussion, the plan was to hook up in Des Moines, Iowa, at the home of another Grand National team owner, Garvis Honda Town's George Garvis, for a barbecue before heading up to Rapid City. After dropping my rent-a-dent off at the airport, Oliver, Hacker 'and I left with a few more cans of Barq's Root Beer than we had before we got there, after we pleaded hardship to a sodatruck driver making a delivery. Take it if you can get it. The road to Des Moines included two fuel stops, where we took on about 30 gallons of fuel at each stop and filled up the cooler each time. We also took the time on the second stop to hook up the team's rather "interesting" air-conditioning setup, utilizing a 5000-watt generator hung on the trailer hitch, which feeds power to a huge roof unit mounted over the cab. Hacker and Oliver had hooked up with Davis and company and then headed over to Garvis' rural homestead. George and Cindy Garvis have a beautiful house and are gracious hosts. The tribe consumed more than its fair share of grilled hamburgers and bratwurst, along with all the trimmings, and we viewed the televsion coverage of both the Peoria Grand National Invitational IT and the Springfield Mile. Afterward, we all headed down to Garvis' basement shop to see if we could pick up on any of the "speed secrets" that Garvis might have been implementing on his Honda RS750s, which are piloted by fellow Iowan Rich King. The Garvis team has been consistent all year. A National win can't be far away. , It was well past 9 p.m. when we bade the Garvis clan farewell and headed over to Matt George's house. George, the proprietor of Max Leathers, is one of Davis' sponsors, and a racer himself. George's garage houses several vintage dirt trackers, including two older XR750s. When not sewing up colorful dirt track hides, he is active on the Vintage Dirt Track Racing Association circuit. TUESDAY, AUGUST 8 Several hours were spent at George's house, and I thought that might be where we were going to crash for the night when, at 1:30 a.m., with no sleep whatsoever, everyone decided to saddle up and head for Rapid City. Oliver elected to qunk out while Hacker took the wheel with me riding shotgun. I decided to keep an eye on Hacker because of the stories I've heard about his time spent behind the wheel. Like the time that he fell asleep for half an hour while in the middle of a traffic jam near Washington, D.e. "We heard on the CB. that it would be about 10 minutes before the road opened," Hacker said. "So I decided to put my head down on the steering wheel. I woke up a half-hour later and all the traffic that was behind us was ahead of us." . Then there was that time on the road to Sedalia, Missouri, where Hacker struck one of the barricades that shielded a construction zone from the freeway. -Lf) 0\ 0\ ...... o C":l. .... en ~ ~ 21

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