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/127787
Total Control Racing I By Scott Rousseau Photos by Dan Mahony n til re cen tly, th e team concept in d irt tr ack racin g h as always been somewhat d istort ed. H arley-Davidson factory mechanic Bill Werner w ill be among the firs t to tell yo u th at even back in the d ays of the early '80s whe n the threerider H arley-Da vid son fa ctory effort was handled en tirely in-house and th e team wrenches rubbed as many elbows in th e sho p as th eir riders did on th e track, the Mo tor Company never man date d th at informa tion on set ups and pa rts m od ification be shared with the other m embers of the team . All were working in the same direction - towa rd the championship, but often along sep arate path s. During the Par ker / Carr battles of the '90s, the rift grew even w ider as Carr mech anic Kenny Tolber t chose to pr epare th e 1992 champion 's equipment at his own sho p in Texas. All that changed abou t one year ago when Total Contro l Racing fielde d the two -rid er team of form e r factory H arley-Davidson rider Kevin Atherton an d a rising stock named Dan Butler in an attem p t to wrestl e the AMA Grand National Championship title awa y from Scott Parker, further building upon the U 24 concept that has now caused the Michigan-based team to be recognized as one of the top privateer teams in motorcycle racing toda y. The TCR operation is a racing team in every sense of the wo rd. It is a highdollar, high-pr ofile, professional organization, consistin g of several quality people - most are consi de red to be among the u p per echelo n of th eir craft. The mission is sim ple: Buy the best, build the best, be the best. And it all star ts at the top. Benson Ford Jr. Team owner Benson Ford Jr.'s name sho uld most certainly be recognizable to just abou t any motor racing fan, because . it is in fact that Ford. The great grandson of Henrv Ford , founder of Ford Motor Com pany, the 46-year-old Michigander is no stranger to racing, but it was on ly just a few years ago th at he got in troduced to the spo rt of dirt track. "I sta rte d in off-road raci ng w ith a com pany called Bill Stroppe an d Associates," Ford says . "Then I got into a car accident, and I was d isab led for a while. But I used to love to ride motorcycles. I used to pr e-run Baja on them. So a few ye ars ag o when I w anted to ge t ba ck into r acing, I asked m y frie n d Paul Lasko if he knew of any kind of moto r- rI sports that I migh t be interes ted in getting involved w ith. He took me to a dirt tra ck r ace, and I was h o o ke d ri ght away." With Ford in tereste d in p u tti ng togeth er his own team , Lasko d irect ed him toward the Flin t, Michigan , area, long recognized as a m idwestern mecca for di rt track activity, and int roduced him to Tom Cummings. "We had a meeting, and I explained to him what I want ed to do," Ford says . "But Tom was skeptical. He told me th at it was no picnic an d tha t we were not going to go out and w in th e cha mpionship the first year. But I asked him to submit a proposal to me, an d I w ent over it with my accou ntant and fou nd that it was w ith in m y budget. That's how TCR was forme d three years ago." Ford 's financial co m mi tme nt ha s clearly been a co nsi dera ble one. The team is the most pro fessional app earing on the circuit. At or away from the race track, the members may cons tantly be seen wea ring TCR team un iforms along with jackets bearing the nam e of one of their associate spo nso rs. Their motorcycles a nd trans porte rs are among th e cleanest on the circuit. "I do n't do anythi ng second- rate," Ford says. " It has to be first-class or I'd rather bow ou t. There is no direct corpo- rate sponsorship from Ford in it at all. It is more like network- J ing and br ain s for in formation on certain thin gs. Qu ality and cleanliness and a p rofes si onal att itude is ve ry im po rtant . We're tr yin g to develop a well rounde d team that can wi n on the half m iles, mil es and short tracks. And we want to w in th at championship . That' s w hy I'm her e. I ju st love go ing to the races to sme ll the gasoline and see the tires spin ni ng and the d irt flying. I'm very thankful th at Total Control Racing came abo ut. It m eans total control of your life, and everyth ing you d o." Tom Cumming s Fo rd is th e m on e y m an, ye t he is quic k to credit 43-year-old Tom Cum mings for pl ayin g the ro le not only as the team m an a ge r , but as the team visionary. In fact, Cummings m ay be a veritable pr ofile in courage itself. Cummings, whose family has owned a Harley-Davidson deal ership in Michigan for 47 years, has been arou nd dirt track racing for m ost of his life, ha ving competed as a No vice and Juni or before ea rn ing a Na tional number . Forced to quit because of a kn ee inju ry in 1978, Cummings began turning wrenches for th e li ke s o f Chuck Springsteen and building equipment for several current