Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·INTERVIEW Team Saddlemen's Rich King By Scott Rousseau :../ Photos by Flat Trak Fotos R 2 ich King left ho me last yea r to pursue h is dre am of beco ming the AMA Grand National Champion. He almost made it. King hi t the roa d from his heartland town o f Wa te r loo, Iowa, m akin g th e sa me com mitment th at all who wou ld h op e to de th ro ne re ign in g Gra n d Nation al Champion Scott Parker must, as his drive for glory sent him ou t onto the 24-race championship trail for the first full-tim e racing seaso n of his life. But the 32-year-old veteran definitely made up for lost time by being the onl y ri de r to sta rt and fin ish every Grand Nation al main eve nt, by finishing consistently in the top 10 at all but tw o of those eve nts, and scoring the first AMA Gra nd National victory o f his career at the Den ver Half Mile on Au gust 12. In the absence of Chris Carr, it w as the Ga rvis H ond a-b acked Kin g w ho took u p the cha lle n ge o f keeping th e fivetime AMA Gra nd N at ion al Ch ampion Par ker hon est as the Harl ey-D avid son factory sta r raced toward his sixth title. It wa s a role in which King performed ad m ira b ly - even th ou gh King cla ims that attainin g the cham p io ns hi p for h imself was never the main goal. What w as? Consi sten cy . At th e en d of th e ye a r, Kin g s tood seco n d in the AMA Gr and N ati onal Championship Series. Mission accomplished . For 1996, Kin g has am icabl y parted company with Garvis to ride the Crai g Roger s-owned Team Saddlem en H on d as that were form erl y campaigned by Will Davis. As King lo oks forward to th e new se ason, the names and faces may h ave cha ng ed, but the goal is th e same. You really made your mark in 1995 you stepped ou t of the pack and put it all together. But you have actually been around for a long lime. Give u s some of your background and tell us what led up to the success you had last season. Actu ally I turned Exp ert in in 1980 or ' 81. W h en I tu rned Expert I rode for George Garvis. I'd actually been ridi ng for him since I wa s a Junior . We never ran the whole season because all we had at the time was a 500. Then we went to a 750, and we just ran some loca l stuff. Then we started hitting mo re and more Nati onal s and had some decent finishes. But I always had a job, and it was kind of conservative on my part that I d idn't want to quit wo rk to go racing full time, because it's always been my feeling that you have to run in the top 10 to make a living at all. It was a big step to quit a job tha t w ould giv e you a p ay ch eck every week just to go racing. We ran a lot of ou tlaw ra ces and non -N ation al events. We also had a few tou gh years wi th inju ries - nothing serious, but stu ff tha t w ou ld k eep me ou t for a few months. I was on the verge of quitting in '94, but Garvi s wanted to go ou t and run a few races. So we ran a couple. In fact, it cam e down to that ni ght at 1-96 (Lak e Odessa, Michigan) where we ran th e main event until 3 in the morning. I figured if I didn't make the main eve nt and d o well, then I was jus t tired of beating m y h ead against th e wal l. I was ju st going to quit. But we ran pretty decent th at nigh t - I thin k we ended u p sixth. We ran pretty decent after that for the Some things change, some don 't: Rich King has jumped aboa rd the Craig Rogers-owned Team Saddlemen Hondas for the 1996 AMA Grand National Champions hip season. J ust as he was last year, King Is currently second In the series points standings. rest of the year, but in the off-season I still couldn't get a good ride . So George committed to the full '95 season. He said we'd go one year, and it w as basically jus t to p rove the point that we cou ld run at the top. H e ba sica lly d id it for me, becau se I wanted to prove it to myse lf. Our goal was to run to p five at every N ational and end the yea r in the top five. So wh ere I ended up last year was actually a bo nus . That pretty m uch answers the question of where the newfound drive ca me from. But as far your con sistency goes, there's a lot more to runni ng in the top five than just saying that's what you want to do . What other changes did you make to your program? Wh at I d id las t year th at I n ever did before was ge t on a trainin g program. I did a lot of mountain biking and a lot of running and stu ff like that. In the years before that I never really looked at it as in com e as far as m y life. Th e racin g m oney w as always a bonus. But la st year the place wh ere I work ed closed its doo rs, so it was eithe r find a new job or go racing full tim e. When Geor ge sai d he'd commit to a full year, then I went racing. and I got in shape. An d you kn ow George Garvis' bikes are probably the best-prep ped bikes outside of the factory team. Obviou sly they mad e every N ational, and we finish ed every alional. I believe I'm the on ly one tha t fini shed every Na tional last year. So tha t says a lot for the equipment. Like I said, we didn't go ou t to win every Nati onal, we wanted to finish every one an d be con sistent. Every goal that we set last year, we succeed ed at. . Your win at Denver must ha ve been the realization of a dream. There ar e many riders who come and go withou t ever winning a Grand National ma in event. How did it fee l to fin ally bag one? It was a real special eve nt. My whole fa m ily was th ere. I w as with Garvis, who w a s ba sica lly th e guy who had brought me back. It was also a rea lly big load o ff m y sh o u ld e rs . I'd a lwa ys thought in the back of m y mind tha t I wa s capable of w inn ing a Na tional, and I was so close so m any times, but something would alwa ys happen. Dumb little mis takes. It fina lly all cam e together that nig h t, and it's hard to describ e. When something like that h appens yo u want to go out and do it agai n and again. But I still jus t stayed focu sed on the top five, on th e next ra ce. I d idn' t want to go blow or put a hole in th e fence just to win the Na tional an d th row the rest of t he year awa y. I kept m y head on straight, and we had a lot of good finishes after th at. I gue ss I d on ' t mind ge tting beat if someone goes ou t and is jus t faster than I am . Like at Knoxville (Iowa) . Kevin Varnes w as jus t faster than I was. If I get beat that way then ne xt w eek I' ll try harder. But if som ething h appen s like m y steel sh oe breakin g, th en I ge t real upset. You sta yed close wi th Par ker for most of the s easo n. W he n yo u we re th a t clo se to winnin g the ch amp ions hip, d id you feel a lot of di sappointment after Kno xville? If you'd fin ished better, you still could ha ve stayed with him. How much pressure were you placing on yourself at that point in the sea son? Well, I never rea lly looked at the cham pio ns hip. I never put that much press u re on m y se lf . I ju s t tried to s tay focused on th e top five . But Knoxville was a disappoin tm ent in a way because it was m y h om et own race, and I wa s ru nning really good an d wa nted to win the Na tional p rob abl y m or e th an I' ve ever wanted to win a Nation al. On the othe r hand, w e ran second and h ad a good night. As far as th e cham p ionshi p w here Parker clinched it ther e, we're running against the factory team, and we get no help from H ond a . N othing . And our stuff costs more to build than a Har ley. We get no bonus mon ey like the Harley ri ders get, a nd Hond a w on 't d o anything for us. I really w ish they'd become a part, becau se I thin k it would make a big difference in our program as we ll as anv other Honda rid ers ou t there. "Bu t when y ou ' re run n ing agai nst Scott Par ker - wh o is probably the greates t d irt tracker th at ever li ved in my eyes - and the best eq ui pme nt ou t there, yo u go tta kn ow goi ng in that ch ances are yo u ' re not goi ng to bea t him in a champion ship with 24 races. Wh ere we s tayed clo se with h im was due to his downfalls. We cou ld run very goo d at every National, and we did at 80 percent of them, bu t yo u've go t to count on him breaking. and h is team is just too strong. He's got Bill Werner, wh o is one of the greatest tuners, and the H arl ey factory behind him, and he' s ju st an awesome rider. It' s tou gh to beat a com bin ation like that, but even the greatest teams falter, and that's where we ca pitalized on so man y teams last yea r. When guys like Will Davis or Kevin Atherton falt ered,

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