Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and former Na tional riders like Morehead, Jay Springsteen, Scott Parker and Hank Sco tt . Cummings fast-forwards the story from there. "But here's the whole deal," Cummings says candidly. "Let me give you a little background abo ut how Total Control Racing came abo ut. I had a hell of a drinking problem, Benso n Ford h ad a dri nking p r ob le m . After I retired, I became b ored working a ni ne -to-five job, and like a lot of racers d o, I cou ldn't find a re p la ce m e n t for rac ing. So I turned to d rinking an d got into a lot of troub le w it h it an d h a d a lo t of b ad t im es beca u se o f it. Bens on h as been throu gh th e sa me thi ng, a n d we a re totally open about it. Wher e Tot al Con trol Racin g came about was on ce w e decid ed to give thi s a go and the time cam e to nam e the team , I d id n't want to ca ll it Tom Cummin gs Ra ci ng, but I wou ld n' t mind the m usi ng m y initials T.e. becau se everyone knew w ho th at was. So, looking back at our pasts - both of u s let our lives get out of control - we decided to call the team To tal Contro l Racing and let's do something right for a ch ange. That' s where it came from ." The change has been good as Cummings now devotes the majority of his time to managing the overall operations of the seven-member team and serves as th e main motor man as well as crew chief for Kevin Ath erton ' s motorcycles, which are also tended to by Dave Watts. For Cummings, w innin g the championship is the primary goal, but not the only one. "Our objective wasn't to come in here and spend a bunch of money and have the best motorcycle racing team ," Cummings says. "Our objective here is to try to build the whole sport of d irt track up along with having a suc cessful team . We' re trying to set a precedent by h a ving the clean es t team, a n d the brightest colo rs, by having -all my guys in crew shi rts an d setting an exam p le for the fans and kids who come to see how w e' re runnin g this show. We 're tr yin g to b r ing th is th in g o u t o f the fa r m league. Nobody ha s an ad vantage over this team. " (Lett) Atherton was the first rider ever to don TCR colors, Joining the team in 1994 atter having ridden for both Skip Eaken and the Harley-Davidson factory team. (Opposite page ) Armed with a wellorgan ized tea m and some of the best equ ipment money can buy, Will Davis (lett) and Kevin Atherton (right) hope to bring the Grand National title home for Total Control Racing in 1996. (Right) Davis landed the 1996 Daytona Short Track victory In his first race for" the team. Here he takes the victory lap with crew ch ief Dennis Town (lett) and mechanic Randy Brady (center). K vinAtherton e In term s of choice G rand Na tio n al rides, Whi te Pigeon, Michigan's Kevin Atherton has been the re and done that. Atherton , 25, has al ready ridden what is con s id ered to be the top-level equipme n t in t h e sport. The fla mboyant (Lett) Aside from Atherton's Indianapo lis victory, TCR's 2-3 finis h beh ind Scott Parker at the 1995 Lima Half Mile was a highlight for tha team. Dan Butler (lett), who finished a career-best second at Lima that day, has s ince departed to ride for the Gardner RacinglWalters Bros. HarleyDavidson team. AC youngster lan d ed a Harley-Davidso.n factory ride in the form ative years of ~IS Grand National career and stayed WIth the com panv from 1989-92. He also had the opportunity to w ork with tuning legend Skip Eaken while cam pai9ni ng machinerv for Texas Harley-Davidson in 1993. When Cummings went looking for a rider to campaign the TCR Ha rleyDavidsons at the beginning of 1994, Atherton was both the rider of choice, and available. It's a move he has no t regrette d. "When we show up at the race track, just looking at the tea m you can see it's a better deal (than the factory)," Atherton says. "With the factory we raced out of vans that we had to pay for ourselves. Now we're go nna ha ve tw o big tru cks to w ork ou t of. I thin k everything that TCR d oes for me is a lot better. We can go anyw here with ou r parts and develo p men t as oppo s ed t o the fa cto ry , w he re w e h a d to use p arts th at were so ld by H a rley-David son. But I th in k the biggest thing for me was getti ng au t of th e sh a dows of Scott Park e r a nd Ch ris Carr." At h erton and Cummings stru gg led

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