Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED Former 500cc National MX Champion Darrell Shultz Darrell Shultz, the 1982 500cc National MX Champion, is renowned f or his notorious wild and crazy off- track lifestyle, yet not all of it was fun and games. By Eric Johnson r-, 0\ 0\ ,...... 0\ ... N Q) ..D .8 u o 14 To get a read on Darr ell Shultz an d his unique place in American motocross t th e hos pital, the d octo r h istory, o ne mu st go right back to the told me that I had a puncve ry beginni ng - back to th e days io No rthern Ca lifornia where a fledg ling tur ed lung," explains Dar(and very competitive) racing scene had rell Shultz. "So I tell him, 'I have to rac e this Suoday. developed - a scene the young Darrell Can you fix it? ' He just looked at me Shult z very much wanted to be a part of. " I was born in West Point, New very strangely, la ughed, and said , 'No, you 're going to be in the hospital for 10 York," says Shultz. "My dad was based there while in the army . I gre w up in days. We're going to hav e to put a steel Orangeville, California, which is right tube in your lung to inflate it.:" It was the summer of 1982 and Daroutside of Sacramento and is the ver y rell Shu ltz was holding down a tenuous sa me place Steve Lamson is from . points lead , deep in the throes of a high "My dad was an ama teur racer and ly competitive battle for the AMA SOOn: go t up to the expert level, but he started hittin g the ground a lot and that was it National Championship. He wa s als o a physical wreck . Despite knees battered He was a sheet-metal worker and told me that as soon as I could buy a tru ck beyond repair, and a collapsed lun g to a nd a bike, I could begin racing. Th at boot , Shu ltz was not about to walk awav from his cha nce at an AMA number-on~ was kind of the d eal: Go to schoo l and get a job and you can race. So I accornplate - he had come way too far to throw in th e towel now. The d octor was just plished all of that and started racing at age 16. I neve r raced in the min i class. going to have to make things happen. "My first race was at Prairie City and , To this day, many motocross insiders of course, I did terrible. I was riding this consid er "Da nge ro us" Darrell Shultz to be one of the bravest racers in the history b ig tuna-bo at CZ. Soon a fte r th at, I of the sport Some have even gon" so far bega n rid ing a 125 and rod e the No vice as to call him "the last of the wild men." class for about four months. I raced the Rid in g, a t time s , lik e a caveman , Interm ediate cl ass for a mon th, then dest royin g his bod y with crazy "go for mo ved rig ht into the Expert class. I was qui ck right away and was just balls-out brok e and hope the health insura nce is paid off" m ov es, and the entire time. I'd crash five time in a s bouncing off any thing moto a n d w o u ld n' t on th e track that If' """ even th in k abo u t it. wasn't na iled down "I think we were a lot more In fact , thr ough out (and some things that cra;:y back then, We pus/ted my entire career, my were nailed down, as . " rid ing sty le ne ver wel l), Shultz embod- ~ everythmg to the max. ~ really improved, and ied eve rything Ameriu ntil th e ver y e nd, I can motocross fans loved: nev er really thought that s lowing down might make me a little big jumps, big speed and - many times big crash es. faster. Actually, late in my career, Goa t Furthermore, al ong with all tha t, Breker, who had seen firsthand all of the Shultz wa s ren own ed for his notorious crazy thi ng s I had done, sa id , 'Darr ell, yo u ha ve to be more ca refu l, because wild and cra zy off-track lifest yle. Considered by many of his peers to be a you' re going to end up paralyzing yourwo rld -cla ss rent-a -car pilot, Shultz, self.' It was from that point that I actua lthrough hi s e-bra kc, four-wheel -drift Iv tried to slow down a little bit and list~n to people. I was tired of gelling hurt actions, managed to find himself in trou ble with his bosses, the rental-ear compaall of the time. "My d ad didn't qu ite kn ow w hat to nies , and the law-enforcem ent agencies of America on more than on" occasion. do with me back then. I remember him sayin g, 'You' re go ing to di e rid ing like But w e'll ge t to that later. That said, that.' I had the classic idiot attitude an d Shultz was really 0 0 differen t thao most refu sed to sho w any body any respect. I of the racers during that era of American mot ocross . T he sp ort, still in its d ark despised everybody I raced aga ins t, and ag~ tu a certain degree , was beginning it cost me a lot o f time and a lot of chamto tak e a firm hold on the na tion, and pionships .' Shultz - and his com rades - we re along Alt houg h Shultz had certainly develfor the tempes tuous ride. oped a reputation as a lunatic racer, his "I think w e w ere a lot mo re crazy raw speed and impressive local results ba ck th en," Shu lt z re flect s fro m his in th e N o rthern Cali fornia ra e" scene home in No rt he rn Ca lifornia . " We caug ht the eye of a few regional distribupushed eve ry thing to th e m a x. Th ese tor rep resentatives, and he began to procure mu ch-needed support for his arnbi da ys, th e riders a re very professional and there's a lot of money involved." tious - and long-term - racing p rogra m. "I s tarted ra cin g for a local Bu ltaco shop," explains Shu ltz, "and then a representative for Maico came up tf! me at Plymo uth and said to my dad, 'He' s fast, bu t he sure cras hes a lot .' Eventua lly, he decid ed to hel p me out and I hi t th e Nationals right after my first reconstructive kne e su rge ry . I was 19 years ol d when I hit the road, and I had the bes t bike in the world for my riding style the big Maico. The Japanese bikes back then we re lighter and less powerful, and my style wa s to swa p all over the place so the Maico and I wo rked well toget her." During these formative years, Shultz fouod himself at odds wi th an adversary named Danny "Magoo" Chaodler. Every bit as wild, erratic and brave as Shultz, Chand ler appeared to have the ability to sha ke off a ny kind of fear - or concern for his healt h - and the tw o w ent a t it wee k in and week o ut on the regiona l circuits of Northern California. ..At fir st, Danny Chandler wa s a class abo ve me," says Shultz. "In that part of Northern California, Dann y Turner and Pat Richter were real fast, wh ile Magoo was both wild and fast. I would wa tch him and think, ' Wow ! That's how I want to do it!' At first, we reall y hated ea ch other. Magoo a nd I wou ld go ou t and race and bounce off of each other eve ryw here. He wou ld usu ally come out on the short end of it and end up hitting the grou nd . He hated me more than I hated him. By th e time we go t to Team Hond a later in our caree rs, w e had become good friends." Despite his win-o r-crash sty le, Shultz was fast developing int o a highly competitive ra cer . In 1978 he pulled off a wi n th at, for a ll intents and purpo ses, put h im on th e radar screen s of the cas hfla s h ing fa ct ory talent scouts . Shult z had oow arrived and was knocking on the door of the big time . "In 1978 I won the last Tra ns- A MA e v e r o n a Europe a n bike at Plymouth, California, which wa s m y home track," says Sh u ltz . " It w as all like a dream come true. A ll m y fr ie nds w e r e there tha t d a y ,

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