Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE TAPES BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU he ·telephone sounded the same as any other time tha t I'd received an incoming call, not at all hinting that I would, on Friday, January 23, receive the worst possible new s: Ricky Graham was gone. It was, perhaps, a call that I could have expected to receive some two years earlier, when he was going through one o f tho s e cy clica l and infam ou s low points in his life. But no t now. Not when it all seemed to be com in g tog ethe r again... As I learned of h is de ath , it w as with extre mely m ixed emo tions , th oughts and memori es. I co u ld n ' t esca pe the se nse of fi n a li ty th a t ca m e w ith the news, eve n thou gh I hoped that so mehow there was some mistake. But I was disheartened to learn that it was indeed tru e, and as I fough t back both sadness a n d a nger, m emori e s ca me fl ood in g back. [ re membere d th e first time that I ever saw Ricky Graha m race a mot orcycle, remembered the first story I'd ever read ab out him, the first time [ eve r met h im . I r em emb ered a lo t of th in g s, becau se as di rt track motorcycle racers go, he w as one of my her oes. Whenever he clim bed on a bike, he seemed superh u man . Bu t I also rem em b er th e fi rs t tim e th at I ever read abou t him bein g arrested for drunk d riving, the first time that he ever spo ke freely abo u t his alcoholism, the numerou s times that he fell d own, got ba ck up ag ain, and fell d own agai n. As peopl e go, Ricky Grah am was only human . . I know that a lot of folks had mixed percep tions of Ricky that were similar to m y own . It w as so di fficult to love him and at the sam e tim e feel such d isgust for him because of the personal demons that afflicte d him, but we did. We all followed along. We took th e rid e on th e Rick y Gra ham ro lle r coas ter, alw ays knowing wha t we were getting int o. But we took the ride jus t the same, because we all kn ew that he had so much talent, and w e loved h im fo r it, but w e al so knew that he wasn 't showin g all of it to us. Th ere w ere tim es when he showed u s gl im p ses of tha t h ero that w e a ll knew he could be. I don 't think that an y Gr and N at ional competitor will ev er ha ve another yea r like Ricky did in 1993. It w a s a storybook year, perhaps th e greatest com eb ack that any motorcycle racer had ever com pleted . Twelve wins, six of them right in a row, and a third champion ship some 11 years after th e first, nine after the second . And then he was human aga in. Dis- T ill u s ion ed whe n the H on d a fa ctory refused to pick him back up, Graham let the dem ons take over, and he stru ggled with h is ow n e xi s tence . H e mad e a cameo ap pea ra nce at the Hagerstown Half Mile in 1994 and once again played th e h ero, s co ri n g a d eci s iv e wi n . It w ould be th e la st ti me h e ev er s tood atop th e vic tory podium. A p ro tes t by Kevin Atherton after alleged contact at Sedalia, Missouri, damaged Graham' s sp irits once again, and h e disappeared . An ill-fat ed retu rn attempt a t the fall runnin g of th e Pomon a Ha lf Mil e left h im with a broken ankle. The d epressio n grew. reco ve r e n ou gh to ra ce mo to r cycl es again, we all tho ught it was over. And that's whe n Ricky once again showed us the mean ing of hero ism, as he worked h ar d and ba ttle d back in to shape. H e stayed clean, go t stro ng, and w as back in the pits wi th his lon gtime friend John ny Goad at the Daytona Short Track. He cras hed early in the night - later finding out that he 'd broken his wri st - but he toughed it out and cam e back to run sixth in the main even t anyway. It was a huge s tep. Th en cam e a no th er, as he made it to Pom on a one month later to finish third. But Lady Lu ck w as not don e bei ng Ric ky Gra ham , 1958-1998 Ricky tried to cope, but he wa s fighting a losin g battle. Fortuna tely, he knew it, and he check ed in to a rehab ilitation center in search of help wi th his d rinking problem . It definitely help ed, an d he left after 30 days w ith a renew ed hop e for life and an ambition to return to racing. . Then ca m e that fri ghtening h e ad injury in February o f 1995, su ffe r ed while trail riding wi tho u t a helm et. The d amage was severe , an d when doctor s told h im that h e w ould ne v er truly cruel to Ricky Graham, and she underscored it when Ricky was the one who came ou t w ith the seve re ly broken shoulder after a run-in wi th Will Davis at O kl ahoma City that really sh ou ld h ave kill ed th e North Carolinian but, thankfull y, did not even hurt him any wo rse th an h e already was. Ricky was down and ou t again. He spent time on th e roa d, stayed with frie n ds, and got int o more trouble. But he went home and turned it all aro un d a gain, an d th is time, d espite skepticism, hi s extens ive stay in rehab once again see med to make a di fferen ce. He came back again in '97, an d his ri di ng w as ragged . He was criticized, antagonized an d th reat en ed with su sp ensi on b y th e AMA. But ins tea d of ru nn in g, Ricky stayed wi th it, worked ha rd, and slow ly but surely began to b uil d confid ence and sp eed . Soo n, he was fin ishing on or nea r th e podium every week. An d people no ticed a difference, too. Ins tea d of makin g excuses as to w hy he didn' t win, Ricky simply chose to be happy and accep t his consistent finishes. It w as like h e knew that he wa s near the combina tion that saw him to the top in 1993, a n d h e w a s jus t h app y to be there. In th e end, he w as fifth in the 1997 seri es point standi ngs; but m o re importa n tly , h e re all y appeared to be at peace wi th himself. I spoke to Ricky on th e tel ephone m ayb e two weeks be fore th e accident that took his life, an d I can honestl y tell you that he was look ing forward to the 1998 se ries aboard h is n e w Harl e yDavidson s. He really thou gh t he had a shot at the title. I believe the term that he u sed w as "starting eve n." . Tw o mem ories stan d out in my mind when it comes to Ricky Graham, and I'd like to share th em with yo u. The first w as not fr om 1993, bu t from 1996, at Pomon a, af te r tha t lo ng layoff. As I watched him cu t his practice lap s, I marveled at h is effo rtless style, and I w as le ft in a we by h is in cre d ib le co rner speed. I had never - and have not since witnessed su ch a di splay by a nyone, and it looked lik e he h a d ne ver bee n away. I rem ember reali zing th at, righ t then and there, I'd ha d the good fortune of witnes sing a true natur al - and how rare th a t is in th is world . Th e second m e m o ry is o f h im at th e 1997 Eas t Mo lin e H alf Mile in Ill in ois. It was a deep , rough, gritty cushion, and he and his 01 pal Scotty Parker left the field far ' behind and flat worked that cushio n all the way home. Ricky was happy. It was jus t like the o ld d a y s . I choose to remember him that way - happy. If there is a lesson in his often tragi c life, and the senseless ca tastrophe that ultimately took him away, then it is thi s: Life is preciou s, and it is short. And we need to try to make it count. I will n ever forget Ricky Graham, who tried to make it count. While he may have s trug gle d to do so in life, whenever h e sw u n g hi s le g o v e r a motorcycle, his problems were far away. And he did make it count. God, how I pray that h e is so m ewhere, rid ing, right now. f"N LOOKING BACK... 30 YEARS AGO". FEBRUARY 9,1968 10 Y SAGO••. EAR FEBRUARY 3, 1988 L 32 20 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 8,1978 h is was our Ca mel Pro previ ew iss ue for 1978. Inside, Gary VanVoorhis discussed the possible scenarios that could arise as Ja y Springsteen went after his third consecutive AMA Grand Nation al Series title... Marty Tripes (Ho n), Rex Staten (Yam ) an d Broc Glover won the 250, SOO and 125cc classes, respectively, at rou nd fou r of the CMC / Suzuki Golde n State Series in Carlsbad, California ... Bob Hannah d iscussed starti ngline technique in the second installmen t of the "H ow to rid e like the H urricane" series ... We app are n tly like d our findings in our road test of the Suz uki GSI000, calling the bike a "harm oniou s achievement"... Cycle News in terviewed fast MX privateer Mickey Boone... Our New Products sec tion fea tu red a rather trick-looking f u elinjection system, made by a British company called Pip er FM Limited , for Hond a and Kawasaki in- li ne fou rs. eign ing AM A Gra nd Nationa l Ch am p ion Bu bba Shobert (Hon ) was u nstop p ab le in the first two rounds of the AMA 's new 600cc Nation al Champions hip Series. Shobert stormed to back-to-beck wins in the se ries-openi ng doubleh eader at the Cow Palace in San Francisco ... Jay Mann (Kaw) , Bob Hannah (Suz) and JoJo Keller (Hon) were th e fastest r id ers in th e 125cc, 250cc and Open classes, respectively, at round fou r of the Florida Winter AMA Series in Coco a, Florida... Rick Joh nson (Ho n) took the measure of the 250cc Pros at rou nd four of the CMC Golden State Nationals in Carlsbad. California... Dan Ingram (H on) bar ely beat Ed Morris (Hon) to lay claim to the fourth round of the AMA Invitational Indoor Ice Race Series in Kalamazoo, Michigan ... Dan Smith (Hus) go t off to a good start in the Best in the Desert Series with an opening-round win in Las Vegas. arry Be rg q u ist m ade th e co ver of ou r "Special Na tio na l Drag Issu e" as he sailed hi s Bultaco to victory in th e O pen class at the Adelanto Hare Scr ambles in Adela n to, Cali fornia... Of course, th ere was plenty of d rag-racin g event coverage, too, as we d evot ed two pages to th e AHRA Winter N ationals in Scottsd ale, Arizona. The Disharoon and Conlon (H-D) fue ler record ed an 11.18-second, 128-m ph pass to w in th e To p Bike class... Cycle N ew s ed ito r Caro l Sims explained the poin ts scoring sys tem for the AMA Grand N at ion al Ch ampionship Serie s... Sp eaking of whi ch , reigning AMA Grand National Champion Gary Nixon (Tri) ma de the new s by lap ping all but second-p lace finisher Bob Irwin (Bul) en route to victory at the Cincinnati indoor sh ort tr ack... A Honda CR93 125cc ro ad racer w ith a loa d of en gine spares was for sale in the W ant Ads for $650. T R

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