Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED Danny "Magoo" Chandler 'aboard a works Honda at the Mammoth IlIou(MIn IIotocross In 1184. By Eric Johnson 00 0\ 0\ ....... 00' ..... ..... l-< 0... -< 12 - - ;- t was the weirdest thing," said former AMA 500cc National Champion Darrell Shultz, reflecting on a telltale moment from his youth. "My father was at a local Northern California enduro, and I was there watchin-g him. While sitting on my Schwinn Stingray bicycle - the full-on chopper bike with the banana seat and curled handlebars - I saw this wild little kid doing these unimaginable jumps on his bicycle. There was this big crowd of kids around the jump and he would peddle towards it as fast as he could. He was on some type of Schwinn and just whipping it. In fact, he was the first person I had ever seen whip a bicycle like that. I was so in awe of him that I felt compelled to go over and meet him. He was this short kid and he was all red all red hair and freckles." Sh ultz didn't realize it a t the time, but the young Schwinn pilot's name was Danny Chandler, and little did he know what effect the young man would ultimately have on the sport of motocross in the years to come. In fact, the scene of Chandler riding his bike - whether it be powered by his fast-moving feet or eye-stinging premix - pell-mell toward the face of a jump and launching off of it much' to the awe and appreciation of the people gathered next to it was something that would eventually make him a household name to motocross fans around the world. To this day, Danny "Magoo" Chandler is arguably the most colorful and "Chandler Through his racewinning, go-for-broke approach to . motocross, Danny "Magoo" Chandler became one of the sport's greatest folk heroes. courageous motocross racer this na tion shook it all off. Turning to what always meant the most to him - racing - he has ever produced. In possession of brilliant speed and an enormous amount of found the strength to forge ahead and strength and courage, Chandler was the bashed out a new niche for himself in raging bull of the U.S. motocross circuit. the sport. In 1981, Danny Chandler blew the From the early days of terrorizing the slam-bam local tracks of Northern Caliauthor's mind at the Mid-Ohio Valvoline 125cc United States Grand Prix of fornia or intimidating the unflappable Bob Hannah at Saddleback in 1979 to Motocross. Struggling to hold our balthrilling a nationwide TV audience durance in the deep Ohio mud, my younger brother, Gary, and I would wait for him ing ABC TV's Superbikers and pulling off the greatest Motocross des Nations to come around each lap as near our vantage point was a massive tree root. performance in the event's hallowed 52Chandler, on a box-stock, yellow year history, Chandler, through his raceRM125, would launch off it, be kicked winning, go-for-broke approach to sideways, and fly motocross, became completely out of one of the sport's shape - into the folgreatest folk heroes. Sadly, it would all lowing corner. In end in tears when because 1 direct contrast to the 'Chandler, after same section, the was always world's best 125cc attempting to thrill the specta tors - as he pilots at the time nJDD;ng Harry Everts, Gaston always did - crashed at the Paris Supercross in Rahier, Michele Rinaldi, Eric 1985. The seemingly harmless shunt resultGeboers, Mark Bared in a serious spinal-eord injury, paranett and Johnny O'Mara - would gingerly roll through the safe (and slow) inside lyzing the beloved motocross racer. line. From that experience, I found After a touch-and-go period in a Paris hospital, Chandler finally returned myself following the brilliant career of home. It was there that he fell on black the Northern California racer. days. Now a man without a sport, Recently, after numerous attempts to track Chandler down, I was provided Chandler struggled to come to terms with life in a wheelchair, and he went , with a phone number by Greg Fox at through a period of dark depression and . Fox racing. Upon dialing, the phone personal struggle that, for all intents and rang, and to my surprise, it was purposes, saw him fall off the face of the answered by Magoo. Fi-nding him motocross world. friendly, funny and animated, we began a conversation that lasted a couple of Fortunately, as time went by, Magoo "I got the name 'Magoo' into th;ngs..." hours, and I learned much more about the life and times of Danny "Magoo" Chandler. ''I'm from Foresthill, California, which is in between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento, and I've lived my entire life in the area," said Chandler from his home on a Saturday morning. "My dad was into bikes and I grew up around them, and the first bikes I climbed on were Honda 50s and old Step-throughs. My dad raced and I started to ride at age 4, and I started racing when I was 9. My first race was in Marysville, California, at MMM Raceway, on a Yamaha Mini Enduro. I won and kissed a girl - the trophy girl - for the first time," he recalled with laughter. "I was really hooked from the very beginning." While motocross is chock-full of nicknamed racers, Chandler's is one of the most indelible. Just where did the clever name "Magoo" come from? "My dad had nicknames for everyone," Chandler laughed. "My mom's name was Mary Jane and she had red hair, so my dad nicknamed her 'Big Red.' My oldest sister got the nickname 'Little Red: while my little sister, who had black hair, was nicknamed 'Blackie.' I got the name 'Magoo' because I was always running into things..." After the aforementioned Schwinn jumping era, Chandler turned to fullsized motorcycles at a very young age. And while he had spent some time on the nascent, ring-ding minicycles of the era, he and his father felt he was ready for something bigger and more powerful - a CZ 250. "We did the CMC races:' Chandler said. '1 started racing with them when I was 11 years old on a CZ 250. I had to have a CZ because Brad Lackey had one, and he was my total idol. One of the problems I faced then was there weren't that many places that would let me race because I was too young. Back then the mini races were more of a halftime deal and I couldn't race AMA events until I turned 14. However, with the CMC, I was able to race the Expert class at a real young age. When I eventually got to race with the AMA, I was protested all of the time for being too young. I was winning at a young age, so that caused a lot of trouble for me. "It took me about a year to get up to speed in the Expert class, as I had to race against fast guys from orthern California, like Pat Richter, Danny Turner and Darrell Shultz:' Chandler said. "We were real bar-banging fools, Shultz and I, right from when we were kids. W.e talked and everything and got along, but we were very competitive with one another and didn't grow out of it until late in our careers." "I first met up with him on the motorcycles at a local Northern California race," said Darrell Shultz, who together with his regional adversary would climb the ladder to motocross stardom. "He and Pat Richter were just kicking everybody's ass. I'd see him at the gate at the local races and was in awe of him. When I finally beat him six months later, it was like winning a national championship to me." "Racin'g was a total obsession right from the beginning," Chandler said. "r mean I would ride my minibike to school. I was kind of a quiet and withdrawn kid, and my bike was my strength, my world, and my domain - I was never intimidated when I was on it. At 16, I got my pro license and rode Hangtown and qualified, but ended up blowing the base gasket on my KTM 125."

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