Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127956
e has been a part of motorcycle racing as lon g as we can remem ber - the one wi th the handsome blond surfer looks, the tenacity of a bulldog , a n d th e h e art o f a n ox . He did everything there was to do, then he did it again, and, for good measure, a third time. The stand ards that he set for dedi- cation - p hysically, men tally, and emotionally - are beyond the comp rehension of all bu t a very few . He though t he cou ld pass it on to the next genera tion , the r ight way to do it, th e way that worked for him, but he can ' t. And so he has d eci d ed to mov e o n to the ne xt phase of his life, a phase where he'll do somet hing he hasn't d one for as long as he can remem ber : He'll stay a t home and try to lead a normal life. Life will never be norm al for Wayne Rainey; it never was, it never could be. He suffered fro m t ha t rare afflict io n known as per fection and it has haunted him all his waking days. Even when he reached the very pinn acle of racing, the 500cc Wo rld Championship , he wasn' t con ten t. He had to win it agai n, and again, and aga in . And on the fou r th a ttem pt, he was tryin g so har d, and he wa s so wound up in the ultimate goa l, so focused , that he made a mistake that wou ld cost him the use of his legs. That wo u ld slow most of us d own, and it slowed Rain ey d own, too, but not for lon g . Th e nex t logi cal step. w as to pick hi mself up, dus t himself off, and find a way to pu t his skills to use. It was inev ita ble that he would manage a team , w hich he did, bu t no t with a nywhere nea r the success he ha d on the track. There w er e ma ny reasons - the travel, the hardsh ip on his famil y, the lack of control; a result of no sponsorship . And then there were the riders, who Rainey discovered sim p ly didn't ge t it . The y didn't get the work, th e sa crifice, a nd the to tal dedication to purpose . The y'd gotte n to where th ey we re w ith shor tcu ts, a nd th ey w ere yo u ng, and they didn't see why the y cou ld n' t keep doing it tha t way. But Rain ey did, and it tore him up inside and now it's time to say good-bye. For someone w ho spent hi s w ho le life in motorcycle racing, Rainey is having a rem ark ably eas y time leaving. One of the reason s is that famil y com es first. His son Rex is growing up quickly and he w ants his so n to ha ve the sta bility that he never chose. "Rex is goi ng to s ta rt sc hool, and , w he n I' m hom e, I really have to think w h at a good r ea son is to tr y to get pumped up t o leave:' Ra in e y sai d r ecen tl y durin g an in te rview in hi s mobile office atthe British Gra nd Prix. "My home's in Ca liforn ia, a nd to ru n th e team properly you s ho u ld reall y bas e e ve ry thi ng o u t of o ne o ffic e in Europe. The way I've don e it in the past has worked well , bu t 1 know to go one ' better I' d ha ve to ba se every thing in Eur ope - and I'm not willing to live in Europe. "I think Rex, all his life, has wo ken u p in rent al cars, ho tel roo ms and ai rplanes, and for a kid, that's normal. He cou ld adjus t to that, no problem . That's normal for Rex. H e d idn't know anything and that was fine. 1 kn ow wh en he starts school I' m go ing to wa nt him to be real stable so he can learn well. Being in Monter ey, where his school is, and where m y home is - that's my base. It wasn't a hard decision . I've been thinking abo u t that for a couple of yea rs. Shae (Rainey's wi fe) and I have been talkin g ab ou t it, a bo u t sto p pi n g. It was ju s t never really right for rile and for all my sit u ations. The last co u p le of years 1 wasn't real pumped up abou t the wh ole se tu p that .I w a s puttin g m y s elf through." What he was putting hi mse lf through w as a phy sical reg imen that wou ld never be prescribed for someone ad justing to life in a wheelch air. Th ere was virtu a lly no break. Hi s career-end ing accident happened in Au gust of 1993, and he was man aging a 250cc team the following season. It was thou ght , at the time, that it would be good therapy. But the demands on his bod y, his time , his family, we re some thi ng which he never got over. "Yeah, I'm glad I d id it, but yo u' re also wondering, as yo u do with a lot of decision s in life, What if?" Rain ey said. "W ha t if I hadn ' t co me bac k so soon? Wou ld I feel a lot better than I do now as far as where my rehabilitation has gone? Looking back, it was an easy thought for me just to say, 'It wo u ld have been a lot better physically, 1 could've learned a lot mo re about my body in one year of just staying home and not ma king any commitments: When 1 came to the team, it was kind of a way to avoid the situation that 1was in at the time . In that regard, it helped me: ' Bu t what m a n a g in g a te a m co u ld never do was rep lace racing. Wa tching Mick Doohan during the final minutes