Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Illinois State Fairgrounds By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos and Scott Rousseau SPRINGAELD, IL, SEPT. 5 nce upon a lime, renowned and respected motorsports annou ncer Dave Despain had a dream, and it we nt something like this. Invite 15 of the best d irt track mot orcycle racers in the world to run at the best d irt motorcycle track in the w orld, pa y a $50,000 purse that will at tract a lot of at tention fro m the motorcycle ind ustry, lay the fo u n da lion fo r a H a ll of Fame to hon or th e d irt track racer s of yes teryear and thus elevate the sta tus of one of the fastest, closest and most exciting forms of motorcycle racin g on th e planet. Ju st a dream ? We ll, it happene d on the world 's fastest dirt mile oval, at the Illinois Sta te Fairgrou nd s in Springfield . Harley-Davidson / AGV / HOG rid er Scott Par ker grabbed the lion's share of th e $50,000 purse, picking up a bout $15,000 for 10 lap s' wo rth of work as he ou t-d ue led Corbin Racing /Supert ra pp Honda rid e r Rich Kin g a n d fo rmer Harley -Da vidson fact ory teammate Chris Carr to the fin ish lin e in what amou nted to a sprint race for men who a re u sed to pacin g a nd ch asing ea ch ot her over the course of 25 laps. O But this one had the look of a bareknuckle street fight right off the bat, as Parker, C arr a n d thre e- t im e A MA Grand National Ch ampion Jay Springs teen battled furi ou sly for su p remacy in the ea rly going before King came up to cha lleng e for the big buck s. W hen AMA s tarte r Steve Faraci th re w th e checkered flag, Parker was the last man s ta n d ing . That probably ca me a s no surp rise, and mayb e that's th e w ay it ough t to b e - the a ll-ti me w in n ingest dirt track racer sco ring the first victo ry in w ha t could possibly become the alltim e most prestigiou s d irt track race. Bu t, m on ey asi de, the sig nificance of the fact that the even t even took p lace was no t los t on Parker. "This is not only abo ut one race, this is abo ut all th e champions who have wo n (d irt track) races in the past," Parker said. "It' s really neat to be able to w in th is w it h so ma ny of those guys here watch in' yo u . Th e main th ing is tha t I wo n the firs t one. And I think tha t it's cool, what Dave Despain and the rest of the investors did for us. That just goes to sho w how mu ch people love d irt track racing. I ap p rec iate eve ry one who di d what they d id to ge t us her e, and I hope that we can build this up so tha t one day this will be like our version of The Winston (stock-ear race). "What a bit chin ' race," Parker contin- DIRT TRACK INAUGURAL D RACK IRTT HALL O FAME RACE F u ed . "Fight to the finish. Th at w as an excellent time." For King, who didn't make his presence kn own until the second half of the 10-lap d ash, w aiting to m ak e a m ove wa s all part of the plan. "My Corbin Raci ng Honda w as set up perfectly," King said. "All tha t I had to do wa s wa it for the tires to come in, and th en I made my m ov e on th e last straight, bu t we jus t came up sho rt. Scotty, Chris and Steve (Mo rehea d) all rode a grea t race. I go ll a hand it to all m y. s pon sors a nd to my crew. Withou t them, I wo u ld n't have go tte n as far as I am." Carr was left to kick hi mself over what migh t have been, as a last-lap miscue - namely the fact that he found himself leading off the fina l bend - cost him his sho t at the big check. "I led the wrong lap," Ca rr said . "It sucks, leading off the last tu rn . Bu t I'm not di sappointed . I a m for myself, but I'm happy for the spo rt of dirt track racing. Oh , well - there's always tomorrow. We've got a good combination for tom orrow , but we're going to work on the rider a bit." Fourth place we n t to yet another vete ra n, F&S Harl ey-David son ' s St eve Mor eh ead . Admitt ed ly a little late off the start, the 43-year-old "Findlay Flyer" rod e his tail off in an effort to catch the (Above) Scott Parker (1) took advantage of a doub le draft to blow past Rich King (80) and Chris Carr (4) and win the top prize in the $50,000 Hallof Fame race at the Spring1ield Mile. (Below) Carr (4) led the elite 15-rider field into turn one , with Parker (1), Jay Springsteen (9), Joe Kopp (43) and the rest giving chase. lead gro up, and although he came close, he sim ply ran out of laps. "I was asleep at the start," Morehead said . "Th e light tu rned g ree n a n d I wasn' t read y to go. We go t goi ng there at the end , bu t it was jus t too late." Fifth place went to th ree-time AMA Grand N ati on al Cha mpion Jay Sp ringsteen, w ho was followed by Dan Butler, Ro n ni e Jon es a n d Wi ll Davis . Te r ry Poo vey w as nin t h a boa r d hi s n ew Hon da RS750, while Kevin Varnes was 10th. Dan St anley, Joe Kopp, Johnny Murph ree, Kenny Coolbet h and Mickey Fay rou nded out the field . TH E RACE After tw o fiv e-l ap heat races that served only to set the elite field for the g ra nd finale, th e rid ers lined up with Varn es on the low pole and Springsteen , Kopp, Parker, Morehead and Carr lined u p to his right. The gro u p was tigh tly ~ a ~ 00 0\ 0\ ,....... ~ \.0 ,....... .... Q) ..0 ---- - E Q) ..... 0... Q) (J) 25

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