Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

" b it w h en th e fi eld to ok the h alfw a y fla g s. C a rr h a d th e le a d, with Parker, Spr in g er, Morehead a nd n o w Kin g in hot pursuit. King s tep ped on it a bit and ju mped by M orehe ad as th ey w ent in to turn one . C a rr led la p s ix, but Parker an d Sp ring er both su cked by h im o n the ba ck s tr a ig h t, Not to b e o u td o ne, C arr d o u ble-drafted back to the fro n t o n the ensu ing d ra g race up the fron t chu te. Pa rker th en led laps eig h t a nd nine, set ti ng u p a cl a ss ic Sprin gfield-s ty le d a sh to th e checkers. D o w n the ba ck s t ra ig h t, Ca r r s h ot to the front, wit h King second and Parker thi rd as the y pee led off tum four. "I felt th at I h ad th e s tro ngest bi ke, bu t I di d n ' t have the s trongest s tra tegy," Carr sa id , "I ga p ped th em a bit co m ing off turn tw o, but I saw so meone's wheel, a nd I d idn't have time to check up a nd let th em back by. So I just burned it in th ere a nd tri ed to hold th em off. They just.got by m e. I never led off tu rn four for the w hole ra ce, a nd , th en on the last la p , 1 find m yself lead ing it." If Carr was s unk, so too, it wou ld seem, w a s Pa rker , as he was thi rd w it h the finish lin e ra p idly ap p roach ing. But th en Kin g made a fata l e rror in ju dgment, electing to pull o utsid e Carr and d rag-ra ce him to th e line fo r the win. In doi ng so, the King / Carr d u el crea ted th e perfect wind break fo r Pa rker, w ho got in the va cu um a nd blew past both of them to g rab the big p rize. "I knew tha t I co ul d not lea d off the last co rner, n o t with th e wind the way ' t h a t it was co ming dow n t h e front stra ig h t," Parker said . "Yo u know, King s ho u ld h a ve drafted C h ris a t th e li ne, but in stead he d ecid ed to d rag- race h im, H e was o n C hris before th ey e ver got o ut of the comer. When I saw t hat, I was like, Thank you, ba by, tha nk yo u l'" A d isappoi n ted King reali z e d hi s mistake as w ell , only it was too late to tak e it back. " I ac tua lly got too good a drive off tu rn four , a n d I w e nt outsid e of Chris, a nd th at jus t lef t th e w hole in sid e for Brieflv... Theracinq was far from the only happeninq that took place over the Hall of Fame Race wee kend, as spectators were treated to aninfield midway that fealured many items of interest for the dirflrack audience. Event" sponso r Excelsior-Henderso n w as on" hand .. show ing off. it s produc tion-intent Super X cruiser along with a handful of vintage Exc e ls ior·Henderson motorcycles, Famous dirt track artis t Harry Miller had a tent set up to display his dirt track art, which encompasse s all gimerations of the sport, Also onthe infield were a custo m motorcycle showand vintage dirt track'field displays. ' among other thinqs. Butthe high-traffic area of the infield was definitely the Hall of Fame tent. which allowed fans to come in. se ek autographs and chat with the sport's legends. Sco tty," King said. " I a lways know how to wi n thes e things_a fter the checke red flag . But m y m o to rcycl e w as getting bet ter a n d better a ll day. M y e ngine was g rea t. Sa m W ess ley pu t ano ther good o ne together, a n d I wish I co u ld h a ve w on it fo r him . He d es erved to win th is race m or e than I d id ." A nd with th a t, the firs t Hall of Fam e race was in th e boo ks, a nd fo r a n yo n e w ho thinks th at this was just so me so rt of no ble, one-tim e exercise, th en you ' d be tt er t h in k agai n . Co me n e xt La bor Da y weekend, th e second a n n ual Di rt Tra ck Hall of Fa m e Ra ce is g o ing to bring a lit tle m ore cheese . How much ? H ow d oes $100,000 grab ya? O h, yes, one th in g' s fo r sure: You ca n b et Parker will be .th ere , looking for a return o n h is in vestment. H e inves ted $2000 of his o w n prize money into next year's purs e. l~ Illinois Sta te Fa irg ro unds Springfield, illinois Results : Septe mber 5, 1998 DI RT TRACK HA LL O F FAM E RACE (10 laps; 15 rid e rs ): t . Sco tt Pa rk er (H-D); 2. Rich Kin g (Ho n): 3. Ch ris C u r (H · D); -4 . Steve Mor e head (H- D); 5. Ja y Spri ngsteen (H-D); 6. Da n Butle (H-D); 7. Ronnie Jones r (H-o); 8. Will Davis (H-D); 9. Terry Poo vey (Hon ): 10. Kevin Va rn es (H- D); 11. Da n Sta nley (H- D); 12. Joe Kopp (H- D); 13. John ny Mu rp hree (11-0); 14. Kenny Coo lbct h (H· D); 15. Mickey Fay (Hon ). B NS : Davcv GImlin (l-f-D), T ime: 5 mi u., 58.687 sec. (Above left) Willie G. Davidson, the Hall of Fame Race's or iginal "pionee r," was on hand for both days of racing at Springfie ld. (Above rig ht) Excelsior-Henderson brought in its big rig to show off its new Supe r X cruiser, along with several vintage and antique Exce ls lor-Hendersons. (Left) Three-time Daytona 200 winner Dick Klamfoth paid a vis it to the Hall of Fame tent o n Saturday. (Right) What it's all about: Promoter Dave Despain asked for co nt ribut io ns to make ne xt year's Hall of Fame race pay twice its o riginal purse, and by the e nd of the weekend, Des pa in had his an swer. The 1999 event will pay $100,000. Despite his strong early performance, Jay S p ringsteen wound up fifth in 'the Hall of Fame finale. which may have puzzled so me, "Ahh, Iwa sjust gettin' lot of wheelspin the last few laps: .Springer a said, Finishing worse yet was TCR rider Will Da vis , who carded a disaPPOi'nti~g eighth,' "Whateve r. Davis said . ~ We made some wrong tire choices in the main event ; and we were geared a littl e loose. I could lead into the turns , but comin' off. those guys would just gobble me up, But it was a beautiful race , and I'm glad that I got to lead it for just a little bit." To be s ure , there was more than a fai r share of old stories swapped, aid jokes told and oldacquain. tance s renewed among the 24 Hall of Fameinductees, but perhaps none was bette r than thestory told by "Mr. Tough" himse lf, Bart Marke l. at the official Hall of Fame induction banquet. Before the 500 people assembled at the dinner, Markel described how tough you had to be if you wanted to be a track racer in the old days: "Hec k: he said, "I could loseaftnqer and grow one back in -Two-time AMAGrand National Champion Dick Man n (1963,1971> was amonq 'the Ie'gends s igning , aboutdirt hours," 24 " ' " autographs on both days, and ,the forme r Daytona 200 winner had high praise for event promoter Dave Despain. "This is a real neat thing that Dave has put together here," Mann sa id. "It's really late Talk about tough: After being hos pitalized on Saturday for heat prost ration, J im Davis , the 102· in coming, but fortunately it is finally here , We needed something like this when I first started racing,' year-old former Indian factory racer and multi-time motorcycle speed-record holder, returned on Su nTwo-time Grand National Champion' Bobby Hill <1 95 I' 52) s hared Mann's se ntiment s, And Hill said that he vividly remembers what it was like to tackle the old mil , "It was quite a thrill to come here ," e Hill said, "Of course: we probably didn't realize what a thrill it w as until now. When you're on top of your sport, it doesn't do a thing for you to watch it. But it' s really nice to be here and to have this Hall of Fame for us. espe cially for,us older guys whilewe're still livin'." ./ day to accept a standing ovation from the crowd after being introduced by Dave Despa in.w ho startad by saying that when Davis arrived 'at the hospital, the docto rs sa id that they had never had anyone come in with that high of a bodytemperature before, "The point being," Despain said, "that at 102 years of age, Jim' Davis still contin ues ~o se~ records. " . . Pe rhaps the biggest news of the weeke nd came not' on Saturday but on Su nday, as promoter Dave De s pa in did his best .Jerry Lewis impersonation and raise d more than $50,000 throughout the ' The Hall of Fame race brought at least a couple - former dirt track heavies out of retirement. as for' , course of the wee kend to raise the purse of the ,second annual Dirt Track'Hall of Fame race to an of mer mile spe edster Dave Durelle and former World Superbike road racer Mike Hale showed up even $100,000 , "larnsoqrateful to all the people who put up the money for the fi rst one that I felt I and atte mpted to qualify for the Hall of Fame race via the 750cc Expert Hot S hoe National. "This is owed it to them to s tep.the thing up to the next level." Despainsaid, "I had a fee ling that fans would definitely fun: Durelle said after practice , "The track is just awesome, It's hard not to have fun when ' come through, and they did, And a few of our 1998 'pionee r' contributors pushed us over top. I'd the track is likethat. I'm jus t glad that I'm up to speed: Hale concurred, "It's all cornin' back to me ' guess the other pioneers might take that as a challenge for 1999! Overall, I thought it was a huge now: said Hale , who last rode,Springfield aboard a factory Honda in 1995. "The bike 's rea lly good, success . There were some glitche s and there we re some rough edges. but they were minor in term s and we're dialin' it in, It was better in my hea t race than in practice ,- Unfortunately for them, neither of what we accomplished, which was to put toqether so many people from so many aspe cts of this ride r made it into the big s how.. sport and get them to pull in one direction, Someone as ked me how I would know when this event was a success: and I told them that it would come when J im Davis s tood up there and acce pted the At 43, Steve Morehead certainlywanted to win theHall of Fame , but for reasons other than just congratulations of the-fans . As you know. J im was in the hospital on Saturday, but he 'came back on the money. "Heck. I used to race with half of these guys (the "legends ") thatare here: Morehead , S unday to stand up there and accept that cheer. That was the pinnacle of the w eekend for me , I also said.' - If I won: it would be Iike ' winning one for the Gipper, Then again, (Mert) Lawwill might come want to say that' we can never give 'enough tribute to the guys who put on t he show . Sometimes .1 " ' . . , . think that people,take raCing at Springfield for granted, But the rac ing was unbelievable ," back and s tart raCing iH win," . R l8 ~ (X) 0\ 0\ ,...... --0 ,...... ;..., OJ .0 6 OJ ...... c, OJ Cfl 29

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