Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I By Eric Johnson I Photos by Kinney J ones and Frank Hoppen I tand ing in the b rig h t-w hite-m arble Las Vegas hot el lobby, among the d in c rea ted b y cl anking slot machines and th e m uffled howl s of an occasiona l bla ckjack w inner, he d idn' t , re all y lo ok an y th in g lik e a wo rl d famo us mot ocross star. Wea ring a big bac kpack, blue T-shirt , t and jeans, and surrou nded by his wife who was carrying their infa nt son in her arms - a nd h is y o u ng d au gh te r , the un assuming you ng man looked like any othe r 20- to 30-year-old father just trying to keep every thing together. I It was the ev e o f th e 1998 AMA ~ National Champions Awards Banq uet, r and Do ug H en ry , obliviou s to the eyest inging Flamin go H ilton Ho tel air, was smiling big . H e d eserved to be . Now perennia lly cast as the ever-smi ling family man of Ll.S, motocross, Henry was in town to pick up his ha rd -earn ed AMA 1250cc National Cha m pions hi p number on e pl at e. As fate would have it, however, the next evening Hen ry woul d ultimately recei ve more th an jus t th at. As th e sta r-s tud d ed AMA banquet hit top gear a nd reach ed its denouement that eventfu l Satu rday night in the Flamingo ba llroom, H en ry w as an no unced as th e w inne r of the 1998 AMA / Sp eed vision At hl ete of th e Yea r awa rd . But, once again, the u na bas hed outpo uring of reverence and adulation sho wn by his bik era cing p eers for h is outs ta nd ing 1998 sea son w ouldn't stop th er e. As a kin d of fina l exclamatio n mark to a fa iry-ta le-li ke se aso n, w h ich sa w him win fiv e AMA Na tionals and th e AMA 250cc a tio na l Championship aboard h is p ot ent fa ctory Yamaha YZ4 00 four-st ro ke , D ou g Henry has been se lected as th e Cycle News 1998 Rider of the Year. " It fee ls reall y g ood to win this award," says H en ry, whom we interviewed w hile he w as making a promotion al sw ing through Los A ngeles . "So many guys do so much to try and succeed in motorcycle racing, and I'm ve ry proud to be named the Rider of th e Year. In fa ct , th is isn't rea lly even a motocross award. To be named th e top rid er in all of motorcycle racing is pr et ty amazing. It's not reall y so methi ng you shoot for, but it sure is a bo nu s." Truth b e to ld , th e significa nce of Henry being named the Cycle News 1998 Rid er o f the Ye ar isn 't so much an a w a r d fo r his third AM A Natio nal Motocross Champi onsh ip a s it is a recognition of his soon-to-be-legendary tenacity and determination to succeed aga inst all odds (we ' ll get to tha t soon). And to really a pprecia te the magnitude of Doug Henry' s accomplishments in 1998, one is forced to dig deep and dust off the memories - both th e good and the bad - that made up his tu multuous and often pe rilous and injury-riddled roller-coaster ride to fam e and glory . The Do ug Henry sto ry is like so mething right ou t of th e Frank Capra film va ult. Capra, a beloved Holl ywood film director of the 1930s an d 194 0s, was legendary for his idealistic and warmhearted cinematic tales - su ch as It's a Jill 'SUee Nat'onal Mot CIIA/IIp/ONoeross 1998 R Wonderful _ Life, 11 Happened One Night a nd You Can't Take 11 With You - tha t celeb ra ted the inherent g oodn es s of man and his qu est to deal with ad ve rs ity and o verco me th e odds. If mot ocross ever had a ra gs-to-riches Capraesqu e cha rac te r, it is, wi tho u t a d oubt, Doug H enry. Dou g Henry was not destined to be a motocross star. Perh aps that is the fundam ental re a son w hy h e h a s n ot bee n swep t up in the colorful kaleidoscope of video premier es, per sona l age n ts, web sites, hangers on and custom-frosted hair styles that are all now such a big part of the Am erican racing circus . The son of a Connecticu t m achinist named William Henry, yo u ng Doug, intrig u ed by th e s po rt, found hi s w a y into motocross through a few friends at schoo l. "We didn' t really see it on TV then," He nr y says. " We would se e the Carls- bad U.S. GP every year, and once in a w hile I would come across a su p ercross o n TV o r wa tch a tape, but that w as about it. I met some kid at school who w as racin g over in New York and as ked him a bunch of questi ons about it. So my dad and I went to a d ealer and saw a poster th at sa id , 'Race a t Southwick!' Th is w as in 1984, so w e w ent up th er e (Above) Henry and his tun er, Pete Ste inb recher, sh are d many high and low points over the yea rs. Their tenure ended on a high. (Below) Many times throughout the 1998 outdoor 250cc Nationa l MX season, Henry put his Yamaha VZ400Ffour-stroke to the front of the pack by the first tum. Here, Henry pulls off one of his classic holes hots at the Spring Creek track In Milleville, Minnesota. 5

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