Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTERVIEW ~.~ , ',\\" . . ~ '1 " an d wa tched and w a lke d a ro u nd and go t into the spo rt fro m the re, " I o n ly di d a few ra ce s in 1984 becau se we go t interested late in the season; 1985 was to be my firs t full season, but I bro ke my arm in o ne of th e first ra ces," H enry ex p la ins . " I ca m e back after abo ut eig ht w eeks and I won th e Beginner class. In 1986, I w ent on to win the Amateur Champi onship and tu rn ed expert by 1987." For th e next few years, Hen ry continued to haunt the New Eng la nd raci ng sce ne, following th e p rol ific N ew England Spo rts Com mi ttee circu it, and ru nning at such renowned tracks as MX338 (in So uthwick), Middleboro, Bull Ru n and Cen tra l Village. Interesti ngly, d uring th a t era, the N ESC ci rcuit was a some w ha t provincial affair, and its rid ers we re no t really tha t intrigued abou t venturing outside of the reg ion. " In no w ay di d I eve r thin k I would eve r mak e it out of there," Hen ry ad mits. "I was doing wel l.and my big goal was to be th e top r id er in New Engla nd . I I (Above) Henry has been a crowd favorite over the yea rs and is never too busy to turn down an autograph seeker. (Left) Need we explain? 6 was a teenager and wasn't really aware of racing a u tside of the N ESC; I had just heard a few sma ll things ab out a race called Loretta Lyn n's, but I didn't reall y know what it w as allabout. I kept racin g througho ut the region, and abou t that ti m e I picked u p m y firs t s p o nso r, C Cycle Suspension, which was a local suspe nsion compa ny . Bcvo (Forti) of Scott USA wa s also beginning to he lp me. My da d took care of a lot then - ge tting me back and forth to the races - and I wo rried a bou t things like entry fees. We had real mod est equipment an d didn' t look p retty g o ing to th e ra ces . We had a handmade trail er and an old van to get us to the races . We w ere ha ving a lot of fun racing and d idn't really worry about th ings like find ing spo nsors o r bein g all professional at it. As far as the NESC, we were really in our own world , and for ye a rs the co m mi ttee wa s not even in con tac t wi th the AMA . A few gu ys like Keith Johnson and Gen e Naumec did race in other places. I aumec never really won an NESC Ch ampionship while com ing u p, bu t he 'd go to Florida and Loretta Lynn' s and Ponca City and o ther big amateu r races. We w ere cont en t to stay wh ere w e we re ." In 1987, H enry decided to tak e a cha nce and see what life was like on the other s ide. In d oing so , he jo in ed 'the humbl e a nd ano nymous ranks o f th e th ree-digit privat eers and packed up a bo x va n, poin te d it sou th and head ed toward the warmer climes.of Florida. "I grad ua ted high schoo l in the fall of 1987, and me and two friends headed to Florida to go ride and race," Hen ry says. " I did pr etty good, and we lived in the van, going fro m race track to race track an d campground to campground . It wa s tough but fun , a nd thing s wen t re al good for me d own th ere. Eventually, I went ba ck home and wo n the NESC Championship. Af ter tha t, I we nt back to Florida , and th is tim e I didn 't g o hom e a nd co n tin u ed on to rid e th e AMA Ea st Coast 125 cc Superc ro ss Champio nshi p and all the Na tiona ls." Ou t o n the road a nd strugg ling to make ends meet, not to me ntion scra tching and claw ing for atten tion and exposu re, it all ca me toget her a t th e end of 1990 w he n a su burba n Chicago-based Yama ha su pport team by the na me of Down er s Grove Yama ha ca me calling on the road-weary New Eng lander. "At the end of tha t yea r, DGY asked m e to race the East Coast Su percross Cha mpionshi p an d the 125cc Na tion als," Henry ex plains. "I said , 'Sure!' and we converted my box van into a DGY race tru ck, and I hit the series fu ll time ." On March 24, 1991, Dou g Henry had .his first brush wit h motocro ss fame and glory. On an abys mal, rain-bat tered afternoon in Sacramento, Californ ia , Doug Henry - no stranger to mud and rain won his fir st A MA Na tio nal w hen he hydroplan ed his Yamaha YZ125 across the rain-ravaged Han gtown circu it. "We went o ut to Sac ra men to a nd I did reall y we ll," laughs Henry. "I won, but I did n't reall y know what to thi nk . I w as excited, bu t I knew it was a mud r a ce a n d didn 't rea ll y co unt , a n d i t .d id n' t he lp that the med ia po rtrayed it that way . John Dowd - w ho won the 250cc cla ss that d ay - and I s till ta lk about that race ." Mu d race or not , the win caught the co llec tive ey e of the American factory team s . And , bo ls tered by th e result , H enry also found h is rhyt hm in th e whooped- out ball ya rd s of the A MA Supercro ss Series. And w hile he wou ld not win a race in the East Region d ivisio n, he cons isten tly ran a t the front w hen he wa s no t on the gro und. " I cra shed a lot in su percross. " he says. "I ro de ha rd and helped make a name for myself. In fac t, I almost wo n three of th em, but I h ad a lo t o f ba d luck." Wh en all was sai d and do ne, Henry en ded up sev en th in the final 1991 125cc poin t s tandings and th ir d in the Eas t Region Superc ross Series . He then rod e again fo r DGY in 1992 an d ended the ye a r fo urth o ve ra ll in th e fi na l I 25cc na tiona l points an d th ird - beh ind Brian Swinkand DGY teammat e Jimmy But ton - in su percross . By the late summer of 1992, Doug Henry had earned his racing stripes, and the factories came callin g. Before the month of Augus t w as ou t, Henry had bee n approached by two of America's prem ier race opera tions. "Kawa saki called first ; th en , shortly after th a t, a t Millvil le, H ond a called," Henr y reca lls. "I wasn' t quite sure w ho to go wi th , so I ca lled u p Mi ke Kied rows ki, who had ridd en for both teams, and I asked his opinio n. He gave me good re ports on bo th tea ms , and I leaned tow ar ds Ho nda, and they ma de me an offer. "Whe n it ha ppened , I ca n' t rea lly rem em be r th inking it was a dream come true," ad mi ts H en ry . "I g uess I nev er reall y sa t down and d rea med about it happening. Wh en I w as racing then, and as I had always done, I was just thinking in the short term. I was always like, 'I'll w in this week and worry about the next ra ce or next yea r after that.' "When I signed with Ho nda, I d idn 't ta ke wi n n ing t he Nat io na l Cha mpions hip that serious ly - 1d id n't ge t caug ht u p in the hyp e," says Hen ry. "It was nice to think about being able to beat everyone, and that firs t Year, Honda ma de me a rea lly good offe;, pa rt of which was a hu ge payoff if I won the cha mpio nship . I remem ber thinki ng , 'Boy, if I jus t won th e cha m pio ns hip, ma n, I would be se t for life.' 1could pay for a hou se and be so much fa rt her ah ead th an I th ou g h t I wou ld ever be. Eve n then, I was und er the im pression that I was going to be a machin ist in a shop, wo rking for years to payoff a house." By the time the 1992 race season was com plete, Doug Henry wou ldn 't have to worry abou t being a machinist and paying off a house anymore. He was teamed toge the r with mechanic Pete Steinbrec her by H o nd a rac e team manager Da ve Arnold, an d the pair would first w reak havocon the AMA Eas t Region Su pe r-

• Cover