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/127982
GNC dirt tracker Dan Butler By Scott Rousseau Photos by Flat Trak Fotos !l indications are that Dan Butler is going to have one hell of a year in 1999. And he's due for one. After all, in the five short years that the 31-year-old Waterford, Michigan, dirt track "veteran" has been on the AMA Grand National Championship circuit, he has certainly paid his dues. Yes, he came from nowhere and, yes, he has had some great rides, joining the Total Control Racing team as a rookie and teammate to Kevin Atherton in 1995 before moving to Gardner Racing for a twoyear deal. But during those three years, crashes, injuries, mechanical failures and the world's worst starting-line technique constantly forced Butler to play catch-up, consj:>inng to r.um hlS viability as a potential champIOnship contender. After failing to crack into the top 10 in his first three seasons, B~ler fo~n~ himself without a ride at t ehstadr 0 1998. It would take a tragedy, t e eat1 1 of three-time AMA Grand National Champj.on Ricky Graham, for Butler to get a second chance; he was called by Johnny and Sarah Goad to replace Graham on the USC Racing/Lancaster HD/Dodge Brothers team for 1998. And at first, it seemed as though the duo would be hard-pressed just to make do, let alone capture any of the magic that the legendary Gral1arn/Goad combin~tion had ridden to the champIOnship m 1993. ~ I :Iii ill !IIi IIIIii .. :I lW :iii "Q • m ;:: ~ N i6 => ~ 24 Then a funny thing happened after the Peoria TT. ButJer suddenly got fast. Real fast. In the events that marked the second half of the season, Butler set fast time in seven of them and finished no worse than seventh in main events. Among those finishes, Butler matcl1ed his career-best second place at the 1995 Lima Half MiJe wi th another at the hallowed Springfield Mile on Labor Day Weekend, vaulting himself into the top 10 before a horrific crash at the seasonfinale Del Mar Mile ended his season just a bit early. . He is still recovering, but he pronuses to be ready in time for the Daytona Short Track, and he vows to win his first· Grand National main event in 1999. The first four years of your career, it seems like you had a lot of bad Iuc . well, yeah, but there was a lot 01 learning going on in there too. You know what happened with Gardner. .. We were well within the top seven in points (in '96), then it fell apart. I had a lot of failures. A your experien.ce Q LOOking backononthe team, .that you with the Gardner what is your perspective time spent with them? Well, we actually have a Jot better relationship now than when I was with them. There were just some things that we needed to sort out that we didn't talk about. That's all it came down to. Greg (Crow) has said that he A