Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Dirt-tracker Willie McCoy Upholding By S c ott Rousseau' Photos by Flat Tra k Fotos A s in most ot her forms of na tional. profession al motorcycl e racing, th e pi t a rea of th e AMA Gra nd Nati on al Dirt Track Series is a ver itable meltin g pot, brin ging together rid ers fro m several distinctly sepa rate regions of Am erica. Look in an y direction in the paddock and you will find a tru e cast of saltof-the-earth characters. The Michigan Mafia is ripe wi th several riders from the old genera tion, such as Parker and Springsteen, to the new breed , wh ich carries nam es such as Atherto n, Bigelow and many more. The cus hion -riding Ohio cre w is represented a t each ra ce by tough gu ys such as Mor eh ead an d Roed er. The Pennsy lva nia /Virginia connection se nds for th the Varnes boys, Hac ker et. al. California still claims Chris Carr, as well as newer recruits such as Johnny Murphree and Sha un Russe ll. . But look to Texas for full-time Gra nd National campaigners , and you will find only one: Willie McCoy. True, Te xas has spawned grea ts , such as Bubba Shobert, the semi-retired Terry Poo ve y, the off-track legendry of Sammy Swee t and a few promisi ng up-andcomers like Greg Teague. But McCoy, of Richard son, Texas, is the only resident of the Lone Star Sta te attending every round of the series in 1999. In fact, so great is the 29-year-old, B-yea r pro's commitment to d irt track tha t he actually gave up a stea dy, financially lucrative "regular" job to campaign the Grand National circuit as one of its full -time touring pros for this season. It has already paid divid ends, as McCoy has fou nd a home in the Harley-Davi dson Sportster class aboa rd the DPC Racing 883s of Dan Ca ulki ns. The combination has been d evas ta ti ng to th e co mpetit ion, as McCoy has handily won the last three HDSP rounds in a row . And , afte r bo uncing in an d ou t of so me pret ty d ecent 750 rides, he is again beginning to show signs of the br illiance tha t carried him to a ru nner-u p finish at the 1995 Devil's Bowl Gra nd Na tio n al Half Mil e aboard the .Harley-David son of Dallas-backed XR that he prepares himself, albei t with some ass istance from talent ed Texas tun er Kenny Tolbert. McCoy wo u ld probably be the first to ad mit that he ma y not be th e m ost naturally talented rider - fro m Texas or any where else - to com e d own the pike in the last few yea rs, but he will also be proud to tell yo u that when it co mes to d ogged d et ermination , he has few equals. It ma kes him confident , and perhaps a bit cockyso u ndi ng at times. But mix that all in with an in tense devotion toward settling for not hin g less than his maximum personal effort a t every race he runs, and th e ingredient s are cer tai nly there for McCoy to uphold Texas pride - all by himself. Texas used to be such a tremendous for Q riderstrack racing throughWh ysystem tohotbedand dirt talent. are there less less coming up the race at the top level now? I think it' s just because of a lack of tracks. We used to have a trac k tha t we could ride every weekend Ross Downs - and then we had Mike Ki dd's track after Ross Downs closed. Now we d on 't have a local track w he re kids ca n come ou t a nd race every weeken d. The re just isn' t any thing, so ther efore if you don 't have a place to ride, yo u can't ge t kids in vol ved and then there is no body co mi ng up through the ranks in d irt track. There's just nothing aro u nd ther e to race. A en en en ~ ~ c;; ~ ~ 6 DO you think that be the Q theare thereNationalyou 're going tomay stilllast one, others out there that make it or into Grand scene someday? There's few kid hom e. There's kid by the Aand thereaScottsomes backwho sgoesTexasttyathat, ifonthey name of Beckle y pre fast an are other kid in 80, stay focused and stay int o it, they cou ld go fast. Jason Tyer, if he was to take it a little more seriously, he w ould go a lo t fas te r. He just gra d u a te d fro m high school, and whether he ma kes it a pri ority to go racing or to go hang out wit h his buddies... it' s got him a little confused right now. But he has go t talent, and I've see n him go fast. Yo u ' v been for a while already, Q you'vee hadthe aroundNational circuit. Butasfor and what some would perceive pretty decent rides on Grand one reason or another, you always seem to gravitate back toward your own equ ipment, spending a lot of your own money to go racin g. Wh y? Well, I' ve rid den my own mot or cycles for pret ty muc h m y w hole career, and I' ve go tten used to doin g things my way wit hou t having to answer to any bod y. When the DPC guys approached me about racing the ir (883) bikes, it was w ith th e und er st anding that they would be responsible for all of th e mechan icals and preparation of the bike to the point that all I wo uld have to do is jus t ge t on it, ride it, and then go focus on my 750 program. They have been grea t that wa y. They . d o a great job. My year spen t wit h Rose Racin g (750s) wa s a great learning year for me. I learned a lo t from those gu ys, bu t I also lea rn ed that I like ridirig my own mot orcycles. There are only a few guys ou t there th at I wou ld be willing to rid e for, like Kenny Tolbert, In fact he's probably the only guy tha t I wo uld ride for becau se I've see n how he does things, and I know that's how I think the y should be d on e, and so it's hard riding for so mebody A who maybe isn' t doing things the way that I think they should be doi ng them. YOU get a little assi stance from Kenny Tolbert now, correct? Yes . I wo u ld have qui t racing a long time ago if it wasn 't for Kenny. He helps me ou t a lot. I build all my own motors at his shop. He has tau ght me how to bu ild an XR750 fro m the grou nd up. I can comp letely bu ild a mot orcycle myself. I do all my wo rk at his shop, and I probably talk to him abou t three or four tim es a week w hen I'm working on the bike. With out his help, it woul d be impossible for me to go racin g. Q A It might be fair to say that there aren't a whole lot of rider/mechanics out there with that.kind of knowledge. I'm pretty proud to say that I can bu ild my own mot or cycl es. I d on't kn ow how man y more guys there are mit there who can do that. There ar e still a lot of times wh en I'm working on them that I ask Kenny's se co nd opi nion to mak e sure th a 1.1 haven 't scre wed some thi ng up, but I think that I'm probably one of the few rid ers ou t there who can build one from the ground up. Q A

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