Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Interview The new Harley-Davidson factory dirt track team to be there week to week, and I am ab le to win 'races, and I want to win the championship. . Perhaps in your case, the n, th e. benefit will come in knowi ng when second place is goo d eno ugh? A- I think that as the yea r goes on, when you' re racing 1"'\.for a cha m pions hip and it comes down to the last race, and you and the guy that you're raci ng wi th for the cha mp ionship are one point apart, then I thin k that yo u might make a move to take him for the cha mpions hip. Bu t mid season , you wouldn't make that move. I d on' t want to go out there and hurt an ybody or sta rt runnin g into people. If I' m going to race, I'd jus t as soon bea t someone clean . Q YOU a hand own mo yQrecle s hastd latelyon,fiin pdreparingw yourclear thattorcey la seas an it is pretty th nishe d. No that you h ave had we immacu the op portu n ity to go to M il w au kee, meet with Bill Wern er and see th e fa ctory operation, what are your first im pressions ? I'm impressed . Really impressed . I don' t know how else to put it. I've bee n up here two d ays, and I am in awe. I've seen stuff that gets done here that we jus t d idn't d o . Th er e are many reason s w hy it d idn't get . done, but it didn't. A lot of it is fres h to me. I've always had good equ ipme nt and good peo ple to prepare that equ ipme nt, but I'm at the elite stage now. These guys live this. Bill knows every aspect of the motorcycle. He kn ows exactl y how th e sus p ension works, he kn ows each co mponen t of th e sho cks , th e forks, th e motor. Before, I always had to rel y on thi s com pa ny or that company to d o thi s or that. They d id good jobs for me, bu t they weren't aware of the wh ole package. The big asset here is that you have two gu ys in Bill and Craig th at kn ow every aspect of the motorcycle, a nd th ey work well together. I've learned a lot in jus t two days. A By Scott Rousseau 24 hen Sco tt Parker's eminent reti rement force d the Ha rley-Davidson factory di rt track team to search the horizon for a new perso n to take to the ball that is the AMA Grand National Dirt Track Series , speculation came from all comers of the sport as to who might lan d the cove ted glass slipper and join 13-time champions hi p-win ni ng tuner Bill Werner to do battle from within the fortified ranks of the Milwaukee castle. Well, it is official now: Tha t ho nor has fallen to non e o the r th an Rich Kin g, a 36-year-old ve te ran whose ' ca ree r is p erh aps a C ind e r ell a s to ry all its ow n. Althoug h King. who calls Dysart, Iowa, home, has been an Expert for some 20 years, he has only bee n touring writh the circuit since 1995. But tha t relatively sho rt time has been most rewarding, as he has finishe d second twi ce - includi ng the 1999 season, wh ere he earned four victo ries, includ ing his first career Grand National mile victory. It has all come through hard work, in tense ded icatio n an d preparation. And th ro ugh it a ll, he has remained the sa me personable Iowa boy who dream ed of winning Na tionals a mer e d ecad e ago - just the thing that facto ry was looking for w hen th e tim e ca me to repl ace King Par ker. We caug ht u p to both King and Werne r jus t as King was making his firs t-ever vis it to Har ley-D avid son 's Milwaukee headquarters in ord er to sign on the dotted tine, so we got the cha nce to speak to both men at once, taki ng one at a time in orde r to ge t their perspecitves on what it is going to take to regain the num ber-on e p late for the factory. As you wilt see, both men feel pretty o pti mis t ic a bo u t th e upcomin g seaso n , a lt houg h whether this new version of the factory team is the real deal or just a preten der to the thr one rem ains to be seen. It is likely that only th e seas on-endi ng 2000 Del Mar Mile wilt reveal w he the r th is King' s fairy ta le has a happy end ing. O bViOUSIY you have to be prou d an d honored to b e in th is positio n, This is the first time in over 12 yea rs that Harley-Davidso n ha s chose n a new rider for the factory d irt tra ck raci ng team, an d they picked you. Wh at are you r tho ughts with regard to being the new guy? it' s just the fulfillment of another d rea m that I've had for years. Years ago, I didn' t think that I wo uld ever " in a National, Then to be a top contender, an d now to ge t hired onas a factory rider... There's only one dream left now . I'm really excited . I wis h that we could go racing righ t now. Q A You jumed pro in 1980 or '81, but you have only been racin g fu ll time s in ce 1995, so it has b een bo a long and a short clim b to the top, with las t year season your best season. Well, my first full-time season was 1995 , a nd I wo und up finis hing second to Scott, but that was a real consis tency deal for us. As far as being a front-runner or a thr eat to win races, tha t has only come in the last tw o years. A O b ViOUSIY there is a great tradition of winning with regard to the Harley-Davidson factory team. How would you compare what you bring to the team with, sa y, th e raw talent that was possessed by Jay Springsteen in the '70s or the all-out effort and dominanc e of Scott Parker in the '80s or '90s? What do you feel that you will bringing to the table? lt hink tha t I am p retty consisten t, and my statistics have shown that. I'm not go ing to say that I am as ta le n te d or mo re tal en ted tha n Sco tt Parker or Jay Spri ngsteen , but I think tha t I do carry a lot of d etermination and I wo rk very hard at what I do. I thin k that the factory has tru st in me that I'm not goi ng to go ou t there and break motorcycles or tea r stu ff up. I'm going Q A As far as your rap w ith Bill Werner goes, he and Scott Parker had a di alo gue all their own, bec au se I t Ink it is no se cr et th at Parker is n ' t th e gr eates t mechanic to ever land on the planet. You , on th e other hand, have been preparing your own equi p ment on a very consistent ba si s for a lot of years - especiall y with regard to the chassis. Do you get th e impression that y ou and Bill are s p eak ing the sa me language with regard to bike setu ps? I think so. We may have different 'ways of getting the sa me thi ng d on e, bu t it d oesn't matter if the overall picture is the sa me. We've already go ne over certain setups that I like, and we'll go to the races with a game plan. Bill is as motivated as I am, and he wa nts to wi n like I do. If his setu p is better than mine, then we'll ru n his setu p. A Are you looking forward to the public-relations side of the job. You know, getting involved with the arley owners and Harley dealers? The PR pa rt of it, I don' t eve n look as tha t as being a job. I think tha t is a lot of fun . You ge t to meet a lot of grea t peo p le, and I enjoy sig ning au togra phs and all of tha t. I don 't have any problem wi th that at all. I wa nt people to be proud of me becau se I'm pr oud of where I am and wh o I am rid ing for. A So if there is one thing that seems pretty obvious, it is Ihat there already appears to be a high degree of compatibility between Rich King and Bill Werner. Definitely. Th is is not th e sa me transiti on like I mad e last year. Wh en I went fro m the Hond a to the Harl ey, I had no ide a w ha t I was ge tting into, and it took me a while to ge t the thing set up to where I could ride it. Now I'm going to another Har ley, and the setu p is alread y there. A lot of the hom ework is alrea dy d one. An d I ge t along great with Bill Wern er. I' ve had a good time in Milwaukee, and I'm really impressed wi th him. I've got a lot mor e to learn than Bill Werner does. He's got several cham pion shi ps, and I don't have one, but that's m y focus. No th ing is gua ra nteed, but if it happens, I'm go ing to be on top of the world . Q A

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