Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

DOWN By combination doesn't bode well for a hero on the ropes of his career. My family and I labored through last year's three Anaheim rounds. I could see it in the face of my 1Q-year-old son. He knew his hero's days were numbered as far as winning races. And if it was clear to a boy, I guarantee it had to have been clear to Jeremy. We watched the races, listened to them on the Internet when they were out of town. And the results were starting to sound all too familiar. Sixth place. Superman doesn't jog, and Jeremy doesn't finish sixth. It was awful to sit through. Like a root canal without Novocain. And watching McGrath struggle also came with a certain amount of denial. We kept thinking it would get better. The arm pump was just a byproduct of a different training regimen. He'd get that sorted out. Look, he's still got the speed to lead the race early, he just has to work on his conditioning. We were kidding ourselves. I was in such denial that I even allowed it to cost me money. In our office Supercross pool, I continued to pick McGrath - just knowing that this losing thing was temporary. As it turns out, it had all the temporary of a Tijuana tattoo. But then things changed. Jeremy decided to ride for KTM. That was going to be the ticket. The change of scenery would make the difference. My son was even talking about how that fast KTM would give Jeremy holeshots. This year would be different. Life would return to normal. McGrath would be winning, and all would be right with the world. If we had thought a little more with our heads instead of our hearts, we would have known this to be false. You can't reach out and grab the hands on the clock and spin them backward until it's suddenly three years ago. Changing the color or brand of your motorcycle doesn't change reality. The losing wasn't going away, and we weren't going to be happy with it. As it turns out, it wasn't sitting so well with Jeremy either. If we don't like our heroes to lose, didn't cry when I got the news that Jeremy McGrath was retiring, but I'll admit to getting that lump in the throat that usually only appears while watching movies in which small children or dogs die. Or at funerals. To me, Jeremy McGrath was Supercross. And he always will be. He was the complete package. He had the looks to make your mother's, wife's and girlfriend's toes curl. He had the personality to make your sons and daughters follow his every I move. He was the Pied Piper in knobbies. It even worked on me. When I attended a Supercross for the sheer pleasure of doing so, McGrath was the one I watched. If he had a huge lead, I watched him every lap. If he was 12th and charging through the pack, I watched him every lap. And I enjoyed every second of it. I got more of a thrill out of watching those first Jeremy nac-nacs than I did from the first backflip I saw on television. The nac-nac was it - the signature move. If Jeremy was a star before the first nac-nac, he was a hero after it. Sure the move is rather mundane now, in a era when it seems as though every 12-year-old with a BMX bike can pull off a "Kiss of Death," but Jeremy's nac-nac came at a time when hands and feet stayed pretty much planted on the things that were named for them "hand"lebars and "foot"pegs. The nac-nac had style, grace ... It was Jeremy. I don't get star-struck easily, but I'll admit to the fact that Jeremy had that effect on me. For the want of a better word, he was cool. And he was cool without trying to be cool, which I guess is what made him cool to begin with. It all came naturally to him, and that's why it worked so well. Every time I came away from an interview with him, or just a 'Hey, how's it going?' I would always leave with the same impression: That guy's got it going on. I guess that's what made it so difficult to watch last year. The hardest thing about being a hero is staying a hero. After all, there's really no place to go but down. Although the slide probably started earlier, it was evident to the rest of us last year. Jeremy wasn't as good as he once was, and the competition was suddenly much better than it once was. That think how much it bothers the heroes. It was time to stop the bleeding, and I give Jeremy McGrath a whole bunch In next week's Cycle News 96 JANUARY 8, 2003' cue I e n • VII' sa PAUL CARRUTHERS 30 YEARS AGO... JANUARY 16, 1973 Our new test bike, an "E.C. Birt-prepared, amphibious, desertready, 140cc Monster Wombat," was placed on the cover of Issue 41 1 as it surfaced from a desert waterhole. It reportedly restarted on the second kick ... Steve Hernandez won the indoor flat track at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, and along the way he broke a long-standing six-lap record in the arena formerly held by Kenny Roberts... A.C. Bakken topped the sixth annual Ponderosa Championship in Lancaster, California. It was a 54-mile event across the sand-whoops of the lower California desert... Rich Thorwaldson (Suz) won the 250 and 500cc Expert classes in CMC motocross action at Saddleback. Marty Smith (Mon) won the 125cc Expert event... Chuck Lampe and Danny Croyle won the 250 and 500cc Expert classes, respectively, at Phoenix MX. 20 YEARS AGO•.• JANUARY 19, 1983 of credit for applying the tourniquet. I'm sure it wasn't easy. How easy could it be to walk away from the pile of money, the adulation of the hordes of fans? But that was probably the simple part. What about telling the sponsors, the KTMs, the Bud Lights, the Thors? How difficult that must have been, especially just prior to the opening round of the AMA Series, and after two of the World rounds? So now the question is - who will replace him? Not just on the racetracks, because there are plenty who can do that, but in our hearts. Who will step up with the same attitude, the same adhering personality that made people gravitate toward him? I don't think Supercross will be the same without Jeremy. It will go on, but it will also be different. When you follow someone's career so closely and then he is suddenly gone... well, that's a difficult thing for a fan. But the beauty of being an adult is that you can keep your heroes even when they are gone. It'll be different for the kids. They will have to find someone new, and I'm curious to see who it is that my son's eyes will follow at Anaheim this weekend. Although I was probably guilty of making that choice for him when he was younger, I certainly don't feel any guilt. After all, as heroes go, Jeremy McGrath wasn't a bad choice. eN Anaheim I Supercross We rode the new Husqvarna 250 and 500XC off-road machines, and both of them seemed extremely adept at their chosen discipline - so much so that we made a point of stating there weren't enough in the country to satisfy the demand ... Nearly 10,000 spectators packed into Saddleback to watch round one of the CMC Golden State Series, and Danny Chandler (Hon), Bob Hannah (Hon) and Mark Barnett (Suz) topped the 500, 250 and 125cc Pro classes, respectively. Broc Glover (Yam), David Bailey (Hon) and Jeff Ward (Kaw) each finished second in the respeclive divisions... Karl Jordan (Yam), David Bailey (Hon) and John Finkleday (KTM) topped the 125, 250 and 500cc Pro classes, respectively, at the Florida Winter-AMA MX Series. 10 YEARS AGO••• JANUARY 13, 1993 We railed the new Yamaha YZ250 across the cover of Issue Ill. Inside, we tested both the 250 and the new YZl25, and we expected both to be heavy hitters when it came time for the shootouts. The 125 retailed for $3699, while the 250 was $4449... Yamaha also unveiled the company's new MX team truck, becoming the second company to replace the common box vans with the new semis. Suzuki and Honda would both still be using box vans for 1993 ... We interviewed 1992 125cc World Motocross Champion Greg A1bertyn. He was the first rider ever from the continent of Africa to win a World Motocross Championship, and he said that he'd be campaigning the 250cc championship for the same Jan De Groot Honda team that he won the 125cc championship for in 1993.

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