Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Kelly Moran By SCOTT ROUSSEAU l ike many who spend time in the sport, Kelly Moran has the itch to race speedway again, but for him it will be like starting over. Unquestionably one of the most talented Americans ever to race speedway, Moran, a two-time U.S. National Champion (1983, 1984) and three-time World Championship finalist has the ability to make a brakeless, methanol-burning motorcycle go like hell with minimal effort. And that's the problem. For Moran, racing speedway was always too easy, and so when he didn't have to apply himself to be a true master of his craft, he was easily led astray, got into trouble with booze and drugs, and crashed headlong into that proverbial locale known as rock bottom. If there was ever a speedway version of VH l's "Behind the Music," the Kelly Moran story would probably be the first episode. When the first rumblings that Moran was making a comeback to speedway were heard, they were met with indifference. "Kelly Moran?" some speedway insiders said, "Oh sure. He's been planning his comeback for years, as soon as he crawls out of his bottle. " It has been a sad but true story, but now it seems that Moran, now 42, is trying to pick up the pieces of a life that has been wracked by excess. Thanks to the help of longtime friend and former fellow Team USA speedway racer Ron Preston, Moran has been through rehab and claims to be really trying to get it together for good. He sees racing speedway as a big part of his personal therapy. "To borrow a phrase, I feel the need for speed again," Moran said. '" just want to get out there and make people happy and have a good time. Just trying it, win or lose; ls;-what I really need to do. I want to entertiUn p-eople. At the end of the day, as speedwayMders, all we are is entertainers. I know that some people might read this and go, 'Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,' but until they look into my eyes and At 42, Kelly Moran shoots for a comeback. see..." As one half of the famous Moran brothers, Kelly Moran was part of a troop of barnstorming Americans who advanced to the upper echelon of the sport by the early 1980s. For the better part of 12 years, he was a fixture on the European scene where he thrilled crowds with his wild, body-off-bike slides, wheelies and come-from-behind wins. His incredible speed and effortless balance earned him nicknames such as "King Kelly" and"Jelly Man." Moran was a true speedway showman. And his time in the limelight fit his personality to a T. Moran, the speedway circus clown, had a personality that endeared him to fans. After the races, he was the life of the party everywhere he went, but night after night of post-race partying exacted a heavy toll. His drinking spiraled out of control. "I was in such a self-denial thing, but by the time that I realized it, I lost my marriage," Moran said. "I lost my family." In Moran's case, part of the difficulty in realizing his problem earlier may have been due to the fact that his spectacular performances were rarely hindered by his off-track binging. Ask any of Moran's old boosters, and they'll tell you that part of Moran's legend is that he could show up to any 42 MAV21,2003' eye I e n e vv track, hungover and looking like death, and then don his leathers and go out and win every race. He truly was a natural, although he says he never looked at himself that way. "Maybe my outlook on riding. a bike with no brakes is, to me, it's easy," Moran said. "It was just too easy. It Moran's gift, his tremendous ability, was also a curse, especially when it came to the business side of racing. As long as he kept riding in Europe, the money came in. When it just as easily went back out, Moran made more. To him, life was a beach (coincidentally, Life's A Beach used to be one of his sponsors). In Europe, even weekly British League races are always followed by parties, and Moran was usually found in their midst. "I was always the life of the party, even before I got into trouble with alcohol," Moran said. "But for me, I think it goes back to being young and seeing s Once recognized as one of the greatest speedway riders in the world, Kelly Moran is now hoping to make a comeback in U.S. speedway. what my heroes were doing and how hard they partied after the races. For me, it was like, 'Well, if I'm gonna be cool, I gotta do it like that. I'm not pointing any fingers, though, because there are still three pointing back at me." All good things come to an end, and for Moran that time came at the end of the 1992 season. Having spent the better part of the year injured, he finally packed his bags and returned to. America for good. The racing was over, but the boozing was far from over, and Moran slipped to the point that many of his friends and supporters feared for his safety. "I was constantly in a drunken stupor, just killing myself daily, and I realized that I needed to change that," Moran said. '" started thinking of my daughter

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