Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Doug Henry (Left) Dou9 Henry is still a fan favorite especially in New En9land. (Above) Henry has ridden the twostroke VZ250 every time he raced since his retirement in 1999. Every year, he races Southwick just to hold onto his number 19. in two weeks. It's not done yet, but after Southwick that's all I'm doing all day is trying to get stuff done there. I understand you put a little more effort into the race this year than you did last year. Yeah, I felt last year like I came into it and I wasn't very confident. I wanted to be a little bit more confident this year knowing ... I mean, last year I was nervous about getting in the top 20, so I just wanted to make sure this year that I didn't have those feelings again. Now I feel a lot more confident about finishing in the top 20 this year. Last year you ended up leading more laps on the season than anybody but Ricky Carmichael based solely on your Southwick performance. Were you aware of that? Yeah, I found out afterwards. I didn't know that he was being so dominant last year. I had heard after last year's Southwick National that you were considering a full-time outdoor comeback for this year. What happened to that? No, welL .. The thought is always there. You know, it's tough retiring. You know, I was talking to Ryan Hughes, and I told him, "It's tough to retire, huh?" and he's like, "Yeah!" Because it is. You know, you retire, but the racing is still in your blood, so there's always a chance of coming back. But will I ever put a program together? I don't know. You guys will be the first to know; that's for sure. GOOd! How do you think you would do if you were able to train and ride full-time again? By STEVE COX PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN nly a few years after he retired, Doug Henry's legend is solid. He won back-to-back 125cc National Championships and then followed those up by breaking his back in the 250cc class in one of the hairiest-looking crashes ever. What makes him a legend is that he came back from the injury to win a 250cc supercross in Vegas on the YZ400F (the first ever to win a supercross on a four-stroke) in 1997 and then broke both of his arms later that year in the Nationals. He came back in 1998 to win the 250cc National Championship on the production version of the YZ400F (the first-ever four-stroke to win an MX championship), solidifying his legend. Today, at 33 years of age, the Connecticut resident is still plenty fast to be competitive at the top of the sport, which is nearly unbelievable - he rides so little now. He has to be the fastest part-time racer in the world ... and he hasn't ruled out a full-time return. What are you up to nowadays? O Mostly this year I've been working on a house. We've been trying to build a house for about a year now, so we're trying to do a lot of the stuff ourselves. We did a lot of the excavating, and we had someone else put the foundation in and frame it, and we're doing all of the finish work and flooring and stuff like that, so we're trying to actually get in 28 JULY 16, 2003' c: U c: • e n e vv Q s I think I could be competitive again, for sure. If I had the time, I've got a program that I think works really well, so if I really put my mind to it, I think I'd be right up there, and that's where I'd want to be, so that's where I'd push to be. It's almost like it wouldn't be worth coming back if you wouldn't be competitive ... Yeah, I wouldn't come back. I had thought of that. I could very easily, well not very easily, but I could come back and be a top-10 guy and not be so focused on it, but I can't do that. I don't know why; I just I don't know how to. I've got to go there and do the best I can every race. That's how I am. What do you think about that sort of legendary status in motorcycle circles, with your injuries and returning for championships and such? I think it's neat, I guess? I mean it's different being on the other side. I'm just kind of myself, you know? And it's just the way I always was with things is I just did my best, and I tried not to give up. I always kind of put in a 100-percent effort, and this is kind of where it's gotten me. It's just kind of always been that way, and this is where I am. Since you were one of the first guys to come from a true support team in DGY Yamaha in the early '90s, do you ever think about what would've happened if you'd have come along 10 years earlier in the sport when support rides just weren't really around much? Yeah, like the support teams, they definitely helped me. DGY opened the door for me, and they helped me out a lot, so I think for me, if it was 10 years earlier and I didn't have a support deal, what would've happened? Do you think there are good American privateers nowadays who aren't getting the shots they may deserve because of the influx of riders from overseas? I don't know. I really don't follow racing a whole lot, so I don't know the top privateers and how they're doing. You know, the talent overseas is great. These guys have shown it. These guys have come over and done really well. They've kicked our butts in a lot of these races. They've got talent over there, and having them over here is only going to make us want to win more. I think we need the competition from worldwide. I think we're lucky to have them over here. I mean, what if all of the

• Cover