Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The Original Bubba fter finishing fourth in the 1983 AMA Grand National Championship Series, a Texan by the name of Don "Bubba" Shobert wanted a factory HarleyDavidson dirt track ride in the worst way, but company was already fielding a topnotch, three-rider squad . Honda, however, was looking to make a run for the tit le, and it needed good riders. Shobert was one of two men fit for the gig. "Fo r '84 , Harley had Springer, [Randy] Goss and [Scott] Parker, and me and Ricky Graham were like the next two guys in line," Shobert says. "Harley had a pretty full boat already. There was nowhere else for me to go ." It was hardly a second-class option, as Honda's once-laughed-at dirt t rack pro gram had begun to turn around. Following Scott Pearson's win at Louisville on the Honda NS750 - an odd machine with an engine based on the company's CX500 streetbike - Honda introduced its RS750, a "full-race" motor that would prove itself in A competition over the next four seasons. "It loo ked like it was worki ng good enough that I could ride it, and it would be worth it for the mo ney," Shobert recalls. Shobert was assigned to tuner Skip Eake n. Immediately, the two were successful. If it weren't for his listening to som e bad advice at the St. Louis Short Track, wh ich led to an altercation with fellow Texan Terry Poovey and a subsequent nine-race suspenion for Shobert, he might have won the title in his first seas o n with Ho nda. "Poovey wasn't with the Honda deal anymore, and he was kind of mad because we were doing good ," Shobert recalls. "I had raced against him a lot growin g up, and he was always older than me . I took a lot of him stuffing me alo ng the way. In St. Louis, it happened in practice. We were going down the straight away, and he put me into the hay bales that were lining the track. I hit one and endoed. "Graham was my teammate, and he w as in the pits, and he said, 'Man if he'd done that to me , I would punch hirn.?' Shobert did, got busted by the AMA and effectively "boxed" himself out of title contention. Years later, Graham would admit that his suggestion was more calculated than emotional, though Shobert isn't as angry abo ut that as he is about how the AMA handled the affair. "I fell for it," Shobert says, "but what gets me is that they suspended me for nine races , and I got to race at St. Louis and one more race, which I won , while I was under appeal. Then when they ruled against me , the AMA took my points away from those two races and counted them as two of the nine. Yet when Bill Werner got caught cheating - he grabbed the wrong cylinder off the she lf... you know that deal - King got suspended for fo ur races, but he got to 102 SEPTEMBER 1,2004 • keep the points he earned while he was under appeal. What did I eve r do to them [AMA]?" The aftermath of the Shobert suspension was prob ably the most dramat ic finish in AMA Gra nd National Series history. Shobert lost the '84 title to Graham by one point at the Springfield Mile. Even so , the mag ic was just beginning for Shobert and Honda, who went on to be the toughest trio in a field as talent -rich as at any time in the sport's history, with Shobert reel ing off three consecutive titles in 1985, '86 and '87. Then and now, there are those who wou ld argue that it was Shobert's motorcycle - backed by Honda's might - which was doing all the winning. Shobert scoffs at that notion . "I think it was the combination of the way me and Skip and [engine builder] Ray Plumb worked together," Shobert says. "We worked really good together. Except for one time , I don't remember ever w inning any of the miles that I won by a large margin, and I definitely wasn't the fastest qualifier eve ry week," Shobert says. "What'd they think, that I just wasn't try ong. . Yet it seemed that every time the AMA rules were amended, they seemed to favor the Harleys and hurt the Hondas - or so the legend goe s. Shobert doesn't really recall that , nor does he recall the oft-fabled hatred by dirt track fans toward the Japanese Honda brand 's presence in the uniquely American sport of dirt track . "I feel like I was treated good ... equally," Shobert says. "I didn't never see that [negativity] personally, but I was so focused on my racing that I didn't see a lot of things that I see now," Animosity or no animosity, Shobert's time at the top was finite. He and Honda lost the number one plate to Parker and Harley-Davidson in 1988. The defeat cost him a shot at a true milestone. If he had won, he would have joined the great Carroll Resweber as a ride r who won four consecutive titles . "Reco rds like that never really did cross my mind when I was out there ," Shobert says. "I guess the main record that I'm proud of is w inning the five different types of racing [grand slam] - Dick Mann, Kenny [Roberts] and me. Do ug [Chandle r] actually did it after it [road racing and dirt track] was separated, and it was a Superbike class - not to take anything away from him, because he deserves it," For Shobert, being recognized fo r what he had do ne was never as important as '" C YC LE N EWS 3D YEARS A6D••• September 3 , 1974 Jim my We inert and Tony DiStefano showed up on the cover banging bars at a national motocross in what he was going to do next , and while he isn't exactly thri lled to have lost to Parker this after Shobert was disqualified for winning the Syracuse Mile on a motorcycle that was half a pound too light - both he and Honda were already moving on anyway. It was announced that neither would be back for the 1989 dirt track season. "Fo r me, it wasn't so much tha t Honda said they weren't going to do it any more as much as Ididn't want to do it any more ," Shobert says. "I won t he Superbike championship in '88, and my next step was going to be the GPs," Unlike his long and storied dirt track career, Shobert's GP career was not as long - though it was no less storied. At Laguna Seca, in Monterey, C alifornia, Shobert's career came to a crashing end just three races into the '89 season when he ran into the back of Australian racer Kevin Magee, who was parked on the track , showboating for the crowd by doing a burnout - a typical postrace celeb ration. Shobert suffered massive head trauma in the horrific incident , which was captured on nationa l television. He would eventually recover, though he wo uld never race again. Today, at age 42, Shobert says he has no regrets about his career or his decision not to attempt a comeback. "I would have if I could have," Shobert says, "but I knew that I wouldn't be near as good as I was even if no one else did. It's like you climb that ladder to the top , and it's hard to start at the bottom again. Even to day, a lot of people say, 'Why don 't you race dirt track and help us o ut?' I can't do that . In the '80s, Bubba Shobert was the on ly thing I lived for. The on ly thing that I thought of was myself, but having kids changes that . "Plus, I guess a guy likes to think that he's as good as he was." Bubba Shobert is as good as he was . Anyone who knows him will te ll you that. Scott Rousseau 40th Anniversary Hillsboro, O hio . Weinert went on to win w hile DiStefano fell and couldn't make up the gro und he 1 0st.. .Gene Romero took the w in at the Indianapolis, Indiana, round of t he Grand National Championship se ries. Taking second was Doug Sehl...The Oregon Motorcycle Road RacingAssociation offered a $1000 purse for first place in a road race held in co njunction with a NASCAR race in Portland , Oregon. The winner of the eve nt was Q uentin Hogan ... Dave Campos set a new land-speed record in the APS·AF class aboard his 3OO0cc Harley-Davidson at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The old record was 175 mph . Campos' new reco rd was set at 231.597 mph . i'!D YEARS A6D••• September 5 , 1984 At the time , Eddie Lawson was World Champion, and his win at the Swedish GP in 1984 clinched that . Inside this issue the re was an int erview with the cover boy...Suzuki rider Broc Glover took the win both nights at the Suzuki/Insport Arenacross races that were held in San Diego, California. Behind Glover was a determined Mark Barnett, who tr ied his best but cou ldn't stop the dom inant Glover... At ro und nine of the Nat ional Championship Enduro series in Moorestown, Michigan, Husqvarna rider Mike MeItnn took the win by just one point over Terry Cunn ingham, who was also aboard a Husky. ID YEARS A6D.•• August 31, 1994 ~ - - ---_. Colin Edwards .. appeared on the cover after he kept ~ V-.. . . . .::. fGl~, his three-race win streak alive with his win at ro und nine of .~ the AMA U.S. ,~ E!!!:::::- Superbike National _ §';;;L Championship series . Finishing second to Edwar ds was Pascal Picotte...Kevln Wi ndha m ro de a Team Green Kawasaki to his eighth t itle at Loretta Lynn's. That same year, Nic k Wey won the 85cc (12-1 3) Stock and Modified classes. Ricky Carm ichael was also there and dom inated his respective class - just as he is still do ing today...We turned the 1994 KX 125 into a fire-breather. FMF did the motor work and Enzo Suspension handled the suspensi on . In the end, we were quite pleased with the re sults. .. . 10_ - . ,

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