Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128343
VI R Won't Be Live on TV Speed Channel will te levise the postponed final rounds of the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, but they won't be live and the air dates have not been set . accor ding to a sen ior Speed Channel executive. "We will be covering the [October 9 and 10] superlbike races and the 600 and the superstock," said Rick Miner, Speed Ch annel senior vice president of programming and product ion and executive producer, "We'll do three one-ho ur show s [two devoted to superbike, one to supersport and superstock]. I don't know w here they're going to air yet because, obviously, the schedu le is long do ne with other events , assuming that AMA would have been over. $0 we 're working on that now as to w he re we 'll be able to air the programs ." Miner said Sunday 's race couldn't air live beca use Speed was already locked in to a Rolex Sports Car Se ries race fro m Barber Moto rsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. "We're com mitted to other events, so there's no way to possiblydo them live," he said. "What we're now doing is I'm work ing with our programming folks to know w here they'll be scheduled. They willbe aired and we 're curren tlytrying to find the slot where we can air them. This schedule is like a giant jigsaw puzzle with all these different sanctioning bodies involved. And it's worked out months and months in advance. You can't just make a change and react to it in a week . It's very difficult to do that." Speed already had significant staff and equ ipment o nsite when the race was post poned. W ith ren tal for the prod uction truc k and cameras, and the cos t of air fares and accommodations, and rescheduli ng them, the channel to o k a considerable financial hit . "It was not good . It certainly cost us a substantial amou nt of money," he said. " No body profits, o bviously, from this situation. But I'm sure the people w ho lose th e most are ourselves and the prom ote rs. No question. It's hundreds of tho usands of dollars to do these events. You don't get that money back a we ek o ut. Yes, you save some of it, but it's a minimal amo unt. In the wo rld of air fares, that stuff's not refundab le or cance lable." As soon as the air dates are se t, Speed Cha nne l will let its fans know, Miner said. So instead of calling, watch fo r updates on www.spee dtv.com . . Henny Ray Abrams (From left to rig ht) HRC men Sa to ru Ho riike, Suguru Ka na%a w a a nd Shogo Kanaumi brief the pres s at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi. Chris Draayer, 1946-2004 Form er Harley-Davidson factory race r Chris Draayer, a.k.a. "The Sto rmin' Mormon" and "T he Wo rld 's Fast est O ne -Armed Motorcyclist," was killed in a moto rcycle acc ide nt near Salt Lake City, Ut ah , on September IS. Draayer was S8 years old. The September 20 edition of the Salt Lake Tribun e reports that Draa yer's bod y was fou nd by Weber County She riff deputies on Thursday eve ning. He was rep orted missing afte r he failed to re turn from a mo tor cycle ride on Wednesday. His body was found about 30 feet off of Stat e Road 39 in Web er Co unty. Det ails are ske tchy, but it appea rs as tho ugh Draayer hit a soft spot o n th e shou lder and lost co ntro l of his motor cycle . 6 SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 • As the fo rmer AMA Grand National numbe r-77 plate holder, Draayer raced in the AHA Grand National Champ ionship Series as a factory- spo nsor ed Harley-Davidson rider, but his prom ising career was cut sho rt w he n he lost his left arm in a crash at a mile even t in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1967. Despite his injury, Draayer refused to give up moto rcycles, and th rough the help of friend and former tea mmate , Mert Lawwill, he was able to cont inue racing. "Chris was a fantastic guy," Laww ill told Cycle News. "He and I go way back to 1965. I met Chris when his dad, w ho was a Harley Davidson dea ler in Salt Lake City, w ould bring him do wn to Champ ion Speedway in San Francisco to co mpe te on the half-mile C Y CLE N EWS track. We becam e ve ry good friends, and we wou ld trave l the co untry together, riding fo r Harley-Davidson . We were travel ing togethe r when he had his terrible accident at Seda lia, Missouri. I was the on e who had to call his dad and infor m him of the accide nt. Ch ris had lost his left arm fo ur inches be low the shoulde r and had brok e n so many o t her bon es that the do cto rs to ld me to tell his dad that there was very little cha nce of him making it through. "He did, though, but he had a tough time ge tt ing a prosth esis that w o uld work properly fo r riding hard , and he w ould conti nually crash beca use his prosthetic hand would come off th e han dlebar," Lawill said. "O ne day he called me after a big crash and ta lked me into designing a prostheti c hand th at 40th Anniversary wou ld work. I did tha t, and I know of two incide nts where it clea rly saved his life. Unfortunately, he was not using the hand w he n he crashed this time . I don't know all the facts yet , but I do know th at he ran off the road. "I now have the Draayer hand in production, and it has helped a lot of people gain back riding that they co uld not do, " Lawwill said. "Just tw o weeks ago, Ch ris sent me his com plete backup arm and wa nte d me to design a suspe nsio n e lbow for it. Maybe now I can set up some kind of suspe nsion to develo p the elbo w and help another pe rson have a better life . Ch ris wo uld like that." Funeral services for Draaye r have been scheduled for Wedn esd ay, September 22, near Park City, Utah.