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/128345
Golden Graham o unde rstand the kind of season t hat the lat e Ricky Graham had in 1993, you nee d go no further t han to ask reigning AMA Grand National Champio n Chris Car r, wh o was ab le to put Graham 's performance in proper perspective as a follow-up to last week's Looking Back T feat ure . "If you were to look over the course of a career, everybody's be nc hmark is Scott Parker," Carr says. "But ove r my career, I have , at one time or another, raced wit h t he last eight Grand Nat ional Champions . I said it then , and I'll still say it today: Wh at Ricky Graham did in 1993, th e re is not one of t hose ot her champions who co uld have beate n him that year. He was t hat go od week in and week ou t . He not on ly w on six races in a row, he won five half miles in a row, which is unhea rd of. To th is day, tha t is t he best dirt track season performance tha t I have ever seen ." Do w n on his luck after con stant sub stance a buse problems t hr eatened to de str oy him, Graham , a 33-year-old, twotim e former AMA Grand Nat ional Ch amp ion, somehow managed to battle his wa y back to so briety thro ugh the 1992 season. Teamed w ith Virginia d irt track tun er Johnny Goad to ride aging Ho nda RS750s against technologically less stateof-the -art but much more refined HarleyDavidso n XR750s, Graham started to show flashes o f the brillia nce th at his lon gt ime fans always knew he had w hen he wasn't be ing po ssessed by his personal de mons . At the close of 1992 , Grah am vowed that he would stay straight , tra in a nd be ready fo r 1993 - and definitely mad e good on t hat pro mise . Goad recalls be ing optimistic , but he rea dily admits t hat he had no idea of Grah am's potential fo r t hat year. "I figured if we imp roved a little bit, w e might be able to be in there w ith t hem," Go ad says. " I didn't thi nk that we w o uld set the w o rld o n fire. " Yet t hat 's just what Graham did. Afte r being robbed of the win by a drafting Scott Par ke r at ro und two of th e '93 series (t he San Jose Mile), Graham went on to score a fifth at th e Sacramen to Mile and then a thi rd at the Po mona Half Mile. T he next stop on the tou r was t he Spri ngfield Mile, a tra ck t hat had always been kind to Graham . In o rd er to w in t he race , th ough, he wo uld have to be patient as rain sw ep t through the area, fo rcing the postponement of the Sund ay eve nt . It w ou ld run the next day, Mond ay, May 31 . Go ad vividly re membe rs the start of th at day. "I wa lked over to Ricky's rnoto rhorne at 118 OCTOBER 13,2004 • 7:30 Monday morning, and t here he was , alrea dy sitting there with his leat he rs and his bo ots on, " Goad re calls. "I wa lked right back ove r to his motorcycle and patted it o n the seat and said, 'I feel so rry for you today, old girl.' Ricky went out there that day and- w on the Springfield Mile by a straightaway." It was o nly t he start of Graham's '93 domi natio n. At t he next rou nd, he finished second to Kevin Ath e rt on on t he half mile at Parkersburg, Virginia. Afte r th at, Graham went o n an unbelieva ble tear, winning the next six races in a row. Graham stood atop of the box at t he Lima (Ohio) , Lake O dessa (Michigan) and Hagerstown (Marylan d) half miles, t hen we nt on and won both days of the dou bleheader mile at Syracuse , Ne w York. He cap ped the record-seming drive with another half mile victory at O klaho ma City, Oklaho ma. W ith the var iety o f track lengths and racing surfaces , you might think that Goad was having to co nsta ntly adjust Graham 's Ho nda to kee p him running fast on such a consi stent basis. The t ruth , acc o rding to Goad , is that he hardly laid a wre nc h on Graham's bike at t he track. "I did n't have to ma ke a lot of adjus tments onc e we got to the racetrack," Goad on ce sa id w he n asked about Graham's setup. " It didn't matter w hat we had on it for gea ring or anyt hing tha t , ear. Ricky wo uld just co me in afte r pract ice and say, 'Don 't tou ch it, Joh nny. I can win on this motorcycle today.'" In fact , were it not for th e the Peoria TT - a virt ual given for Ch ris Carr - and an inspired win by Will Davis at t he Dallas Half Mile, Graham might have ke pt on w inning. He did anyway, sand wiching th e Rapid City, South Dakota, Half Mile victory in be tween Car r and Davis' w ins, t hen going on to pou nd the competition th ree more rounds in a r ow, amassing a huge ser ies poi nts lead . "It got to w here I felt sorry for t he m becau se I knew th at w he n Ricky lined up against th em , they barely had a cha nce, " Goad says. 'And the y knew it too." Runn ing second in the series standings to Grah am , Carr was doing all that he cou ld to defend his tit le. Th e tas k was ak in to putting o ut your han ds to stop a speed ing Mack truck . " Ricky just nat laid was te to us in '93," Carr re me mbe rs. "I did everything I could . I wo n five races t hat year, but he w o n 12. I was still second in the po ints all year, but by th e time we head ed o ut to Californ ia, CYCLE NEWS Gary Bailey release d a bo ok t itled How to Win Motocross . In it th e re wa s ton s of informati on abo ut how to ride better, Today Baile y is still te aching schools across Ame rica... Som e ISDE team USA riders came out to co mpete at a ISO-mile Nat io nal Enduro in New York. Tome Pento n was one of th e standout attendees at the eve nt ... Gene Romero w o n the last AMA Na tiona l Road Race of the year. Taking se cond place was Ken Rob e rts, w hile Jim Evans came hom e th ird ... Rodger DeCoster go t the win at the Trans-AMA seaso n op e ner in New Be rlin, New York. D eC o ster eas ily won the first rnoto, but after falling in the second mo to he was forced to co me from beh ind. nobody had a chance . He d id a num ber on us." To this day, some Graham naysayers point to his Ho nda as th~ so urce of his success in 1993. Carr do esn't buy it. "Ricky Graham wo n that cham pionship, and if he had been o n Ha rley-Davidso ns, he woul d have do ne t he sam e th ing. The Ho ndas really suited his style , but it d idn't matte r w hat he was riding." rb::lr 1 99~ season s-culd have been the start cf €r" ' tc r thi,,;:, for Graham, but instead if wa s the zen it h o f a tro ubled career. Afte r failed atte mpt s to land a road racing ride , and a failed marriage, Graham su nk back into his batt les w ith alco ho l and dru gs. He re turned to d irt t rack, but was often injured , a me re shadow of his 1993 champ io nship-w inning self. Yet somehow it appeared as t hou gh Graham was preparing himself for a nother title ru n. He began to ge t healthy again as the 1997 seaso n wore on , an d whe n it w as ove r, he stood fifth in the final standin gs, optimist ic th at a new deal w ith Goad and a pa ir of championship-cal iber Harl ey Davidso ns w ou ld ge t him back in the hunt. It neve r happ e ned . Gr aham perished when his Salinas, California, ran ch home caught fire on January 22, 1998. Although it w as dete rmin ed tha t the fire started in the kitchen, it was unclear w he t he r alco hol w as a factor in th e fire . Graham was 39 . "It saddens me to see what hap pen ed to Ricky," Carr says. "I never lived in his shoes, so I don 't know w hat his life was like, and I think th at it's still a myste ry to a lot of us. All I do know is that Ricky Graham was a bada ss on a motorcycle , and t hat' s w hat I choose to remember him by." Enough said. Scott Rousseau 40th Anniversary eo YEARS A6U••• Uctober 17. 1984 """ We checked out th e new oil-cool ed Suzuki GSXR750. Inside there wa s a full write up abo ut the long-awaited bike. We also too k a look at th e new Husqvarna motocro ss bikes ... Bubba Shobert w on roun d 32 of the AMA Grand Nat ional C hamp ionship se ries in Sacrame nto , Calilorn ia. He passed Ricky Graham wit h fo ur laps to go of the 25-lap race. T he w in also put Shob e rt w ithin 15 po ints of Graham in the sta ndings... Jo h n ny O 'M ara won t he fifth round of t he CMC /P ionee r Elec tro nics Trans Cal IT'0tO':fOSS series. He ta llied a 2- 1 sco re for the day to take the 12Scc Pro-class victo ry. Eric Eaton w o n th e 2S0cc Pro- class, while Mike Fisher took top hon o rs in the SOOcc Pro-class. 10 YEARS A6U••• Uctober Ii!. 1994 Th e National Motocross seri es had just w rapped up , wit h Doug Henry and Mike LaRocco being cro wned champions ... Scott Parker wo n round 22 of the AHA Grand National Championsh ip Ser ies in Sacramento , California. Finishing seco nd beh ind Par ker w as Steve Mor eh ead, w hile Davey Camlin took third ... We did a three -part interview with a few of the top racing officials to talk abo ut the ir fut ure plans . AMA Vice President Tom Mueller w as on e of the most not able officials we spoke to... We did a tribu te to Jeff Stanton since it was his last year of racing on the National circu it . He was leaV ing racing to take o n an advisory pos itio n w ith Team Honda, w he re he remains today.