Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

over. and then it dawned on me, 'Wait a minute , my career is over.' Even though it was my farewe ll to ur, Iwas stilltrying to win. Normally, I wou ld just try to start getting ready for next year, but there wasn't going to be a next year." Kind of like his later experience aboard Russell's superm oto mac hine , Ward dabbled with car racing by attending a couple racing schools. Each time, his instructors would offer high praise for his abilities. O ne led thing led to another, and Ward was soon tagging along to Indycar races with popular Indycar racer Paul Tracy, the two linked through their associat ion with Troy Lee Designs. "I went to the Indy 500 with Paul Tracy and watched him run around there, and the n I we nt to a couple races ," Ward says. "You couldn't help but get sucked in, and I just decided that for the next year, I wo uld try Indy Lights. Peop le knew what I had accomplished in bikes, so they knew who Iwas. It didn't get me rides, but it was recognitio n, and it got more eyes watc hing me." Just like with his motorcycle career, Ward proved himself when he fi nally did see the inside of an Indycar cockpit . His Indy 500 glories begat fulltime deals with SO JANUARY 5, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS top teams such as Foyt Racing and Ganassi Racing. His Indy 500 acc ompl ishments aside Ward progressed to the int that he finished a career-high sixth in the IRL series in 2002, the same seaso n he earned his first Indycar w in at the Bombardier 500k at Texas Motor Speedway. It's approp riate to point o ut that unlike the big leagues of motorcyc e racing, big-time car racing does not always find safe havens for its top talent. In mot orcycle racing, the best riders get the factory rides and rarely have any concerns fo r the business side of their racing teams . Car racing favors personalities over talent, and drivers are often hired simply because their perso nalities attract big-time spo sors , and big-time sponsors pay the big-time billsassociated with the racing operation. Take the NHRA fo r example, where even series champ ions have found thems elves without rides the next season after they have failed to attract the cubic dollars necessary to keep going. More than because of any lack 0 talent, that is what co nspired to dr um Ward out of Indyp r racing. Truth be told, his personality wasn't even so uch the factor as was his age. "Motorcycles are much more about the individual than cars," Ward says, "and the re are no guarantees. What happened to me has happened before. There are always younger people com ingup, and the car manufacturers are behind them because maybe they brought them up from go-karts. If a driver can bring in a motor program wort h $3 million, it's a business. The team owner isn't going to pick you over that $3 million that he wo n't have to spend to go racing, even ifyou won eight races the year before. Youmight end up somewhere if you did, but it's a money deal, and that's what it comes down to . My age was a big strike against me. If I had been 29 when I jumped Into it, there is no doubt in my mind that Iwould stillbe there for sure, but I didn't even start making it until I was 39. The younger guys just get the backing, and it's frustrating to know your talent and not be out there. That's why I like motorcycle racing so much." There's certainly no doubting Ward 's talent in supermoto, but just as his performances were reminiscent of f,is past AMA motocross da)1, so were the injuries. Ward spent much of the'2004. season with ankle and knee problems after whacking tire barriers while practicing or racing. "It was mostly the same injuries that I'd had when I was younger, my ankles," Ward says. "I had never hurt my knee before... Well, I had hurt it once, but it wasn't too bad. The biggest concern I had was, at my age, how long was it going to take to heal up? I had actually already been hurt earlier in the year just practicing. I broke the radius in my wrist , and it was almost all the way thro ugh to where I had to have it pinned . I thought, 'Man, this could be my whole year done.' We were invite d ove r to Paris to do a race, and we told them that we weren' t going to come because of my injury, but they still wanted us to come. Then I rode practice and timed qualifying becau se if I did that, the promoters said they would pay me my show-up mone y. Three and a half weeks after that, I was out riding again. Then I hurt my ankle again. It blew up like a balloon." Y u wou ld think that rationality wou ld dictate that o Ward reconsider his move back into moto rcycle racing, or at least take it easy and wait to heal. But then he wou ldn't be Ward, w ho has neve r been rational when it comes to waiting for injuries to heal. "I broke my ankle for the first time at the San Diego Supercross in '87," Ward says. "I cased a tr iple on like the second lap of the main event, but I still finished third . When I broke it, it pulled the bone completely away, and I needed to have surgery on it. But the next week was the Miami Superc ross, and I finished third there, and the next week was Daytona. Then the next week we had off, so that 's when I had surgery on it. The n the week after that was Hangtown , the first Nat ional of the year, and I raced there. "I just like pushing myself," Ward says. "I don't know wha t it is. When I got hurt at Del Mar this year, I couldn't even lift my leg over the bike. I had to use my hands to lift my leg over and sit down , but I just saw it as a challenge. I'm not going to throw in the towel until I try. I just like to prove it to myself, do the best I can with what I have, no matter what it is. Whe n you do that, you can be happy with yourself at the end of the day." And even now Ward is dreaming up new ways to challenge himself, and one of those dreams is to win the World Supe rmoto Championship. Altho ugh he shares in seven Motoc ross des Nations victo ries with Team USA, he has never won an individual World Championship. That title may not mean as much to modern motoheads, but when Ward first started out , the World Champion was the man. Perhaps less like motocross and more like road racing, super moto currently fits that ideology. "I'd like to go over and try a couple rou nds now," Ward says. "The prob lem is that they 're kind of up in the air over there as to what 's the best class. I think that eventually they're going to go to the 4505 as the pre mium class because of the factories and the bike sales, but right now it's the Unlimited, or SI or whatever they call it. You run a 660, whatever." But Hon da doe sn't make a bike for SI, so Ward says that right now it doe sn't make much sense for him to take on Europe . "I cou ld go and run the 450, w hich is what a lot of guys like Eddy Seel [and Boris Chambon) are switching over to ," Ward says. "O nce it beco mes the favo red class, then maybe there is an opportu nity to go over there and do it for a season. I've looked at the schedule,

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