Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"No, , didn't," Poovey syas. "I was a senior in high school when 1 won my first National in Talladega [Alabama, Short Track], and I saw that I could make more money racing than my teachers were making. I was 18-years-old, and when you're 18, you just do what you want to. If I had it to do over again, I would have finished high school. "But as soon as I got out, me and a friend of mine named Larry Godwin went up to Santa Fe [Speedway, in Hinsdale, Illinois]," Poovey says. "I'd always heard about Santa Fe when I was a kid, about how all of the great short trackers came from there. So, we drove up there and unloaded the bike, and there were guys there like Randy Cleek, Corky Keener, Jay Springsteen - guys that you would read about in magazines were there." But Poovey proved to be just as tough as anyone on the marquis' list of short trackers. In his first appearance at Santa Fe, he not only posted the fastest qualifying time, but he also went undefeated throughout the night's racing, capping it off with a main-event win. He would go on to win the three features in a row at the tough little track, and in 1975 he would garner the track championship as a Junior - making him the first Junior-licensed track champion that Santa Fe ever had. He would earn another track championship there in 1979. On the National circuit, Poovey enjoyed a decent season as a rookie Expert in the 1976 season as well. In addition to his first career win at the Talladega Short Track, he enjoyed better results in the big bike races as well. "I ran second at the half mile in Toledo, Ohio," Poovey says. "I ran second until about two laps from the end, and then I slid off the groove and got fourth. That was my best half mile finish of my rookie year." Despite this early success, Poovey would be shut out of the winner's circle in 1977 and 1978 as he continued learning the ropes and struggling through the requisite low-caliber rides that most AMA Grand National young lions seems to get stuck with when trying to break into the upper ranks of the sport. Poovey got a break when he hooked up with Michigan tuner Tex Peel in 1978. "That was kind of when I started learning how to work on the bikes and figure out what it took," Poovey says. "Back then, there were a lot of good motorcycles and bad motorcycles." Poovey and Peel attempted to forge a solid bond and put together a solid effort, but looking back on it now, Poovey says there was no way that the deal was going to last. "We did pretty good in 1978, but in early 1979 I was riding for Tex, and the bike was breaking a lot, and we were having a lot of problems," Poovey says. "Tex had sponsored some guys, but when I started racing for him was when he started having success on the National circuit. But I could see that he was kind of grooming Scott Parker to come along, so I felt like my deal was just a temporary deal anyway. "Corky Keener had been racing for Doug Sehl, and I had heard that they split up," Poovey says. '" didn't have a bike to ride for Columbus, so I called Doug up and told him that 1 wanted to ride his bike. He said he had to think about it, so then I called him back and told him that if he did let me ride it I would give him 70 percent of the money. I wanted to get on a good bike." Poovey and Sehl won Columbus, their first outing together, after which Poovey says their agreement was promptly readjusted. "I gave Doug 70 percent, but then I told him that I needed 50 percent," Poovey says. A couple months later, Sehl collected another 50 percent when Poovey won the Grand National half mile in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania. The two would part on good terms at the end of the year after Poovey elected to buy his own motorcycle from Mert Lawwill and have a go on his own. Poovey credits Sehl for his development as a mechanic as well as a racer. "I learned more from Doug that year than I have from anybody else at any time in my career," Poovey says. "Still, to this day, some of the things that I learned from him are what I try to do. He was the smartest guy that I have ever been around as far as dirt track motorcycle racing goes. He was way ahead of everybody else at the time. He is actually an inventor now." Poovey continued to run his own equipment through the 1980, '81 and '82 seasons. He earned his first career mile win, the Indy Mile, in 1980 and backed that up with a repeat at Indy in 1981. In 1982, he won the Knoxville, Tennessee, half mile. By this time, Poovey had been receiving help from his brother-in-law, Kenny Tolbert. The young Tolbert, destined to become an AMA Grand National Championship-winning tuner, is the brother of Poovey's high school sweetheart, Kathy, whom Poovey married in 1979. Having enjoyed a fair amount of success on his own, Poovey appeared poised to get his big break when he Signed on to the Honda factory dirt track team for the 1983 season. "Gene Romero took over as the team manager at Honda that year, and I had known him from the races and from C.R. Axtell's," Poovey says. "He thought that I could do really good on those bikes, and he Signed me up." The deal immediately bore fruit, as Poovey won the season-opening Houston Short Track for Honda in 1983. Ironically, it would be his only Grand National victory aboard a Honda even though he has been so closely linked with the brand. The Japanese company's endeavor to produce a big twin capable of defeating the venerable HarleyDavidson XR750 had produced the enigmatic NS750, but come 1983, Honda had plans to introduce the more conventional RS750. Poovey was the first rider After a successful run as a privateer, Poovey (right) joined Team Honda in 1983, racing alongside teammates Mike Kidd (left) and Mickey Fay (center). to race an RS750 in AMA Grand National competition. "The first time it was ever raced, I raced it at Ascot," Poovey says. But not unlike the first-generation XRs that launched the dynasty the RS was trying to conquer, the RS itself went through trying times before getting up to speed. "The RS had lots and lots of problems, and it was constantly breaking down," Poovey says. "I remember I was winning the Indy Mile on it when the ignition went out on it, and it had oiling problems. I only had a oneyear contract, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be good or not. The first year that I rode the thing, I told them what they needed to do to it, and they did all that for the next winter, and then it was good. But for the _ ..... Poovey was the first man ever to race a Honda RS7S0 against Harley XRs in Grand National competition. CYCLE~"':I 33

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