Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

fj\ iDr n nn\\/7~0 \.iU~~lnJ U Vi LS~ ---By SCOTT ROUSSEAU Rice Rocket anks to the blockbuster motorcycle film On A year later, Rice would find himself engaged in a title Any Sunday, factory BSA rider jim Rice's career battle that was a bit weirder and lasted just a tad longer is synopsized by a loud, screeching, violent than we are led to believe in On Any Sunday. ribbon of film that captures his crash at the "I thought it was going to be my year," Rice says of the '70 season. "Having won those three Nationals in 1969, 1970 Sacramento Mile. And that just isn't fair, because during his short ride as a professional motorcycle I was pretty confident about my ability to perform at that racer, Rice was never loud, screeching or violent. level. Actually, it would have been my year had a few things been different." "I was kind of a quiet guy - definitely not an [David] First and foremost, says Rice, 1970 was the only seaAldana," Rice, now 57, says. "Some people may have perceived me as being not a very nice person, but son in which the AMA elected to base its points payout later on I started getting more outgoing. It was all a in proportion to what the purse paid. In other words, matter of just growing up." the larger the purse, the larger the amount of champiRather than party and go wild, Rice chose to immerse onship points that went along with it. "Consequently, all the road races had bigger purses," himself in his equipment with the same passion as his Rice says. "If you were a real good road racer, you could more veteran peers, such as Mert Lawwill and Dick Mann. "I really tried to develop my skills not only as a rider certainly have a big advantage. Like Daytona - if I but also as a mechanic," Rice says. "I basically did 99 perremember correctly - to win that one race was over 100 cent of the work on my own bikes, and I maintained points. The normal dirt track Nationals paid about 20 them at the races, kind of like the Dick Mann program. I points to win, so you could win five dirt track races, which are as hard to win as any road race National had some help with machining, but I built and maintained the motors and the equipment and stuff. I had a friend, probably harder because the competition was much closer - and if someone else won one road race ... That is Mike Ackatiff, who traveled with me, and he had his own motorcycles that he would build, and I would have the not a good system. They [AMA] made a big mistake choice of riding them if I wanted to. In fact, I won the about doing that, and the follOWing year they reverted Peoria TT in 1970 on his bike." back to the old system." So it was that Rice, who won a season-leading six Rice's thoughtful, hands-on approach to racing made him somewhat of an innovator during the introduction of Grand Nationals through the 1970 season, was locked into a title battle with Triumph's Gene Romero, who had a new piece of safety equipment on flat track motorcycles during the 1969 season: brakes. "Before brakes, if someone had a motorcycle that would slow down qUicker than yours, like a Triumph twin versus a Gold Star, you'd creep up on them, and if your front wheel was inside their rear wheel, it could be pretty disastrous," Rice says. "The Jim Rice at Sacramento in 1970. look carefully and you way you slowed down can see the photographer about to get clocked by RIce' was to kind of drag your errant BSA triple. All three survived the i..... cid.ent shoe more on a grooved track if you weren't pitched really sideways. It was pret- done better in the road races than Rice but had won just ty dangerous. Adding brakes just gave you that extra one Grand National heading into the Sacramento Mile. security and fleXibility of slowing the bike down so you Also in the hunt were Rice's BSA teammates Mann and could control those [bad] situations." Aldana. The fateful day, in which Rice suffered probably But Rice took the idea further than most, quickly recthe most famous motorcycle crash ever put on film, is ognizing that using the brake could provide performance one he'd rather forget, but Rice is happy to set the advantages that went far beyond any safety advantages. record straight. "There's a lot behind that whole situation, and there's "I incorporated them right away in my racing," Rice says. "I found that they were a big confidence builder, a lot of rumors that I've heard," Rice says. "Basically I had especially on a grooved track, where you want to get the choice of riding my BSA twin or the three-cylinder of into the turn as fast as you can without slipping off the Tom Cates. It was the same three-cylinder in a groove and you might need to make some adjustments Trackmaster frame that I had won the Sedalia Mile on, and believe me that thing had a lot of straightaway as far as traffic. You could run it in hotter and get down on the pole quicker. You could really use the brakes to speed. You could pull five or six bikelengths on each lower your lap times. You basically wanted to do it like a straightaway, but the problem was that at Sacramento it road race guy, get into the turn as fast as you can and would hang the left case going into the turns and the carry a lot of speed through the turns. The brakes really wheels would skate. It was pretty challenging to ride, but it was a fun bike to ride. fit my riding style well." "But the problem was that I went out and rode the Rice qUickly gained the reputation as a smooth, precise rider, and he proved that he had the goods as he three in practice, and it just didn't feel quite right to me," won three Grand Nationals as a first-year Expert during Rice says. "My times were really close to what I was the 1969 season, claiming the San jose Half Mile, Sedalia doing on my twin. I didn't know it at the time, but the three had either a blown or leaking head gasket on one Mile and Oklahoma City Half Mile. It marked the first time in AMA Grand National history that a rookie Expert cylinder, which dropped the power down." Rather than dominate his heat race, Rice was doing "t''3t'f~ Grand Nationals in a single season. T I'd eyeB 94 APRIL 27,2005 • CYCLE NEWS all he could just to guarantee a direct transfer spot to the main event on the ailing triple as he drafted Chuck Palmgren on the run to the checkered flag. All hell broke loose just after that. "I was about an inch off Palmgren's rear wheel to keep from getting passed by Tommy Rockwood, but right after the finish line Palmgren sat up and started slOWing down, and I was so close to him, and it surprised me that he shut off," Rice says. "I went for the rear brake, and I nicked the gearshift lever in the process and knocked it in between gears. The bike was freewheeling, and I tried jamming it back in gear, but it would not go. There was no way I could make the turn, and I remember thinking, 'Man, I've got to lay this thing down quick.' This all happened in less than two seconds." Rice says he blacked out before slamming into the guardrail while the triple vaulted it and struck a photographer, who was seriously injured. "I remember coming to in the ambulance and doing a body check to make sure everything worked," Rice says. "It did, but I was kind of freaked out because there was all this blood, and I didn't know where it was coming from. Then I figured out that I had broken my nose." As the movie portrays, Rice climbed out of that ambulance and attempted to compete, but the souring BSA triple was even more battered than he was. "By then we knew that something was going wrong with the motor, and we didn't have time to fix any of "' that," Rice says. "Of ~ course, I wasn't in real ~ good shape either. I think 1j I finished 14th." ~ The movie leads :z viewers to believe that ~ Romero's win at ~ Sacramento clinched the § championship that day. 5In fact, it did not. There ~ were still two races remaining, and though it would take a miracle, Rice still had a mathematical shot at retaking the points lead. "But the next race was at Ascot, and Ascot and I never got along," Rice says. "I didn't like that place. I think I got fifth there, and that was a pretty good finish for me. Romero won it, but like I say, if the points system had been the same as the year before or the year after, I would have probably had a 300-point lead on him." But don't think now that Rice is complaining about not winning the championship. Instead, he relishes the time he spent as a professional motorcycle racer, a career that lasted through the 1974 season before Rice elected to walk away while he still could walk away. "Motorcycle racing was the soul of my existence back then," Rice says. "I'm happy to have raced when I did because I think that is unquestionably the golden era of dirt track racing in terms of spectator attendance, brand loyalty and brands that were supported by the various factories. You had Kawasakis racing Nortons and Yamahas and Hondas, BSAs and Triumphs. It was also the time when there was the highest level of competition. At San jose, you'd have 140 guys trying to get 40 qualifying spots. Nowadays, you don't have 40 guys show up to the race." Today, Rice lives in Portola Valley, California, with his wife, Lisa, and 12-year-old son, Kyle. Rice owns his own electronic manufacturing and design business. eN

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