Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Husky's Automatic Champion T here was a time when winning for Terry Cunningham was as automatic as the bike he rode, although, in all fairness, it wasn't about the bike. Even so, four-time AMA National Enduro Champion Cunningham doesn't mind being associated with Husqvarna's Auto Enduro model, despite the fact that it has been decades since he rode one in competition. 'That's probably fair," Cunningham, now 46, says. "I was the only person to ever win a National Championship on an automatic. Most people know me by that." Still, it would be more fair to say that Cunningham's reign at the top of the AMA Enduro scene represents more than just the era of the unique Auto; it also represents an era in AMA racing when Husqvarna factory teams were at the height of their dominance in the offroad world. The Auto was more a by-product of Cunningham's dominance than the other way around. Other riders struggled with the Auto, but Cunningham took to it like a duck to water or a pig to mud. "The funny part of it was that my forte was riding in the mud," Cunningham says. "Whenever I rode an Auto, especially the air-cooled ones, when it rained, I would tell everybody that I was on a water-cooled bike all day." He laughs, and then adds, ''A water-cooled Auto was just like a weapon." Cunningham had more than a mere passing influence in the development of the Auto Enduro. In fact, during one year, Husqvarna even saw fit to introduce a Terry Cunningham Replica model. "It's pretty sad that I can't even remember what year it was," Cunningham says with a laugh. "It was so long ago, but actually I think it was the 500 [AE]. most of the time when you go down a steep hill, you're either on the brakes or on the gas. I never really noticed it freewheeling. About the biggest drawback was that you had to time it when you wanted to hit a jump or wanted the front wheel to loft over a log or a ditch, because it was a lot like driving an automatic car. When you'd stomp on the gas to pass another vehicle, the engine would rev a little bit and then downshift into a lower gear. I don't know, a motorcycle is a motorcycle, but the Auto was really unique." It was a good weapon to have in Cunningham's arsenal, as both he and the Auto hit their competitive peaks at a time when the AMA National Enduro Championship Series was enjoying vintage crops of competitors. There seemed to be no end to the line of top-notch riders who could, and did, win National events on any given weekend, many of them coming from Cunningham's southern Ohio turf, AMA District I I. "It was great," Cunningham says. "You had Kevin Hines and Jeff Russell and Randy Hawkins and Dave Bertram and Mark Hyde and myself, and the list just goes on and on. You ha,d to bring your A-game every weekend. You really did." Cunningham was the best of the bunch, however. He won with alarming regularity, and often it seemed as though he wasn't even trying all that hard. His detractors will point to the Auto as the reason for that, but Cunningham chalks it up to the fact that very little of his time was spent worrying about his competition. Instead, the event was his comfort zone, and just riding was what made him happiest. "You know, the thing about it was that when I grew up, I didn't have a lot and my parents didn't have a lot," Cunningham says. ''AlII wanted to do was ride a motorcycle. I remember when I first went to work at Husqvarna, and I'd see Dick Burleson take off a sprocket after two events and throw it away when it could have been used for two years' worth of races," Cunningham says. "That blew my mind. I couldn't care less whether I got paid or whether I won. I was fortunate enough that God blessed me enough that I was able to just go out and win." Already a successful IS DE rider in the late '70s, Cunningham was actually on Husqvarna's radar before he joined the factory enduro team. "Bob Popiel - he works for Aprilia now - was warehouse manager for Husqvarna in Columbus, Ohio, and he rode an Auto, and he would come down to some of the District I I events," Cunningham recalls. "Bob was a National-caliber Terry Cunningham was the man to beat and Husqvama the bike to beat on the AMA National Enduro circuit in the mid '80s. Among his rider. and when he came down, it seemed like he would beat me out four Nationol Championship titles, Cunningham rode Husky's of the overall win almost every unique Auto Enduro model to three straight from 1984·86. time. But we would talk a lot. and then one time Bob came down for the Little Burr "The biggest thing was the fact that it allowed you to concentrate more on the trail than on your motorcycle Enduro, and he beat me, but I guess he went back and being in the right gear in the right time and whether or told Burleson and Greg Davis, who was Husky's sales not you needed the clutch," Cunningham says of the rep at the time, 'Hey, if we ever get a chance, we·need bike. ''A lot of guys who rode them said they didn't like to pick up Terry Cunningham.'" the way that they freewheeled downhill, but either I was After failing to come to an agreement with Maico at the end of 1979, Cunningham not only landed a deal with pretty scared or those guys were pretty gutsy. because 94 OCTOBER 26, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Husqvarna for 1980, he also landed a job. "I remember that they gave me a bone-stock 250WR on the Tuesday before the second National of the year - and the first National for me. I took the bike out and broke it in on a couple gravel roads and then went to the National, which was in Georgia. Burleson was the only one to beat me, and afterward, he said, 'Hey, would you like a job?'" Cunningham took the role of east coast service representative for Husqvarna. "Everybody thought I was a racer, but I had my job and then I had a separate contract to race," Cunningham says. "Eventually, by 1983, Husqvarna had moved everything to the West Coast and I was pretty much a full-time racer." Rep or no rep, Cunningham was the scourge of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series through the early and mid-I 980s. He won the National title in 1982, sat out most of 1983 with a broken leg incurred while competing in Wales, then roared back to win three consecutive titles from 1984 to 86 - all three on the Auto. With factory off-road rider Dan Smith equally as devastating in the desert, it was a time when Husqvarna was clearly atop the off-road motorcycle world. "Times were good, and the bikes were good," Cunningham recalls fondly. "Mark Blackwell was there then. I'll always have a lot of respect for Mark. He did me right on a couple different occasions." It's just too bad. then, that Husqvarna couldn't escape the proverbial "all good things must come to an end" phenomenon, but the sale of Husqvarna to Cagiva in 1987 was the shot that took the air out of Husky's balloon. What followed was a company that became increasingly more confused and far less focused. Among the casualties of the takeover, Husqvarna's prolific factory-racing program, of which Cunningham was a huge part, eventually choked and died. "I tried to stay with them," Cunningham said. "They only kept me and one other sales rep from the original Husqvarna. I knew it was going bad when one day I walked in. in early '88, and the new general manager wanted to meet with me, so I flew out [to Southern California) to talk with him. He came from the car industry, and he said to me, 'You know, motorcycles are just a commodity. You buy 'em and you sell 'em. We really don't need you to race. We just need you to be a race team manager.' I wasn't ready to quit racing at the time." Cunningham left Husqvarna at the end of 1988. He made a good deal with Kawasaki, continued to ride Nationals and remained very competitive. but the passion and excitement that he felt for the Husqvarna brand couldn't be matched. Despite switching to the "Good Times" company, the good times were gone, and it really never was the same for him after that. Eventually, he scaled back his National appearances, though he still competes today and has fun doing it. "It was sad, real sad," Cunningham says of Husqvarna's fall from power. "I haven't followed what they [Husqvarna) have been doing lately. I know that they tried [rebuilding the marque) three or four years ago, and I know it backfired on them. I hope that this time works for them. KTM right now is where Husqvarna was in the I 980s. You go to a race and take a picture of the starting line, and it looks like an ad for KTM. Back in the '80s, that's what it was like for Husqvarna. We owned it back then." Back in the '80s. for Terry Cunningham, Husqvarna and winning were automatic. eN

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