Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

David Bailey, Part I In the early-to-mi d 19805, David Ba iley was nearly unbe atab l e In the 500cc class aboard the very trick works RC500 Hondas. h e s moo t hest , m ost t a l e nte d m otocross rac er in the wo rld. t he one t ha t coul d d issec t even the ro ugh est track like a diamond cutter. lay un con sci ous in the sand and loa m of Lake Hu ron, California . Hold ing the fallen rider's head while a number of param edics scr ambled to evaluate the situation wa s Team Suzu k i mechanic Jim Fe lt . Hovering abo ve them were a number of worried T eam Hond a perso nnel, among th em Dave Arn o l d a nd Roger D e C o st e r , w ho co uld do nothing but look down help lessly at the inj ured racer. T he red fl ag had been th rown , and prac t ice had co m e to a halt, all of th e rider s roll in g t o a sto p and shu ttin g off th eir engi ne s. Just off to th e side o f th e g a t h e ri ng c r o w d. J ohnn y O 'M ara had co m e to a sta ndstill, co nce rn e d th a t s o m e thing had go n e drastic all y wron g for hi s be st frien d. The d at e was J an ua ry 11 . 19 8 7 , and beneath a cold, flannel -gray sky that blankete d Californ ia 's San Joaqu in Vall ey , T eam Honda's David B a il ey w as f a cing th e d efining moment of h is ca ree r. It was t he second round of th e CMC Gold en St at es Series, an inconsequentia l race th at a number of Amer ica' s best m otocro ss rider s were using t o shak e down t heir new bikes an d get into fightin g tr im f or t h e approa c h ing 1987 AMA Super cr oss Seri es . Bailey himself had show n up at th e Hu r on circuit j us t o utsi de of Kettlem an City to sort out his fact o ry H o n d a C R2 5 0 R with mecha n ic Cliff Wh ite, and to begin preparing for the opening Supercro ss ro und scheduled fo r Anaheim later th at mont h. But as fate would have it. B a i l e y , t hen co ns idered to be t he most techni call y ad van c ed motocross ride r o n th e planet, wo ul d m is calcu late a si n uous, te c hni cal se ct ion of th e track duri ng a m orn ing practic e . ses sion and be p it ch ed off h is bike . As a r e sult , th e rei g ni n g 5 00 c c Nat ional Champio n h it the g roun d at a q uirk y ang le and was im m ed iat ely kn ocked un consci ou s. Whe n he cam e to a few minut es later, h i s life was changed for ev er. T o most y oung m ot ocross en thusi ast s ac ros s Amer ica , D avid Bai ley is the art ic ulate talk in g head al ong side Art E c kman o n ESP N ' s w e e k ly m oto c r o ss an d Supe r c r o s s b r o ad - 34 n Thirteen years after his career was tragically cut short, DavidBailey isAmerica's greatest motocross hero. B y E RIC J OHNS ON T MAY 1 0 . 2000' cue • e e vv s casts . M ost o f th em are als o aware th a t he on ce w o n a number of National C ham p ionships fo r T eam H ond a . Th ey a ls o k n o w h e i s i n a wh eelchair. T he sport of m ot ocr oss is not ve ry good at k eeping t abs on it s h ist ory. Gen era ll y speak ing , w he n a rider ret ires, a t y pe of sw itch is shut off, and he 's ushered into t he record boo k s, destined fo r an ony m it y , o r if he's lu cky , a few stori es o r m en ti on s th at surfac e he r e a nd th e r e. T h at ha rsh reality doesn't h o l d t rue fo r Bai ley . By fighting h is way back from a broke n b ac k suffered t ha t cata cl ysm ic day in centra l Cal ifornia, Ba i ley, who is now paralyzed from t he chest down, has be come an inspiration to p e o p l e everywhere . And through i n t r e pid exam ples of strength, determinat ion and dignity , he has beco m e A m er ic a ' s g re ate st m otocross hero. Th is is the story of Dav id Bai ley . S TANDB V M E " I started ridin g du rin g the sum mer w he n I was 10 ye ars old ," begins Ba i l e y f r o m h is h om e o u tsi de o f S an Di ego , California . "M y m om , who was divorced from m y nat ural fath er T erry M art in , had ho oked up wi t h a g u y n am ed G a r y B a il e y , a nd I w o u l d spe nd a few week s with th em tr aveling ac ros s A m er ic a. The fi rst plac e I st art ed rid ing at wa s Four Corner s in Southern C al iforni a. I'd ride around thinking , ' Dam n , I'm good .' However, in reality , Gary th ought I was rea lly reckless. He wo uld say to me, " Learn how to us e the br ak es." So w it h th at he woul d have me do a dr ill where I would ride up and down a dirt runway learning how to sto p wi th b o th brak e s . I 'd ge t fr u s t ra te d bec au se I wan ted t o be o ut o n t ha t t rack so bad . But w he n , t hink back o n it n o w , , was ac tuall y g etti ng ins t ruct ion o n how to rid e t he right way ." Co nstantly surrou nded b y m ot orc y c les, traveling from one trac k t o the next wi th Gary , who was tea ching motocross -crazed Americans the new sp ort th r o u g h h i s schools , D a v i d became obsessed with racing. It was just a m at te r of t ime before G a r y , who at firs t dissuaded his yo ung collea g ue from rac ing , gave Dav id t he okay to t ak e a pl ac e beh ind the " rub ber band. " " I r eall y wanted t o race , and we we re d o wn i n Lo u i si an a ," ex p la i ns Da v id . " T h e m in i cl a ss wa s h ug e ba ck then . T here wou ld be 4 0 guys o n th e line, all be hi nd a ru bber -band s ta r t , a n d th e y w o u l d r u n t h ree m ot os . Gary dec id ed to let m e ra c e down th er e, and I was we aring j ea ns , a T - shi rt a n d helm et w it h n o g og g les . N o on e had seen m e ra c e , and j ust assumed I w as good b ec ause I wa s wi t h Gary. But I we nt out th ere and got de ad last . Howev er , I had a

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