Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Right) During the 1986 Sup ercross series, Bailey and teammate Rick Johnson fought tooth and nail for the title, to the point that their relat ionship off the track was affected. It was the year of the infamous Bailey/Johnson Anaheim battle. (Be low ) To satisfy his compet it ive urge, Bailey has contested and finished triathlons, including the lronman. dia te ly thou ght to m ys elf , ' S h it , if I o n ly had a few years le ft to live , I wo ul d k ick it up a notch . ' T h en I asked m yse lf, ' Are yo u do ing th a t now? ' a nd m y a nswer was , 'Hell, no!' "From there , I s tarted writing in my train ing jo urn a ls a ga in. I ha dn 't done that s ince J ohnny and I we re tra inin g togethe r. I also started driv ing . Then one night whe n Gina and I we re la y ing in bed , I said , ' Do yo u wa nt to m ove ba ck to Ca lifo rni a?' She said , 'Yes .' At tha t point , I kn ew it was time to try a g ain . I sa id to m yse lf, 'I can' t race , a nd I ca n' t wa lk, bu t I ha ve to tu rn this a ro un d.' All t hese p e opl e wa nted m y a utog rap h, and I was st ill getting all thi s fan m a il. For myself, Sea n an d Gin a , a nd all t he peop le tha t ad mi re d m e , I cou ldn 't g ive up bec au se I couldn 't be a r to ha ve peo ple thin kin g of me as a pe rson t hat would give up ." Upon re tu rn ing to Californ ia , Bai ley soon became involved in wheel chair rac ing , competing in such pres tigio us events as the Sa n Diego , Lo s Ange les and Boston Ma rathons . And wh ile a ll of t hat was transpiring , he was ap proached by Sea ls Co mmunications to see if he m ig ht be inte rest ed in doi ng comme ntary for the m otoc ro s s and Super cr os s races the com pa ny produc ed for ES PN. "While I wa s do ing the wheelchair racing , I had he a rd th at Bob Hannah had bec o m e tire d of d o ing TV for th e m ot o cr o s s race s ai ri ng o n ESPN . At t h e sa m e time , S c ott McLem ore , a pro du c e r at S e al s , we nt on record a s sa y in g , ' Yo u kn ow , Da vid Baile y was th e best rider of a ll these guys ; h e wo u ld be g ood for thi s .' '' And so with th at , Bai ley be c am e the color commentator for the ES PN m ot oc ross br oa dc a sts th at ha ve now become so very po pu la r acros s this country. "I just love doi ng it." he says. "It' s a hu g e re s p o n s ib ilit y b e c aus e if I blow it, I h a ve to wa tc h TV fo r two hours loo king like an idiot o n national TV . It ' s a lot like w he n I raced beca use yo u a lway s h a ve t o pu ll it tog ether. I feel a big responsibility to rep re sent the ride rs in the best wa y possible . I he a r a lot o f p eo p le s a y , ' F in a lly , someo ne who k no ws what he 's t a lk ing a bout.' Th at m a ke s me fee l good . It' s so cool whe never we do a great s how - rea lly nail it. And jus t like raci ng, I'm always thinking of how I ca n do a be tter job." Las t year Bai le y also real ized anothe r dream : Contesting - and finishi ng - the g rueling Ironman co m pe titio n in Hawa ii. Rega rded around the world as the ultimate test in strength and endu rance , the ra ce had been pu lling at the moto cross c h a m p io n for ove r 13 years . "Whe n Gina and I we re in Ha waii for our honeymo on, I was a b le to watch it. I sa id to her , 'I want to come bac k he re a n d do th is . ' Th e n I g ot hu rt. At first a coup le cha ir racers did it , but t h e c ha irs lo ok e d bad and I wasn 't in te res ted . Th en two guys wen t ove r with better c hairs a nd finis h ed wit h a lo t of res pec t , a nd I became interested . At th at sa me time I was work ing at No Fe ar , a nd a g uy na m ed Tod d Jacobs, who sat next to me, did it and did well. So we started ta lking a bou t it an d he to ld m e h e wou ld do th e swim section wit h m e in a local tria thlon . We did it, a nd it was a bla st. So I sta rte d thinking , 'Okay , I swa m a m ile and ro de 18 m iles .' I can't d esc ribe wha t a g ood fe el in g that was . And I kn ew th en tha t I ha d come so fa r from want ing t o k ill m yse lf. T hat drove me , and I wa nted mo re . I knew I co uld do it. I was now motivated, a nd I ha d not had a b ig, big goal in over 10 yea rs, and I re all y needed that. I knew tha t th e Ironm an was th e most rid icu lous thi ng I could do , so I be gan te lling everyo ne I !

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