Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

David Bailey, Part II a para pl egic . Roger DeCoster, who wa s so help ful when it ha ppen e d . was com pletely depressed . "A few days later, the doctor told me the news: 'You broke yo ur ba c k , a n d you ' re neve r going to walk a ga in.' At the same time, I'm think in g , 'I'll get better by . the 500cc Na tio n al s .' The doctor jus t left be cause he cou ldn 't figure me ou t. I had never been injured like .tha t, a nd I c o u ldn' t be lie ve it. I wa s in fant a s y wo rld. F in a lly , o ne da y th e d o cto r c a m e in - I guess the nu rses had been te lling h im wha t I ha d been s a ying a nd he s a ys , blu ntly , 'Wh at a re sa ying a bou t gett ing a ro und?' "' Whe n c a n I get up a n d t ra in ,' I re plied to him . '''Yo u b roke yo ur back , a nd yo u r s pi ne ha s bee n pe rma ne n t ly da maged.' "' Ye a h , I know , but eve ryt hi ng heals - when will I walk?' "' Ne ve r!' "' O h.. . Okay.' I finally understood. But I still wouldn't admit it. "'Tha t' s what they a ll say!' I shot o ut. 'This docto r doesn 't know shit! I'll get better!' " Johnny O'Ma ra w a s Baile y 's best frie nd when the two w e re racing. It was a sh ock t o Bailey w hen the O'Show w ent to Te am Suzuki . o n b lu s t e ry , dusty da ys , the races rarel y drew crowds beyond 1000 fans , and the pu rs e money rarely amounted to anything more than pocket change. On January 10 , 1987 , Ba iley and Gin a clim bed in th e car and began the long d rive north up the 1-5 Free wa y. De stina tio n: La ke Huron , Ca lifo rn ia , fo r t he seco nd ro und of th e series . "Th e n ight befor e th e ra ce , and on th e wa y to La ke Huro n, we sto pped at th e Marie Cale nd ar's re stauran t by Magi c Mou nta in [in Vale ncia] . It was Mys elf, Gina , Johnny O 'Ma ra and his girlfrien d , and Dre w Lein of 100%, I was the onl y Honda guy going to the race, and I thought it would be cool to be up the re racing and getting ready for th e season. We ended up s itt ing in the restaurant forever a nd did n't get our check until midn ight. At that po int Gina said , 'Why are you ev en going to this race? ' S he had a good p oi nt. My wrist was bother ing me from a muscle tea r, and I serious ly tho ught about turn ing back . A little late r, Gina then said, 'This is ridiculous - let 's just go home .' I was seri ou sl y th ink ing a bo ut it. But I knew that ra c ing wa s m y job and I had to get th at fe el of dum p ing the c lutch , gett in g o ut of the s taring g ate and racing into the first corner, so we got back in the car. We ended up in La ke Huron a t around 2 :0 0 a . m. in t he morning . We pulled into the trac k the ne xt m orn ing , a nd Cliff Wh ite ha d the b ike s ju st pe rfe ct , a nd I wa s ex c ite d a bou t getti ng o ut a nd putt ing a few la ps in. I hadn 't been to Huro n s inc e 1984 , and I loved the p lace then because it was made up of re al nic e, soft sand. However, after a few laps, I started thinking , 'Th is place s uc ks !' It was all beat down as if c a rs had been racing on it. There were turns and riders e ve rywhe re , and I was struggling to get the t rack memorized . I was going through this fast sweeper that cut into a sharper left , th en dipped down , and without much of a run -off, led to a double. It wa s a very te chn ica l section, and my first time thro ugh it I n ot ic ed tha t t here wer e case ma rk s a ll ove r th e far side of th e j u m p . Ap p a re n t ly, th e day b e fo re , fou r-wheelers had be en rac ing on it. To take a step ba ck , I knew this was a year I was go ing to have to change th ings to beat Rick. I knew I needed to m ix my sm oothn e ss with an almost ps ycho-fast riding s tyle . S o with that m ind s et, I thought to myself whil e I was rid ing around Hu ron , ' I c a n double th at.' On that lap , a gu y was in my way , so I said to m yself, 'I' ll do it on th e next la p ' - I was obsessed with jumping it. So that lap , everything wa s clear, and I grabbed a handfu l of throttle, dropped into the dip , and flew up into th e air. Upon the takeoff, I re m e m ber thinking , 'This is good ...' Th en I flew a little fur ther a nd t hought , 'T h is is go ing to be close.. .' Then at the las t m inute , I thought, 'O h , s hit - I'll m a ke it, but it wo n't be smooth.' Then I hit the ground so ha rd th at the front end just jerked out of m y hands . I fe ll in s uc h a st up id wa y . I wa s think in g , wh ile staring a t the front fender, 'Why a m I c ras h ing h ere ? ' All th is wa s go ing thro ugh m y head up on he a d ing for t he gro u n d . T hen it wa s, bam ! J ust a m ajor impact. 20 M AY 1 7 , 2000' ftBVVS C II c I Wh en I came to , m y tongue hurt ve ry badly because I h ad b itten it. J im Felt (Johnny O'Mara 's mechan ic] wa s holding me, sa ying , ' Yo u okay , buddy? ' I replied , ' I don't know.' Then I noticed that th ey had stopped prac tic e , I was la ying on the ground, and I lo oked up at this s mall h ill where J ohnn y and a fe w other rid ers - I th ink one o f t h e m was J eff Ward were stopped and looking down at m e . I was h urting bad and started thinking , 'Ma n , I'm no t go ing to get u p. ' All th e s e p e op le were a rou nd m e , a nd I just wa nted some space, I sa id, ' Le t m e go,' an d o ne of t he parame dic s re p lie d , ' No body is touch ing you, Da vid . ' 'O h shit ,' I thought to myself. It was the worst n ews I had ever heard . Bu t a few m ome nts later , I said , ' How bad is th is ; a m I g o ing to m iss An ah eim? ' Nothing had sunk in." Ba iley had suff ered a se riou s inju ry a nd the race was on to get him to a major hospital as soon a s po ssibl e . But as c a n happen at th e worst of t imes , Ba ile y 's trip to Sa nt a Clara Va lle y Med ical Center in S an J ose wa s an ag on izing jo u rn ey in t o th e abyss. "It was the wors t day o f my life ," sa ys Bailey. "The ambulance was going down a ve ry bum py road that we nt o n forever. It was co ld , freezi ng cold, a nd I was in so mu ch pa in. They were going to p ut me in a he licopte r, but they couldn ' t la nd it be c a us e it was too fogg y. Th ey g ot me to Sa n J o se , and by that time I wa s o n m or ,phine a nd ve ry co nfused , I wa s saying th ings like , "Will I m iss th e first Superc ross? ' I guess I d idn 't know my bac k was b ro ke n. Whe n we got there , th e doctor s told Gina I was now R EMAIN I N L IGHT Thirteen week s aft er the crash , Ba ile y was p erm itted to leave the hospital , and he and Gina retreated to his townhouse in Simi Valley. They re ma ined th ere for approximately a month , the n headed e a s t to Axto n , where he was to continue with re ha bilitation and to attempt to p ut th e p ieces of his life back together. And it was there that depression truly set in. "T h e next year and a ha lf we re destroyed . I was negative, m ad - the wo rst s t uff. On top o f th at , wh en it happen ed we ha d be en m arried th ree month s , a nd Gina te lls me tha t s he's preg na nt. It was good ne ws a nd ba d news. I remember saying , ' T h a t ' s g reat, but.. .' "1 was s o diffi cult to be around , and it got very d ifficult because I was in deni al. S ean [Ba ile y' s son] coming a long helped us stay together. There was a specia l bond there because of that. Gina was tr ying so hard , and I was so miserable , but Sean was that extra effort that saved us . We had gone from th e penthouse to the base ment floor." As the o ld adage goes , it' s always darkest before dawn , and Bailey had certain ly hit rock bottom. Hole d up in Axton with nowhere to go but u p , it took - o f all things - a movie for Ba ile y to "se e the light." "It wa s wh ile I wa s wa tc hi ng the mo vie Jo e Versu s th e Volca no," h e s a ys a fter a n e xten de d pause. "Th e movie gets to a po int whe re th e c ha racte r Tom Ha n ks is p lay in g , a g u y that s u pposed ly o nly ha s a we ek to live , looks u p a t th e s k y a nd sa ys , 'T ha n k yo u fo r m y life .' I wa s re a l s us ceptib le a t that tim e , a nd I irnrn e -

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