Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128614
(LeftI Dave Despain Interviews NASCAR driver Wally Dallenbach Jr. about his first speedway experience for Despain's weekly TV show "Motorcyclist" which airs on Speedvision . (Below) Dukle Ennolenko runs the Dukle Ennolenko Speedway Academy in Corona, Califomia. By STEVE C O X P HOTO S BY S COTT R OUSSEAU I t see ms that th e tr end toda y is to compare variou s elements of the sport of m otorc ycle ra cing t o NASCAR. Because the NAS CAR Winston Cup Ser ie s may we ll be the nu mber-one sport in America today in terms of fan following , anywa y - a lot of p eopl e think th a t b y "NASCAR izing" m otorcycle racing , it ma y soon earn th e sa me kind of follow ing . S o what wou ld happen if a well re s pe cte d NASCAR driver, some top NASCA R officia ls , and some key crew m ember s wer e invited to learn the a rt of speedway motorcyc le ra c ing and compare th e two sports - less on an orga nizationa l lev e l a n d mo re o n a racer's leve l? Well, we had the opportu n it y to help an s wer th at qu estion when "hots hoe man" Ken Mae ly , former European spe edwa y star Duk ie Erm ol enko a n d NASCAR t e c hni ca l d irector Stev e Pe te rson decided to invite the willing out to Maely's Coro na ran ch in order to give s peedway a try in c o nj u n c tio n with the Duk ie Errnolenko Speedwa y Academy. The Thursda y befor e the California 500 seem ed the pe rfect da y fo r the invite , as a ll the NASCAR bo ys we re in town for the b ig ra ce. Thursday is a typically lazy da y for the majority of the pe ople intricatel y invol ved wit h Dukie Ermolenko Speedway Academy 8580 Bedford Motorway Corona, CA 92883 909/277 ยท2090 www.speedwaya cademy.com First les son (three hours of introduction and riding instruction; required on your first visit): $150 Bike rental for one day (includes one gallon of fuel and oil for the bike): $100 Private instructional rate: 44 MAY 24, 2000 ' Ie $50/h r Y Ie I e the NASCAR scene , as pra ctice ends in the e a rly aft e rnoon and q ua lifying usuall y begins on Frida y. It turn ed o ut to be a beautifu l da y - hard ly a clou d ' in th e sky a nd a bo ut 80 d egrees , with a sl ig ht br e eze to fe nd off t he he at. Unfortunately, althou gh several of the top Winston Cup dr ive rs were invited to attend Erm ol e nk o ' s school , o n ly one showed up . We ll-known NASCAR vetera n Wa lly Da llenba ch Jr. wa s th e so le driver to se ize the opportunity to le a rn speedway racing . "I think the y [the ot he r NASCAR d rive rs ] are a ll smarter than to come out here a n d do t his , " Da llen b a c h sa id. Doing it, howe ver , wou ld turn o ut to be a rewa rd ing ex perience , thanks to th e ex pe rt ise of Charles "Du k ie" E rm ol en k o. As id e fro m be ing t h e younge r brother o f form er World Speedway Champion "S ud den" Sam Ermolenko , Dukie spent se ve ral ye a rs overseas in British Lea gu e speedway c o m pet itio n , rid ing fo r th e m a rq ue e Wol ve rha mp t on Wo lv e s , Glasg ow Tige rs an d Long E a t on In v a d er s , among other te ams . While his c urricu lum appears to be in a st at e of flux , Ermo len k o 's in s t ruc tio n see ms t o al ways s tre ss one fund ame nt a l: S tu dents a re required to ha ve fun . "I'm confident in th e fact tha t I can take somebody with little or no experien ce ", said Ermolenko . "It m a y look a little free-form , but I definite ly have a routin e and techn iqu e s tha t a re really starting to take off a nd show results . I have already had 12 n e w speedway ride rs come throu gh [m y sc hoo l] in the la st month a nd a half. T h e y are a lr e ad y ra cin g at Costa Mesa . A lot has happened sin c e we have started this school. We are alrea dy re c ru it in g other t op r ide rs such as Ga ry Hicks and Cha rlie Vene gas to become guest instructors. We just want our students to co m e her e and g et it, and ho pefully leave with smiles o n the ir faces ." n e vv s Putting Dallenbach 's self-admitted marginal IQ aside , he seeme d t o adapt q u ickly to a s peedway b ik e , under the supervision and ins tr uc t ion of E r m ol e nk o . After a few ex t ra s hoves to g et s ta rte d , he seem ed a litt le t im id at firs t, but with encou ragement, he soon a dapte d quite well , and by day 's end he was putti ng up fa ste r laps than p robably anyone e ls e wh o a tt e nd e d (e xcl u d in g Cycl e N ews ' own Sc ott Ro u s sea u: but in clud ing one mu lt i-t im e Nati ona l Motocross and Supercross Champion whom you 'll read about later). Some attributed Da llenbach 's success on a speedway bike t o two th ings: 1) He has a good amount of dirt track dr iving exp e rie nc e , and 2) he has just enough motorcycle experience to ride one , bu t not enough experience to have pic ked up any bad habits that would need breaking . Peterson seemed to be the push behind the event, the purpose of the e ve n t be in g twofold : to help st art a n d promote the ne w Du k ie Ermolenk o Sp e edw a y Ac dae my , an d to h elp fan the fl am e s o f t he sad ly sm old er ing s p or t o f speedwa y ra ci ng . " I c am e o ut h e re la st October a n d m et Ke n [Ma el y], " sa id Pe t e r son . " I ha d always wan ted to look in to t h is [speedwa y s c ho o l] furth er and hav e a lw a y s been a fa n of speedway. I got to meet Duk e [Ermo lenko], and I bought a b ik e while I was out here a nd so on, and we got a ll pu m ped up about doi ng this when we [NASC AR] came ba c k to Fonta na . So this is how th is kin d of a ll got sta rted . Duke and I a nd Ken got t alking over th e winter, ba c k a nd forth. This is Du k e ' s dream , to ge t t h is [s peedway school] develo ped, a nd I kept e ncouraging him , sa ying , 'We ll, we 'll help you. We 'll get started with Strapping on a steel shoe for th e first time was su rp rise guest Jeff Emig. Emlg initia ll y had trouble ada pting to speedway but, with Ermolenko's help, he w a s riding much better by th e e nd of the day. th is thin g ,' a nd this is wh ere it 's all going. " A surpise s tudent m a te riali zed in t h e form of TheEdg eSp orts .com 's Jeff Emig . (T h is e ve n t took pla ce before the unfortunate injuri es he suffered wh ile pr acticing at Glen Helen.) Emig was e n t h u s ia s t ic about h is c ha nce to show those four-whee l rac ers ho w to rid e , and if t h is were a motocross track , he definitely would h ave , but it seemed that h is