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/1383227
P128 difference from first to second," he said. In 1989, Ingram had his best season. He raced alongside teammate Steve Morehead on a team formed by Skip Eaken and Mike Sponseller and finished third in the Grand National stand- ings behind the factory Harley- Davidsons of Scott Parker and Chris Carr. Ingram scored six top-five finishes, including podi- ums on his home Indy Mile and the Springfield Mile. Racing for a Honda team wasn't always the easiest thing. One time in particular at Sturgis, South Dakota, Ingram was the lone Honda in a field of Harleys. Ingram won the race, and his celebration lap was met with a loud chorus of boos. In 1990, Ingram finally got to savor a National victory when he held off Carr to win the Short Track National at Daytona. "I'd been an expert for eight years and to finally get to enjoy that National win was a great feeling," Ingram remembers. Ingram came back and be- came the first two-time winner at the Daytona Short Track by winning again in 1993. What was the key to Ingram's short-track success? "I think it was my ice-racing experience," he says. "I was five-time National Ice Racing Champion, and it gave me a lot of practice on my starts." Making money on the circuit was tough, but Ingram was scratching out a decent living. He earned a $20,000 bonus for finishing third in 1989. The hard- riding, hard-partying lifestyle that characterized so many of the riders in the Grand Nationals was something Ingram tried to keep a handle on. He was one of the guys who took his training seriously, and, while he wasn't immune to having a good time now and then, for the most part Ingram was serious about being in shape to race. Ingram's main buddies in his racing days were Will Da- vis, Rodney Farris and Davey Camlin. Sadly, all three lost their lives on the race track. Ingram became very close to Mike and Lexie Morr, who were the own- ers of the team he raced for in his last couple of seasons. Lexie passed away earlier this year [2010] and Danny spent time with Mike to help him get over the loss. Ingram says he has no memo- ry of the Memorial Day Weekend Springfield crash that ended his career. It happened during a semi when three riders came out of turn two, side by side. The in- side rider, a rookie, slipped and hit Rodney Farris sending Farris into Ingram, who was on the out- side. Ingram hit the unprotected concrete barrier on the outside wall at more than 90 mph. He suffered serious brain injury and a broken neck. He was uncon- scious for nine days. Today Ingram shows no outward signs from that crash 17 years ago. He now works in the construction trade, has a nice house and property in Clermont, and is happily married to his own Lexie. He's still fit as a fiddle and recently did some car racing— and even hopped on an ex-Jake Johnson Suzuki at a local flat track and smoked everyone there in a practice session. "It was like I'd never got off the bike," Ingram said with a smile. The ride was strictly for fun. Today, he and his brother ride their Harleys to an occasional race, and he and his dad remain close and enjoy restoring old bikes in their spare time. The Ingrams are local racing legends around Indianapolis. "I look back on my career and am proud of what I accom- plished," Ingram said. "I had help from a lot of great people— as bad as my Springfield crash was, I was very lucky to come away from the sport in good shape." CN This Archives edition is reprinted from, June 23, 2010. CN has hun- dreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. So, to pre- vent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Ar- chives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor CN III ARCHIVES Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives