T
hree feet. After 33 Nation-
als that covered a total of
1143 miles, the 1984 AMA Grand
National Championship came
down to just three feet. That's
how far Bubba Shobert was be-
hind Ted Boody at the line at the
Springfield Mile in the final Grand
National of the year. Had Shob-
ert found 36 additional inches
in the Springfield season finale,
he would have completed the
most dramatic comeback in AMA
Grand National history. But there
was no denying—that one yard
was there. There was also no
denying Shobert's factory Honda
stablemate Ricky Graham. It
was Graham's dogged determi-
nation and flat-out grit on that
gloomy and cold late-October
afternoon that earned him the
title of National champ in 1984,
in what many consider the most
epic finale for the Grand National
Championship in series history.
The AMA Grand National land-
scape was very different in 1984.
It was one of the last years for
the all-inclusive Grand Nationals
where points from both road-race
and dirt-track Nationals counted
toward the championship. As a
result, a busy slate of 33 races
were on the calendar. The Sacra-
mento Mile was to have been the
CN
III ARCHIVES
P114
The Clincher: RICKY GRAHAM'S
1984 GNC CHAMPIONSHIP
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
Ricky Graham (3), Ted Boddy
(12) and Bubba Shobert
(67) fight it out for the 1984
GNC Championship at the
Springfield Mile in 1984.
