Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

th e b attle wasn't over. T he next mornin g was th e class ic at Madison Square Gard en and th e competition wo uld be eve n tougher with Ken Roberts and Jim Odom bringin g in th e heavy Yamah a artillery. "We w ere la te the n ext m o rn ing but go t signed u p okay. After time trials started I we nt up to find out my time an d while leafing t hrough the slips I noticed th at every body was in the 9's and 10's. When I got to mine and it said 8:83, I couldn't bel ieve it. I kept going through and fou nd anothe r 8:83 and the number '80y'. It was reall y so mething. Me and Kenny Ro berts tied for fast time. " We got to talking about it and he said tha t the firs t guy ou t would probab ly be the po le sitter or maybe even a coin tos s w ould set tle it. I was really pump ed . We had gone o ver the pay-off on the entry shee t an d th e money just for th e d ash was like 58 00 and I r eall y wan ted that. " Ste ve wa s to wa nder arou nd in a daze for a short time while: tim e trials w ere com ple te d . T h en th e b lo w ca me . HAll those newsmen and stuff. It was too much!" the professional and brought him some prominence with a fast record heat and three-lap trophy time, all in one night. The heat record time wasn't to last but a week, while the trophy time is still on the record book. A few dollars had been made and the talk of the Yamaha Silver Cup and other East Coast indoors was rising. At the Cow Palace races before the Eastern tour Steve had some difficulties after winning his heat race that put him on the floor and out of the main. He was nearly run over by Gennai and the picture of the incident made an issue of Cycle News. The fans were behind Steve and both he and his dad though t that if they could do good at the Cow Palace, they might go back East, at least for the first three. "I figured that if I could do good against the name guys at the Cow Palace, 1 might stand a ch ance back East. We had only planned to go to the Virginia races but we really didn't have any set plans." J odo o r short track racing is won and lost at the start line. The fir st even t on the five-r ace se ries w as at Ro anoke. "I d idn't lik e th e t rack righ t off. It was a h ock ey rink. Bob Bailey and Mike Kidd wer e th ere an d I wasn't su re of myself. They started moving hay bales around and made a fairl y good track o u t o f it. I won th e qualifying he at and was o n th e p ole for the d ash with Pat McCaul, Greg Hodges and Dave Lewis. We all t ook a lap and com ing b ack to th e lin e, I took it o u t of gear and forgot to put it b ack in . When the fla g dropped, I hit 10 ,000 RPM's and no go. I really threw my hand up fast and some pe ople though I had it up before the flag went. But I blew it." The ways of the professional are learned fast, especially when you learn a t the line. Indoor short track racing is won and lost at the start line. "I got caught cheating on the line .in the Main at Hampton and started from the third row. The guy I couldn't get by was Louie Moniz and he was on the pole for the Main. I couldn't get by him In the h eat and so I tr ied a quick start in the Main and got caught." Steve's first two races produced a second and a third, so with some enth usiasm , th e third round was to be run in Charleston, West V irginia: "Everything was workin g good there except th at ever ybody went to the ba ck row. I was sitt ing on the pol e fo r th e semi figuring on a good finish. Me and R ex Beauchamp sitting there an d we b oth go t put b ac k. McC aul was the o nly one left on the fro nt row. "I got a fifth but we really go t in a hassle about the finish. McCaul had it won with everybody else chasing him. At the checkered, AI Kenyon, Rick Hocking and Robert E. Lee all crashed going for the flag and I went wide and got b y for the first to the checkered. I re ally thought I should have had a second. We went and watched the video tape of the finish and all that but it turned out th at the race was run 21 laps and so the positions were taken from the previous." So, with a seco nd, th ird and fifth under his belt the team of Hernandez and Hernandez went to New York City for a few days rest with members of the Mike O'Brien clan. ("W e rode th e subway , played pool and slept.") Clarence was elated that the kids co uld now drink legall y. With no work to do on the motors, the rest was pl easant. Phil adelphia's Sp ectrum is a rather nice pl ace to go to but it h as its limitations. ' 'T he pit area was rotten and wh en practice st arted the gu ys w ere cu tting b ack in to line. I didn't have mu ch practic e: We were to lin e up as we sign ed in but t here was so me th ing wr ong. We were th ere ea rly but o nly McC aul go t a pole. Nixon got o ne , th ough." Evidently the o rganizati o n was favo ring th e East Coast gu ys, bu t that seems to be the same way when th e Eas t Coast comes West. A no t he r inequity o f th e sport th at we all must live with. " I won th e h eat and th e se mi, had fast heat t ime and wo n th e dash . In the Main th ey put Chuck Palmgren on th e pole altho ugh I though t th at I h ad th e fast semi. He had wo n th e o the r semi but I had th e fas ter time . I was going to say so m"Jh ing but thought better o f it. Palmgren 's neat and I • didn't want to get in any trouble. "Then they brough t out Markel fo r the Main an d I kn ew th ey were screwed up. He h ad been in my semi and go t a fourth. The fourth man in the fast semi was to go to the Main and there he was. "Had a wreck on the first start and Mike Kidd beat us all on the n ext start. I got crashed b ad and boy, I thought I was out of it. The chai n was all screwed up and my dad was in a snit . Palmgren came to the rescue and really helped. We go t it running finally and I won it." The trials and tribulations are paid off in funny wa ys a nd friends are important to make and keep. "When we go t to New York a nd down to the bar th at nigh t all the gu ys sh owed up , even N ixo n, an d w e started talking and I was j ust o ne of th e gu ys." A racer is a ra cer is a racer. S teve Hern andez is now a rac er and even th o ugh a lowly 18 ' y ear-old No vice, h e h ad been accepted b y the great rac ers . This c ould be enough to swe ll a ny yo ung racer's head. But "I went b ack to find o ut abo ut th e time and the sh eet th at the gir l had was go ne . I said 'What do you me an it's gone?' an d sh e said it migh t h ave go tten stolen and now my time was an 8:87. Third fast est but not the fas test. I was panicked but th ere was n' t any th ing I could do abo ut it." Again, th e inequ it ies of racing a re reveal ed to the yo ung racer. Cases like this ar e not un common and with the irascible Charlie Wats on in ch arge, nothing is impossible. After the break for trials, the troops went to rest and eat and prepare themselves for the night's activities. Trying to get rid of the butterflies is difficult, especially when the outcome of the evening concerns the distribution of thousands of dollars. "I won the heat and that was all right. Because the money didn't st art until the semi's, I knew that I had to get it done in that race for the best chance in the Main. I won the semi okay and turned the fast time. Then came the Trophy Dash and I was really pumped. On the jump I got Gennai and Roberts but Kenny gave me a tap and he went over. It was a pretty good crash I guess and it was restarted. I got another good jump on that one a nd on the second go-round I was seeing dollar signs. I couldn 't even talk when I got to the winner's circle. My dad was damn n ear doing car t wh eels and J was tongue-tied and nervous. "They brought out Joe Frazier to give the trophy and bo y, was he big.' He said he wouldn 't ever race like us gu y s d o but th at's okay. I wouldn't get in a rin g li ke he does." Hernandez now won all th e trophies that were available to w in with o n ly o n e more to go . The Yamaha Silver Cup. "W e go t a littl e chance to rest b efo re the Mai n but t he guys kept tell ing me ab o ut th e lap money a nd all th at and I was nerv ous. I got to the line an d settled down . T he st arter was go od an d I got the jump and after the firs t few laps I st arted counti ng. Just thinking abou t a ll th at mon ey was really so me th ing . I won it and it was reall y something. All those newsm en and ca meras and stuff. It was to o much." For th e five-race series, Steve Hernandez had made the Main in all five, had finished in the top in all, and had won a ll five trophies that were available. A nd $7000. ~ack on the West Coast the next Saturday night while the big boys were b attling in the Astrodome, Steve was having a rather large family gathering in apark near his Sunnyvale home where a myriad of people showed up to hail the conquering hero. Steve Hernandez was Somebody to these people. T h e next week brought ba ck the Cow Palace racing program and just to prove that it was no fluke, Steve cleaned house. He won every th ing there was to win and the next we ek st ill managed to get a second behind Dave Hansen, o n e o f his first idols. The rest of the raci ng y ear will be spent racing the Bob Swanson Oss a at places like Ascot and Fr emont. A nd when t he 4Q·inchers come out fo r Jun ior racing, Steve will be read y. :; " ~ w Z W ...J o >o

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