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/141046
Who -Was the Most Consistent Road Racer on the AMA Still Had Not Been Sig~ed for"a Fador, Ride? M .... '" .... N .c '" u, w Z w oJ U >U 'I DON'T SEE AN Y R EASON WHY I SHOULD GET KIL LED RACING TfiAN GET K IL LED ANYWH ERE ELSE." The knee-out style has become identi fi '!d with Paul Sma rt because of his radical use of it. ..... • • ~ \ --- fJJ "" V E NEVER EVER BEEN PAID A LOT OF MONEY TO GO RACING, " In ta lk ing of his co mpe titio n, Paul .char acteri zed J arno Saar in en as " t he faste st thing o n tw o wh eels last yea r, witho ut a doubt," and ex pec ts Saa rinen to con te st Agostini if he gets com petitive ma ch inery. But he qu esti on s if Jarno has fallen down and reall y hurt himself ye t . As he puts it, pa in " is th e b ig yardstick. Falling o ff a nd not being able to get up. It's ho rr ible, isn 't it ? It really takes a littl e edge off you ." But he figures J arno is th e ex ception, th e " o ne in a thousand ...He ride s ten -tenth s, he has supre me feelin g a nd co ntro l, and uses th e right lin e and every bit of th e road ." Paul is also quite high o n Kenn y " Rob ert s and Ga ry Fish er as po ssible fut ur e greats, and. a lo ng with Kcl Car rut hers, he feels th at the Yamaha T eam will pro vid e th e greatest co m petit io n this year, especia lly o n th e tigh te r circu its, Th o ugh Paul an d h is lovely wife. Maggie (sister o f British race sta r Barr y Sh eene) have recentl y purchased a ho use in Engla nd (" it win be chea per " ), Paul wo uldn 't mind making the U.S. his perm a nent ho me. He is q uite imp ressed with th e peo ple here a nd has rea dil y mad e a num be r o f good frien d s, bo th in and o ut o f racing. But this fort hc oming season , a nd what is 'dea lt ' to Paul S ma rt, win pla y a l) im porta nt part in the decisio n of where he is to mak e h is hom e. ~ I>. ~ England were fantas tic . Th e bik es they had o ver here were 20 HP less than they had over in Engla nd ." He also wo uld have liked to rid e for Du cat i, as th e facto ry peopl e treated him lik e a "king," b ut a cha nge in Du cati man agem ent an d a d iffer ent at t itude towards racing , pr e-empted th at . Introsp ectively, Paul 's p erson al phil osoph y is somewhat fatalist ic. He has had so me close fr iends killed in competition, but he has also lost a number of friend s to non -competitive ac cid ents, on e just recentl y. "On th e morbid side of it I feel tha t is predestined and I don't see a ny reason why I should get killed racing t han get killed anywhere else." He co nsiders himself q uite safety minded an d has a great bel ief in his skill and sense of judgment. Rem emberin g th e death of Bill Ivy, a close frien d wh o Paul grew u p with, he re flected: " It is d iffi cult , when you know he was going pr etty goo d , to acce pt that he is no t here anymore." But o n the wh ole, Paul admitted ly doesn't think in this vein very often. T hough Paul really enjoyed "tramping around the Contin ent" on th e World Championship Circuit, it was re ally to o mu ch wo rk d riving a thousand miles and co m plet el y rebuild ing two machines between meet in gs to justi fy tN: money involved. Above all else. he enj oy s th e English Internat ion al Meet ings th e mo st . "T hey draw a terrific amount or spectators ana th ey are all su pe r-enth usias tic" and , to him, th e ra ces have a certain at mos phe re a nd give him a " terrific boost ...T o go h ere to Ontario a nd have wh at loo ks like a do zen people in th e stands makes yo u feel a little insignifi cant." He also feels that the Americans and th e J apanese, for the mo st part , don 't put enough emp hasis on t he handling of th eir racers. He characterized their a tt it u de " as b eing primarily co nc erne d with hor sep owe r and grea t top spe ed s, but not worrying too muc h ab out the corners. He furt he r attibuted this to the fac t th at " road racin g is relatively in its in fanc y over her e" in co mpa riso n to England and th e Continent. Pau l would also lik e to " ha ve a go a t au to mo bile racing... l'd like t o try a good ca r, Formula Three or T wo , prob abl y For m ula Two. I don ' t wan t to sta rt at th e b otto m t hough." He went o n to add th at he fel t Bill Ivy wo uld have been grea t in Fo rm ula ca rs, had he no t been kille d in a mo to rc ycle Grand Prix . And, of course, Mike Hailwood and ot he rs have mad e th e transiti on to Form ula One. M ~- Fo r 1973, Smart w ill ride for S uzuki and make much less than he deserves. He wa :: sapprOached by Honda to ride for thern a t D aytona bu t wanted to ride all seas so turne d them do wn. Hp. re he awaits the st a r t of an AFM race at Ontario . on