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/142442
By Gary Van Voorhis Terry Poo vey , " Poo h" to his friends and fans , is off to hi s best start ever in the W inston Pro Series . Going in to the Louisiana round, T exas born and bred Poo ve y tuas.joutth in the point standings, jus t ten points out of second place. The early part of th e 1982 season has been a good one for Poo vey. H e k ick ed off the season with a so lid th ird place f in ish in the open ing Ho usto n Short Tra ck Na tional, an eve nt he would have loved to have w on . " 1 keep coming close at Houston ," said Poovey, " but it alwa ys seems to be just a little ou t of m y gras p. I'd love to w in a N ational in Texas. " TT racing, not Poo vey's most favorite event on the A M A Gran d N ati onal Championship cir cu it , m ight be the only ch ink in his armor. H e placed 12th in th e Houston event, but did n't make the Nat ional at Ascot . Since then , Poo vey has been turning in strong rides, com bining a fourth in the Sacramento M ile with an eighth in the San Jose M ile. H is hig hest p lacing of th e young season cam e at Ascot on the half m ile where he finish ed secon d, and he backed that up with a fourt h at the Springfie ld Mile. Poo vey was regarded as a short track specialist w hen he moved in to the Expert ranks in 1975 , hav ing been bro ught up on the rough and tu mble T exas short track circuit. A p p rop riately, Poo vey's fi rst N ational win was on a short track Ta lladega, Alabama, in 1976. It took over tw o more seasons before Poo vey wo n anot her National. H e was tryinghard, but h is equ ip m en t di dn 't alwa ys match his talen t and drive. In 1979 he co llected ha lf m il e wins at Co lumb us an d th e Meado w Lan ds (Pittsbu rgh) Nat ionals. 1980 saw Poovey win the n ig htt im e half of the In dianap olis Mile doubleheader. W it h on e I ndy win under his belt, Poovey was itching for more and got his chance last year, this time in the daytime portion of the In dy program. It was h is fi fth career Na tion al victory and was doubly sweet since Poovey and his wife Cath y had moved into their first house less than a week before . Th e h ouse is in a residential area of Euless, T exas, and is close enough to riding areas so th at T erry can zip out of his garage /workshop and be out in the wide open spaces within a few minutes. T erry credits his brother Teddy for a lot of his success. Teddy retired from racing after he was injured and has since devoted his time to seeing that Terry m akes the most of his opportunities. Poovey will celebrate his 24th birthday on September 16, somewhere on the road betw een the Syracuse and San Jose Nationals. By that time he hopes to be solidly p laced in the to p five in the st andings. What m akes Poovey ru n? It is the determination to prove that he is one of the best and th e hope tha t somewhere down the line is a major sponsorship or factory con tract with his name on it as a payoff for years of paying his dues. 24 How do you account for your strongest start in your seven seasons on the Winston Pro Series circuit? I've been having some good luck a nd my machinery is strong. I haven't broken down yet. Things have been going really well. I've got some new sponsors in Wiseco, Castrol, Shoei and Conley Harley-Davidson in Dal- las, Texas . T his is the first year where . I' ve rea lly had any money to p u t toget her a stro ng program and that really helps a lot. I'm still running basically one bike for both th e miles and half mi les. If I do bre ak, I've worked out an arrangement with Tex Peel to use one of , his bikes. We're trying to do the most with what we've got. My brother, Teddy, builds the motors for me while I do the chassis work. The arrangement seems to be working out pretty good. What have been the highlights of your seven racing seasons? I would have to sa y win n ing the Ind ianapolis Mile in 1980 an d th en winning again at Indy last year would have to be wha t I remember m ost about racing. I'd a lways wanted to wi n a mil e Na tio n a l a nd, to m e, Indy is the' m ile. My firs t National wi n in th e 1976 T alladega (Ala ba ma) Short Track National a lso stands out in my mind. It seem s th at once you wi n tha t first National th en all your ra cing becomes easie r because yo u gai n co nfiden ce. It 's lik e break ing th ro ugh a barrier. ' Last year' was a really good seaso n for me. I finally broke into the top ten in th e final p o int standings and finished sixth. Is the co m petit ion getting to ugher each yea r? . I think so. Ba sica ll y, you 're racing the same guys most of the time, although everyo ne seems to get stronger the more years they race. Those who don't get stronger usually don't end up racing too long. There are also a lot of up and coming riders who show plenty of potential like Bubba Shobert and others. H o w do yo u feel about Honda's invol vem en t in the sp ort? I would like to see them get everything working as well as a strong showing from the Yamaha camp. The mo re inv o lve ment by different brands, the more chance of m ore openings for fac tory riders and th at would he lp a lot. H o wever , I don ' t want to see Honda domina te every th ing j u st because th ey ca n spend a lo t of money. If we can keep th ings eq ua l th en it will generate a lot of interest among the fan s and should make the sport grow. Did the Winston Pro Series point fund money you collected last year help o u t? Yes, definitely. I really appreciate their involvement in the sport. I truly believe if Winston wasn 't backing AMA Grand National ' Cha m p io n ship racing that riders like m yself on strict, tight budgets wouldn 't be able to afford to race . The money you make at th e races is pu t righ t back into th e m achinery and expenses. The Winston m oney at the end of the year makes the winter seem a lot n icer and eas ier to take. What do you do during the off season? I ride a moto rcycle all winter to stay in shape. I rea lly don ' t take any ti m e off during the off seaso n. I don 't take a vacation, I j ust work o n my bikes a nd ride a nd work a nd ride so me m ore. I feel riding a ll winter makes a big difference. Before I starte d ridi ng, it would take 'me until about midseason to really get in to the groove of racing. As an example, this year I was ready to roll at Houston and I haven't let up since. W h o do you see as being the strongest riders th is seaso n? I'd have to say Ricky Graham: He's on a hot streak and if he doesn't have an y problems he could be hard to catch. Jay (Sp ringsteen ) is always a threat and seems to have come to grips with his sickness. T here's also R a nd y (Goss) and Gary (Scott) wh o are a lways strong. Have yo u set any goals for yo urself this yea r? I'd li ke to be Grand Natio nal Cham p ion. R eal ist ica ll y, I' d settle for winn ing a few Nationa ls -- especially Indy. I feel like I have a reall y strong program a nd if I ca n make it through the season without the mechanical problems which have nagged me i n the past then I hope to finish right up there. I believe I can and I think this will be my best season ever. •