Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By Tom Tucker Photo by Ga ry Van Voorhis " The thum p ing beat- of " Born to be Wild " erupts fro m th e poolroom juke box and Jay Springsteen , by record th e greatest motorcycle racer in America, stops his pool cu e in mid-stroke. ' " N ow that," he says, pa usin g for effect, "is my kind of m usic." Guitars grind and St eppen wolf growls th e lyrics of th e de cade-old motorcycle riders ' anth em : " Get your motor running; head out on the highway. " L ook ing for adven ture; or whatever com es our way . " Born to be w ild . . . "I like smoke and lightning; heavy metal thunder. " R acing with the w ind; and the feel ing tha t I'm u n der. " Born to be wild . . ." The song epitomizes Sprin gste en . Sp rin gsteen epitomizes the song. Springs tee n and hi s Ha r ley Da vidson are the " boss" of Wi nston Pro Series racing. At 25, th e ma n from Lapeer , Michigan, ha s won :H AMA Grand Na tional Cha mpionship races, more than an y ot he r man who ever raced on the circu it. Three tim es Springsteen has won th e Winsto n Pro Series Champion sh ip (1976, 1977, 1978), a series of races on a ll typ es of surfaces with all kinds of machines which, since 1954, has come to symbolize the toughest test of a motorcycle racer. He has won races on every kind of track, against every top ri der of his time, under all kinds of conditions. Every victory has come on a HarleyDavidson . Bu t Springsteen remains, to even h is mos t loyal fan s, an eni gma. He is a troubled person, a p riva te person, struggling with an u n known illness and h is ow n mysterio us p ersonali ty. At the he igh t of h is career, in 1979, going for a fou rt h Winston P ro Se r i es/ G rand N a t i o n a l Cha m pionship, Springsteen was stricken with a myster ious stomach ailment. Doctors still don't kn ow what causes ' his stomach to cra mp and erupt in nauseau an d pain tha t at times seems to " ...tear me in half." Neither does J a y kn ow the depth of his health problem , which has co ntinued for three years now. " Maybe I let thi n gs build up a nd don 't get it o u t," he said recently while taking ti me from his schedu le to shoot poo l a n d go street ridin g near his Michigan home. " I do n' t know what it is -- it's been my sto mac h, bu t I thi nk it's been with my head more than anything else now. I think it 's affected my career. I co u ld have been the Number One Winston rider four years in a row, but last year it got worse and worse. Sometimes, I think 1just make myself sick. 1 go to bed and dream about it and wonder, 'Well, am 1 going to wake up sick? ' " When he wakes up well, Springsteen is virtually unbeatable. "Sometimes I'll wake up and just feel it. Ain't nobody going to stop me. This is my da y. I've gone to the track and told m y mechanic (Bill Werner), 'J ust put her out there. It 's all mine.' And I've won 'em that way more than not. It 's funny ... 1 just know." - When he 's away from racing, he 's a man's man; a hunter, fisherman and at one with th e great outdoors. . "I got my little house," he says "and 1 hunt and fish and we race motorcycles on th e ice in winter. I'm not a hermit, I just like to get away from it all and heal up." In the winter he'll wake up on cold mornings feeling the aches, bumps and bruises from his violent sport. They are the battle scars he carries from 15 years of racing everything on two wheels -- from minibikes to his . full -race XR750 Harley. " I' m not sa yi ng I'm brave or nothing, but you hear every little sou n d in those woods when it's getting dark an d you're carrying a killed deer home on your shoulder," he says. " T he bea rs know what you got." H e killed a 'bear once. He was carrying deer meat home an d th e bear wanted a meal. " It ta kes a lot to ou t- smart a bear," he says, "they can be tougher to ' beat than motorcycle riders." How is it that one individual can be so much harder to beat, so much beuerthan his Winston Pro rivals? "I run it in the corner a lot harder than anyone .else," is his answer. " I ride it like a turtle -. you don 't go fast , unless you stick your neck out. " My line is around the outside on the corners," he says. "I've always .been an outside rider. Most of the passing is done on the straightaways or else getting into the corners low. Most of them (other riders) like to, stay on the groove. It 's like followthe-leader. But you can make more time by going out on the cushion, although 1 guess there are a lot of riders who don 't feel safe out there. People say , 'You can't get away with that.' I say, 'I have.' He 's gotten away with it well enough to become the sport's alltime winningest rider. Now back in th e smokey bar, - Springsteen has cracked the last billiard ball into the pocket and collected his winnings from the other players, a few crumpled $1 bills. "Racing is like shooting pool," he says , draining the boule of beer he 's been drinking and wiping the back of his hand across .his mouth. "You get everything all lined up and then just pick 'em off." Appropriately, th e juke box strikes up Steppenwolf's " Born to beWild" again , and Jay hums along... " R acing with the win d, and th e fee ling that I'm under.: " Born to be wild..." • 15

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