Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW Chris Can ~ , ausly wanted to help Scott; they have the pack after a mediocre start and, along with Ricky Graham, began to close in fast on Carr. Atherton spun out in his race towards the front, while Graham went on to catch and pass Carr. ' With that, the stage was set and the championship was Carr's. Parker sped across the finish line with a healthy lead over Graham, while Carr finished third and sighed a breath of relief. "I was so focused throughout the last lap," said Carr, who enjoyed a twopoint cushion after the scores were tallied. "The track had reached out and bitten a few riders that night, and I wanted "I think Kevin, on the other hand, has lost sight of the big picture. Like at the Sacramento Mile, for instance. Kevin should have very well been the winner, not Scotty. From looking at the tapes, it should have been him that drafted past me at the finish, not Parker. Instead, he blew the groove to allow Scott past. He should have concentrated more on winning himsell than getting between Scott and I." Nevertheless, Carr is the champion. And he is happy. to make sure that it didn't get me on the last lap. It took about hall of the cool off lap for me to realize that I was the champion. But when I rounded turn four and saw Kenny in his bright orange Harley shirt with his arms in the air, I knew that we had finally done it." After the race, Graham admitted that he was trying to help Parker by passing Carr, while Atherton was, needless to say, disappoi,nted with his spin-out. Had Atherton stayed upright, he very well could have caught Carr and played the spoiler. "There was a lot of favoritism there, but it was never expressed openly until it was all over," said Carr. "Ricky obvi- "It hasn't really sunk in yet," said Carr a few weeks after the season ended. "It's only been a little while, and I still haven't ridden with the number one plate on my bike. I don't even have a bike with a number one on it yet!" Throughout the years, Carr has insisted that the number one plate was his motivation, not the $100,000 share of the point fund awarded to the champion by the RJ. Reynolds Tobacco Co. "It has never been the money," said Carr. "The Camel money is just like a bonus. What I have really been after is the plate." Oddly enough, when this reporter visited Carr, the symbolic number one ~nfriendsfurawngtime . . By Donn Maeda hris Carr is living proof that good things happen to those who wait. For eight years, the 25-year-old Californian trudged down a long and sometimes rocky road as he tried to ~eal ize his childhood dream of-becoming the Grand National Champion. They say that finishing second makes you try harder. Nobody tried harder than Chris Carr. In 1992, that dream became a reality. Three times Carr finished the Camel Pro Series second in the point standings and three times he shrugged his shoulders and vowed to try harder. The first time wasn't so bad. Carr finished the 1989 season some 40 points behind his teammate and biggest rival, Scott Parker. A respectable feat, especially when you look at the improvement he made over his previous year's fourth-place ranking. The next year was a little harder to swallow. In '90, Carr led the series points chase throughout most of the season, but saw his point lead dwindle away with a cracked oil tank at the Springfield Mile. Again Carr was second to Parker, this time by 20 points - the same amount of points he had lost sitting on the Springfield sidelines. The third time was the heartbreaker. Carr led the 1991 points chase from the second round on, but slowly but surely saw his points lead shrink as the season wore on. In the end, Carr lost the championship to Parker in an unprecedented tie breaker. Never before in the history of Grand National Championship competition had a series ended in a tie. Carr had proved to be the more consistent of the two, but the flashier Parker was crowned champ by virtue of more season wins. Carr was gracious in defeat, and again swallowed his pride and pledged to try harder. "The tie was the hardest to take," admitted Carr. "1 was really bummed out, but I couldn't give up on a dream that I'd had since I was six." Carr held his head high, and in public, swore that he was not discouraged by his most recent, and narrowest defeat. "I've seen a lot of riders using the media to get ':Inder the skin of other riders," explained Carr. "1 may have been hiding my feelings. Yeah, I was depressed, but I wasn't about to admit it and give the others something to feed on. I had to maintain my goal and let them know that I was intent on meeting it. "A lot of people thought that I might become too discouraged and give up, but that never entered my mind. To give C 12 , up would be cheating myself out of a life-long goal." This year, Carr met that goal at the October 10 seasonending Pomona Half Mile, in what he now describes as the "longest race of his life." Entering the race, Carr held a slim nine-point advantage over Parker, and could afford to finish no worse than third if Parker won. The air in the 'pits was thick with tension, especially in the Harley-Davidson camp. Though they pitted together, the team of Parker, Carr and Kevin Atherton seemed to be split. "In the final two races, Scotty and'I hardly talked at all," said Carr. "We usually socialize quite a bit but we kept our distance from each other near the end of the season." At Pomona, Parker maintained his usual cheerful disposition, joking and sharing race strategies with his teammate and Michigan neighbor Atherton. Carr, on the other hand, seemed to keep to himself more than usual and could frequently be found staring off into the distance in concentration. It's no secret that Parker and Atherton are close, and to Carr it's all a part of the game. "I've always felt like the third wheel on the Harley team," admitted Carr. "Before there was Kevin and Scott, it was Jay Springsteen and Scott. I've always been the odd man out. Obviously, I'm not from Michigan like they are, I'm from California. My bikes aren't built in Milwaukee, they're built in Texas at Kenny Tolbert's house." Tension and pressures aside, Carr and Parker were all business once the green light flashed. Parker assumed the lead early on while Carr latched onto his tail in second. Atherton blazed through

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