Rainey Rides His 500 Again
W
ayne Rainey basked in a
hero's welcome from a
capacity crowd at the Goodwood
Festival of Speed in the UK,
June 25-26. More important
than the mass adulation was
the pleasure of winding on the
throttle and hoisting the front
wheel of the Marlboro Yamaha
YZR500 that took him to his third
and final World Championship in
1992.
The Californian was fighting for
a fourth consecutive crown when
he had a career-ending crash
at Misano in 1993. Sustaining a
fractured spine, he has been in a
wheelchair ever since.
"I've waited 30 years for this,"
he beamed after the first of five
runs up the English festival's
1.16-mile hillclimb (two each on
Friday and Saturday and one on
Sunday).
Rainey, dressed in his classic
Marlboro leathers, was escorted
by grand prix racing royalty
each time. Kenny Roberts Sr.
and contemporary rivals Mick
Doohan and Kevin Schwantz
escorted him up the hill, while a
packed trackside crowd ap-
plauded wildly. Roberts rode
his own Proton KR3 and later
a factory Yamaha, Doohan and
Schwantz their traditional Honda
NSR and Suzuki RGV machin-
ery.
"I'm not an emotional guy,
but that was very special," said
triple-champion Roberts, who
originally brought Wayne from
U.S. racing to the grand prix
series. He added, "I think I could
have beat him if there'd been
another lap."
Riding a motorcycle is daunt-
ingly difficult for a paraplegic.
Rainey had to be lifted onto the
bike, his feet attached to the
pegs with bicycle clips, and his
IN
THE
WIND
P36
