Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AReHTvES The The Consummate Prequel You're iust Soing to blow the rear tire off that thinS with- in 15 laps, and this is a 32Jap race. I want you guys to lis- ten to me, and we'll do some things to make Randy win."' Naturally, Quarterley says, his plan met with immedi- ate resistance, "Martin was sweet talking me, saying'Well, we've done this and we've done that,"' Quarterley recalls. "l said, 'Martin, listen to me, You guys ain't winnin'shit, and you're going to f-king blow the rear tire off that thing! Now listen to me, shut the f-k up and do it!' Now as you can probably tell by talking to me, I'm a new New Englander, and I don't sweet-talk anybody into doing anything. I make them do it, "They hemmed and hawed, and finally Ray Plumb says to me, 'You're right, Dale. I don't know whatwe're going to do, but we're not winning with what we're doing, but I don't know what to do about it, and I can't get Randy to do anythinB else."' The scheme that Quarterley claims to have hatched might as well have been the basis for the scene in the Tom Cruise NASCAR llick Doys ofThunder wherein Cole Trickle and mechanic Harry Hogg gain each other's trust and come to a mutual understanding of how their racing car should be run, during a private test session. "l told those guys, 'Okay, let's do this: You guys are Eoing to practice on the Thursday open-track day,"' Quarterley says, "You practice with Randy for the first two sessions and compare yoursefues to the other guys. Then, during the break, we're going to switch, and his next two sessions will be mine [to tune for Renfrow]. You get tvvo sessions, and I 8et two sessions, and then the next day you can do whatever you want after that, and l'll leave you alone,' So, Ray said, 'l'll make him do it,' but he didn't say anything to Randy about it. So, on Thursday, they go and run their couple sessions, and then Ray comes to me and says, 'Okay, what do you want me to do?' I said, 'The first thing you gotta do is get Fandy out of here. Go send him to lunch or something, and then I'll teil you what to do."' With Renfrow sent away blissfully unaware of the deal that Quarterley says he made with Renfrow's team, Quarterley and Plumb got down to business. "While he was gone, we changed everything," Quarterley says. "We changed the triple clarnps, the linkage, both springs, some of the valving... Then we put Randy back on it, and ltold him, 'This is how you're gonna ride it, and this is what it's gonna do. .lust shut the f--k up and go ride it! Quartedey recalls that Renfrow went out and cut Privateer, n the process of interviewing the \rarious subiects profiled in Archrves, it almost never fails that I end up with far more information than I could ever use- Often, really great stories are told that have little to do with the main theme of the piece, and those stories are either lost or put on the backburner as pos- sible subiect matter for another time. But when Dale Quarterley spun the following yarn during our phone conversation for "The Consummate Privateer" (lssue number One), I knew that this one couldn't wait. The following is Quarterley's account of his role in Randy Renfrow's first and onlyAHA Superbike victory at Willow SprinEs lnternational Raceway on September 15, 1990. "When Randy Renfrow was around, he only won one Al'lA Superbike race, and it was at Willow," Quarterley sap. "He was agood buddy of mine, and we did a ton of stull together. We were teammates at Suzuki. Our best ,inish over there was seventh, and of course what were we? - the top privateer team. "We were both on RC30s that !990] season," Quanerley recalls. "Mine handled great, but it was slow and his handled like crap, but it was wicked fast because his basically was a support deal with Honda when they were out of it and vr'ere with Commonwealth RacinS. They weren't winning, and I was on them all year, say- ing, 'You gotta do this and this and this,' but of course they wouldn't listen to me. I would kill Randy in the inlields, and he would kill me on the straightaways, and of course he would beat me in the races because he could get me more on the straightaways than I could get him on the infields. "So finally we're at the end of the season, and we go to Willow and me being the asshole that I am, I walked over to those guys - and lYartin Adams was there, Randy was there and Ray Plumb was there - and I said,'Hey, I wam to see Randy win a race before the end of the sea- son, and the way you guys aregoing, you ain't winnin'shit. 8 2 JANUARY ]8, 2006 . CYCI,E NEI,Ys about l0laps before returnin8 to the pits in frustration. "He said, 'You're probably right, but I can't ride this f--king thing now!"' Quarterley says. "l said, 'Why can't you ride it like thisl' He said, 'Well, it stee6 slow and does this and that.' I said, 'lf it steers slow this is happen- ing, and if X is happening, it's because Y is happening, and you need to counter it. So how do you counter it?' Of course he knew so I said, 'Then shut the f-k up and get back out there!' "So as he's driving back out of the pits, Ray Plumb says to me, 'Hey, you didn't need to tell him that.' I said, 'Well, why not? lf these things are happening, he needs to adiust to come to the motorcycle, and then he'll be faster.' Ray said, 'l a8ree, but he's already a half a second faster than he's gone all morning, and we also tested here for a full day last week!" Quarterley recalls that once Renfrow got accus- tomed to the changes, he was another half a second faster still. When Renfrow returned to the pits he announced he felt that he could at least ride the bike now, When Plumb and Quarterley showed him his times, Renfrow was in disbelief. "So, I told him, 'Randy, look, tomorrow when you go out to pEctice, don't show your hand,"' Quarterley says. "'The othe. guys are not going to run any faster than this, so don't show your hand. lust go out and run in the top four or five all day, and if they speed up - you speed up. When the race happens, don't lead it. lust keep the pressure on them and han8 in there, and with three quarters of the race gone those guys are going to start chunking tires, and you'll blow right by them and win the race.' Look back at the story of that race and see what happened." Cycle News'account of Randy Renfrow's victoty at Willow describes a scenario that makes Quarterly's story plausible: "ln what became a battle of tire attrition, Renfrow saved his best performance for last... Renfrow rode the Ray Plumb-tuned, Manin-Adams-owned Commonvealth Honda to a 13,990-second win over newly crowned Superbike Champion Doug Chandler... Renfrow's win ended an l8-month winless streak for Honda in a road race National with the last one being Jon Ashmead's vic- tory in the 1989 Daytona 200; Renfrow's win was drc first Al'4A National win for a Honda RC30 however... \{hy Renfrow didn't encounter [tire] problems, is a mystery." A phone call to Plumb, who ir still a key plq/er in American Honda's factory road-racing program, didn't exactly brin8 confirmation to Quarterley's story Plumb did admit that he spoke with Quarterley about setups on several occasions, but he didn't directly recallthe Willow incident. Plumb ultimately praised the talents of Renfrow, who passed away in 2002, as the bigSest factor in his Willow win. But if Dale Quanerley is to be believed, Randy Renfrow s Willow victory may have been more maSic than mystery. (f,l Bv Scon RoussEAU I / -) )L ) --/ \ ..1

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