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AReHTMES King of Pain uring a short but speatacular career, for- mer Team Suzuki and Team Honda star Darrell Shultz left a few small impacts on the AI4A record books and a few big ones on the ground. was iust before Daytona. "Coming irto Daytona, I remem- ber that we had raced Atlanta, and it was a mudder, as usual," Shulo recalls, "Bamett had won it, and he said - and it was printed somewhere -'Daytona is mine!'l remember him saying that and thinking, 'l don't "l realized early on that I was going to have to ride injured if I wanted to make it,'' Shultz, now 48, says. "My style was all about crashin8 and taking chances. I rode the whole /ear in 1980 with a broken wrist.'' As a result, ShulE only lasted six years rs a toP Pro, but he managed to land two huge Daytona SuPercross wins and the 1982 AMA 500cc National MX ChampionshiP in that time. ln contrast to those accomplishments, he also became rhe poster child for bad knees. "Hey, I've still got my stock knee, if you can believe that!" Shultz says. "l never thought l'd make it this far with it." The bad left knee was there from the beginning, when Shulrz cut his teeth in Northern California's District 36 region. "l sarted racing when I was 16, and I had maior reconstruction at I 7 and again at l8 before I went on the road at I9," Schultz said. ''Once you lose all the cartilage, the ,oint is iust a sloppy mess forever- lt was already so bad that the doctor told me, 'Your knee is so messed up you might as well just quit.' I thought, 'Well, if my knee is goinS to be ruined for life, I have no choice but to make it now!"' Shulu's first big break came with Maico in 1978. "Maico put toSether a factory bike for me to run the Trans-Al'4A," Shultz says, "Me and 'I4agoo' fDanny Chandler] were on them. I was on the 500, and he was on the 250. and I remember that we both won the Sears Point round, which was our hometown race. That has to be one of the highlights of my career, winning in front of all my homeboys and having l4agoo win too-" Shulrz signed with Team Suzuki in 1979, and he would stay there for three iniury-riddled seasons. "We had a rockin' powerhouse team," Shultz says. "We really peaked in '81. I think we won all but two Supercross races that year fKent] Howerton and [Mark] Barnett and I all won races that year, and Barneft won the Supercross title- Howerton won the 250cc title. We had a lot of good guys. Suzuki was great, and the bikes were great. I was just too young and wild then. I look back on it now and can say that by the time I was a good enough rider to win the championship my body was already destroyed. I learned too late that it's better to hang in second or third for a while than to pass seven guys on the first lap and crash out on the second lap.'' ln fact, Suzuki actually let Shultz go after the 1980 sea- son, but rehired him for '81 at the last minute after Danny taPorte left the team to Pursue the GP circuit in Europe. "l won three races that year ['81], but I always had a bad feeling about getting let go," Shultz says- "l'd had two bad seasons in a row but it was due to iniuries, not lack of trying.'' Shultz continued to ride hard. and it netted him three wins in the first five Supercross rounds of '81. After Howerton won the Anaheim opener, Shulfu won both rounds of the Seattle doubleheader to take over the series points lead, then finished fourth in Atlanta, which think so, buddy!"' Showing that he was no fluke, Shultz dominated Daytona, pulling the holeshot in the main event while Barnett got caught up in a crash, From there, Shulrz fended off a hard-charg- ing Donnie CantalouPi to win the race- Shule was looking good for the title before another injury knocked him out of the running. He wound up seventh in the series stand- ings and then made the switch to Team Honda for the '82 season. "Suzuki had wanted to keep me this time, but my heart wasn't in it with them after what had hap- pened the year before," Shukz said. "l just really felt like I had tried my heart out with Suzuki, and I thought that maybe it would be different with Honda." Shultz remembers that he started out the year pretty mellow before coming on strong once again at Daytona. His back-to-back wins made him the flrst two-time Daytona Supercross winner ever. ''That's prett/ cool," Shultz says of his Daytona accomplishments. ''l love to look on that winner's list and see that it's all rhe top guys. like Carmichael, Stanton and Hannah - all the bad boys. I guess if I had to say, 'Yeah, I won a certain race,' Daytona would be the one." Of course, the momentum didn't last. 'At the next race, in Houston, I was out again." Shultz says- "l was tryinS to ride smarter that year, but lstuck my knee down in a hole and twisted it around backwards at a local race before Houston. Four weeks later the 500 Nationals started." Shult'z didn't go away empty-handed in '82. He recov- ered enough to win the 500cc National MX Championship. He reeled off three straight wins during the season, takinE llrst place at l'4t. Morris, Pennsylvania; Braselton, Georgia; and Castle Rock, Colorado - thus ensuring the title over teammate Chuck Sun by l0 poins,285-275. "l didn't try to win every race," Shultz says. "l took seconds and thirds when I had to. and that's what it takes. lt iust took me that long to give the Sood guys the respect they deserve instead of trying to kick their asses all the time." But even though he'd finally made it, that 500 title was the end of the line. The pain of the '92 season was iust BY Scorl RoussEAU - N $ ,:l li * { ti' t I I i I '{ ,l' a I I t. a I a r I I - \ r tt tA a ! r ! I rt I lf. lr a af I too much to bear. For a man used to riding hurt, it had to be excruciating. "My weeks were spent sitting on the couch all week and getting my knee drained, then racing, and then sit- ting on the couch all week again and Setting the knee drained again," Shultz remembers. "That's how my whole 500 series went. After lwon the title I had three knee surgeries in a row during the off season. They put a cow ligament in, trying to tiShten the,oint up, but that didn't take, and my body reiected it. I spent about six months basically on the couch, and it hurt so bad that I couldn't even walk. I decided riSht there that I would rather be able to wdk the rest of my life than try to ride one more year. I couldn't see it happening." Retired from racing in '83, Shulu now runs his own insulation business in Boise, ldaho, where he has made his home for the past six years. "l was bored and hating the rain in Oregon, and a buddy o, mine talked me into coming over and doing a little trail rading in the mountains. lonly needed to see it once. Boise is a great place, and it's growinS like crazy. l've got 20 employees working for me. Business is iust booming. I love it here." Shultz still trail rides, and he enjoys camPing and rid- ing with wife Cheri and 9-year-old son, Phil. "lf our son ever wanted to start racing motocross, I wouldn't even be about telling him to do it like I did it." Shultz says. "Oh, no. I wouldnt wish that on anybody." Cl{ I oi, " B ..N m I .. t' -q Ir t b-. 70 FEBRUARY ]5,2005 . CYCLE NEWS