Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I \ G T ,A ARGH[-VES Rememb Daytona who read this column on a weekly basis know that from time to time I will inlect my own thoughts into the srories when I feel it is appropriate to add my per- sonal perspe(tive on a rider. an event or some other historical happeninS which I may have seen with my own eyes, Whenever it comes time to talk about former AMA Grand National 2l Will Davis, then you ought to know that I am only too happy to take such license. As the new dirt-track 8uy on staff at Cycle News in 1995, Will was one of the flrst of the top ride6 to really reach out and shake my hand, accept me into the fold and offer any and all assistance he could as I worked my way into understanding the inner workings of the sport. I quickly leamed that he was a genuine person, not sole- ly interested in ,ust promoting himself, but also his enti.e spon. We soon developed a friendship, something no true professional iournalist is ever supposed to do with the players that he covers (and ifyou believe that it does- n't happen, I have a Magic Kingdom in Orlando that I'd like to sellyou), and we spent a lot of time on the phone, conversing about what the spo.t was and what it wasn't, and what it needed. Thioking back on seme of those phone conversations, some of which I still have on tape a would show people iust what was possible with a stock-framed OE machine. Where we are today is pretty close to where Will wanted to see us be nearly l0 years ago. Back to that new dirt-track editor guy: I didn't get offered the position until the eve of the 1995 Daytona Short Track, so I didn't end up covering the race. The 1996 rilce was to be my first Da),tona Short Track, and it would also mark Will's first appearance with the TCR team of Benson Ford Jr. and Tom Cummings. For Will, who had struggled with shoestring privateer bud8ets for his entire career, scoring the TCR deal was almost like land- in8 a factory ride. and he intended to make the most of it. He told me that he fEured he had all he needed to win the number-one plate now, and that he was going to show everyone by winning the Daytona Short Track, which he held in the dirt line up high was working too well, and he wound up second to a rim-riding Kenny Coolbeth in the second heat race of the night. That meant that Will would not be on the front row, which everyone told me was crucial to winning the race. The dream was gro\Ming faint - or was it? No way. ln the main event, Will shot into the first turn in fifth, behind Joe Kopp, Breft Landes, fcvin Atherton and Terry Poovey. Of these riders, Poovey was Will's big8est concern. vy'all knew that Poovey wanted to win Daytona as badly as he did, and I recall him telling rne that when Poovey got by Landes for second and then passed Kopp for the lead with l0laps in the book, k was time to make something happen. Will worked his way into second place, and then he found a high line that seemed to really work with his "stuff it in, stand on the brake pedal and then gas it hard" style. Will started to reel in Poovey, and whhin live laps he was right on Poovey's tail. He passed Poovey a lap later. Poovey's bike was letting go by then, and it eventually blew up, but I think that Will would have caught him anyway. Will Davis, prolessional dream chaser, scored his first Daytona Short Track win that niglt, March 9, 1996, "Daytona is all I've ever wanted to win - well, that and Springfield," Will told me on the record. "Growin' up in my house, Daytona is all I ever heard about from my dad... my Lord, lcan't believe it. We're still achin'from last night, but this feels much better." That '96 win was the lirst of three at the Daytona Short Track for Will, and each time he won it, he was 6 giddy as the first tirne. But for some reason I remember tlut '96 race much more vividly than I do the others. ln fact, there are a lot of races that I remember \Mll winning. You know it has been nearly five years since Will left us, but I still think about him a lot - heck, l'm sure that I'm no different in that way than anyone else whose life he touched in the short time that he was here. I can still see him crossing the finish line at that first Daytona, and it makes me smile. lb me, Will Davis will always be a winner. Cll erln g rY1/ill's ream Dovir (center) on the podium wirh third-plo.e finisher Kevin Vornes (left) ond runner-up Rich King (right). track on the night before, and it was here that will's Daytona dream was nearly shat- tered when he lost the rear end coming off turn four early in the main event. vio- lently smacked the ground, and then got whacked by Jay Springsteen. lt was a bad crash. He managed to get up, but he was clearly in pain, and I won- dered if he would wen be able to ride in the big race the next evening. But when the somewhere, I think Will would be happy to see a GNC Singles championship similar to what the AMA has decid- ed to do for 2006- I think that he would have loved to see the Grand National Championship preserved if at all possible, but Will shared the vision that the only way the sport could be elevated would be to find a way to get the OEMS to start spending money in it. And he practiced what he preached- Will's fans no doubt recall his efforts in developing the ATK600DI a bike that he hoped big night rolled around, will was there. He was still hurtinS, but he was there. Knowing all the guys like I know them now, I guess I shouldn't have expected anything different. I remember that a lot of the riders were complaining that the track was rough as a cob that night, but that also meant that it wasn't a one-liner, and the racing turned out to be pretty exciting. Will had elected to run a setup that would allow him to run around the bottom, but the 94 MARCH 8. 2006 . CYCLE NEWS BY Scorr Roussrlu same reverence that the NASCAR boys hold the Daytona 500. l'm here to tell you that there is iust no way that Will Davis would ever have felt complete in his career if he had never won Daltona. Of course, the traditional warmup to the Grand National version of the Daytona Short Track back then was the Al'44 600cc National Dirt Track opener at the same 4& ,r-. I Dovis wi of r :l *, l t t' ''t "3 I t

• Cover