INTERVIEW
P72
AMA GRAND NATIONAL CHAMPION BRAD BAKER
ing here with Carl and Ben with
Schenk Racing Enterprises…
they help me out a lot maintaining
the stuff around here. But when
I'm on the road, although I've
got resources I go to, it's pretty
much all on me. I washed the
bikes, drove them to the races
every single weekend. I found a
lot of support for the bikes. Basically everything that happened
with those motorcycles, I was involved in. And they didn't get to
the racetrack unless I was the
one driving them there."
While life away from the racetrack will suddenly get easier,
Baker also knows that the pressure of being the lone Harley-Davidson factory rider will be high.
Not that it fazes him.
"The thing is that I will still be
riding XR750s and I still have
to remember all the basics that
got me to be a Grand National
Champion," Baker said. "There's
nothing different other than the
exposure and basically the bank
account at the end of the year."
Baker is different from most
of the rivals in two distinct areas.
For starters he's from Washington and not Michigan. And he's
also six feet tall and 155 pounds
while most of his rivals would fit in
at the stables at Churchill Downs.
He sees both things as an advantage.
"I actually think being bigger