Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 13, 2015 P113 just three nationals per season and 2.6 per, in the '60s, in the 1970s, the circuit suddenly had five per year. Parity was also a trait of the 1970s so a lot of riders won the 51 Miles during that decade, prevented any one rider from racking up a huge number. Jay Springsteen was the top Miler of the '70s, with his first seven Mile wins of an eventual 14 coming during that decade. If you look at the top 10 of all-time GNC Mile wins, you'll see plenty of riders who raced in the 1980s. No question the '80s were really the decade of the Mile. A total of 90 GNC Miles ran during 1980s. That's nearly 30 percent of all of the Miles ever ran. Remarkably, Scott Parker won Miles in four different decades (1970s, '80s, '90s and 2000s). He's the only rider ever to accomplish that feat. Parker won 55 GNC Miles during his stellar career, and while he is certainly by most estimations, the best Miler of all time, he had plenty of races to pile up those wins. The '80s featured an average of nine Miles per season and the nearly seven per season in the '90s. And Parker's Mile-winning percentage? A solid .329 (third best all time), a remarkable winning percentage considering it came over a 21-and-a- half-year racing career. Parker also had to deal with rivals such as Chris Carr, Bubba Shobert and Ricky Graham, all of whom are ranked in the top- five all time for Mile wins. But think about this—with Parker's same winning percentage a rider racing today, where there's an average of less than five Miles per year, would have to race 34 years to even have a shot of reaching Parker's record of 55 wins. In other words it ain't gonna happen. So that brings us to Bryan Smith. In the last two seasons Smith has won seven of the 10 GNC Miles, all aboard his Kawasaki. He's also previously won Miles on a Harley-Davidson putting him along- side Bubba Shobert and Ricky Graham for leading Milers to win on multiple brands. This year Smith won 80 percent of the Miles. That's the best percentage of wins in a single season with at least five races since 1998 when Parker also won four of five, so that stat puts Smith in a very exclusive club. Smith's winning percentage on Miles so far is .254—sixth best all time, and not yet in the league of Parker in terms of winning percentage, but given that Smith and the superb Howerton Kawasaki show no signs of slowing down anytime soon, his percentage could come way up in the next couple of seasons. As an example, if he were to have the next two seasons like he had this year (winning four of five) he would match Parker's career winning percentage. Smith is 32, which in flat track years is not old. He could easily have another five years or more of racing ahead of him. If he keeps winning at the almost unprecedented clip he's been doing for the last couple of seasons, it's likely he could double his number of wins by the end of his career. It's not inconceivable that he might even pass Carr's 29 GNC Mile wins to become the second all-time wins leader on the Miles. Smith (or anyone else for that matter) won't be able to catch Parker's number of wins, but he could eventually challenge or better the legendary Hall of Famer on winning percentage and if that happens Smith should at least be in the discussion for all-time best AMA Grand National Miler. Top 10 GNC Mile Winning Percentage (with at least five wins): 1. Fred Nix .545 2. Carroll Resweber .357 3. Scott Parker .329 4. Bubba Shobert .309 5. Joe Leonard .296 6. Bryan Smith .254 7. Everett Brashear .241 8. Chris Carr .197 9. Ricky Graham .169 10. Hank Scott .117 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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