P108
CN
III FRIENDLY FIRE
BY STEVE BAUER
B
eing a professional mo-
tocross racer has to be
one of the most insecure
and sketchiest occupations in
existence. It can also be one of
the cruelest. One minute a rider
is on top of the world, then in the
blink of an eye, snap, one crash
and he's old news. "Last week
a hero, this week a zero," as my
old nemesis, Rocket Rex Staten
used to say.
Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen,
the 1982 Supercross and 250
National Champion, knows all
too well how quickly it can all go
away. Having swept both titles
during his second year with
factory Honda, Donnie began
negotiating a new contract with
them worth exponentially more
money, but before he could
get the deal inked, he suffered
a career-ending head injury in
Germany, while practicing for the
Motocross des Nations. I gave
Donnie a call so he could tell his
story.
"I rode for $25,000 and
$39,500 my first two years
with factory Honda and had just
won both championships," he
recalls some 34 years later. "I
was at the top of my game. The
word was that Mark Barnett, the
highest paid rider at the time,
had just signed for three years
with Suzuki for a million dollars,
so I asked for the same. Honda
countered with a two-year deal
for $500,000, which I didn't
think was enough. I agreed with
Roger (DeCoster) and Dave
Arnold to wait until we got back
from the MXdN to work it out."
"I flew to Sweden and won
the final round of the 250 World
Championships, then crashed
practicing in Germany during
the week and suffered a trau-
matic brain injury. When I got
MANAGING INJURIES
Injuries have
always been big
part of motocross/
supercross racing.
