Cycle News

~ -.....-... o ~ ~ a B with th e contingencies from all the companies, and rhe p urse money. it was pretty good, I had 10 prove myself. a nd so di d 0.. Bob Han nah, because o ur goal was to bea t Marty Smith - nobod y wanted Honda 10 wi n agai n. Suzuki th ought that it was going to be the first to heat Honda a nd even Yamaha. because I don't know i f they rea lly kn ew that they were both hiring unknowns from southern California, me and Hannah. Back th en I was riding for Kelvin Franks, who a t rhe time ran theCMC and owned Franks Racing. I rode abo ut a year for Kelvin. before I sig ned with Suzuki , and I was win- ning all th e races in so uthe rn Ca li- forn ia. I rode the 125cc and 250cc classes, and I was beating all the guys who ro de th e Na tionals, I wasn 't doi ng it as a serious job - doi ng it as something for fun on the weekends; I never rea lly planned on racing th e National Champio ns hi ps , I co uld never ge t mad enough on a For three years, former 250cc World MXChampion Danny laPorte has experienced the rewards of being a racing star in Europe. He's back in the U.S. to finish his career and get one more t itle. 198 2 250ee World Champ ion Dann):': LaPorte: Baekin the U.S.A. By Rex Reese DIlII II )' LaPorte is perhaps the most unlikely type of person »ou'd expect to see a t a motocross track , much less on one - local , Professional, Wo rld-Cham/l ion- ship-ealibn, or otherwise.Samet lu ng in tangible about Dfl/I1IY makes h im stand out in a crowd, Hr looks 100 nire zo have Ihe ki llr r i nst inets needed to rise ahonr Ih" 11111ks of "alSO-TIl lIS", hit m,'n and brrserkos uiho /lO/JIllaI" the sport of 11/010- cross, Hr's too good-looking to go out all a race track and risk messing up th e prett iest face this side of Bruce Penhall . And he doesn't look serious enough to sacrifice 135%of his life as a Pro moiocrosser. Even Danny himself admits that, at first he raced just fo r the fun of it and couldn't understand why an ybody would uiant 10 race motorcycles for a liv ing. Somehoui LaI'orte's abi lities go tthe best of him, and over the years they have taken him from being just one more Sotla! Pro decora ting th e scene ry to a 500cc National MX Championship in 1979 th en the 250cc 1V0rid MX Championship in / 982, And winning th e world title gave LaPorte something American mota- CTOSS couldn't: tr ue stardom, fame and acclaim, In Eu rop e, th e 1V0rld Champion is treated accordingly , He gets maj or in terviews in th e major newspapers and maga:illes , he is seen on Na tional television, He is as big a sports celebrity as Reggie Jackson, lVayn e Gretsky or Kareen Abdul-f abbar. By compariso n, Pro wrest ling is the latest media darling in America while Pro mot oc ross hardly gets the time of day. But this is another story. T he rewa rds Dan n y Lat'orte has received as IVorld Cham pion as well as fanner champion have not been small. R id ing Internat ional motocross races alone were ellough to earn LaPort e a si x-figu re salary during a good season. T hat,an d generous contracts from boot an d clothing manufacturers. plus other sponsors, netted L aPorte a minimum of $250,000 a year during his stay in Europe, Besides racing luck, Lal'ort e has been luck y in his personal lije: His wife of just set'en months is fo rmer French model Georgia Gautreau. ste trdauuhter of Sr, Aljierrc Maserat i - yes, tha t Masr rati. Even if he didn 't have a wilt' with ex tremely rich parents, carefu l saving and shrewd investments have left LaPort e very comfortable, with homes in Belgium; Turin , Ita ly (where his in-laws are located): SUIl Valley, Idah o; and Yucca Valley , Calijornia, whe re he grew up, learn ed to ride, and now calls home again since he has returned to the States. T he Return: Dan ny's 28 1l0W, even though he st ill looks much lik e the "schoolboy" U,S, Suzu ki Racin g Manager Tosh Koyama affectionatel y des- cribed him as early in his career, 10 years ago, But time's runlling out, and La l'orte has returned to th e U,S. to ride th e 500cc National on a full y-backed factory Husquarna for one more shot at a cham pionship , Even th ough he ma y not look it , LaPort e has committed himself tota lly to win nin g, having farsaken nearly every thing else, lVant to bu y a house in Belgium? 24 CN: Your career began when yo u were a test rider for U.S. Suzuki on th e RMI25. LaPorte: I was 18 then. but I had tested abOUI six months before then , and I signed a contract with them before th e end of 1975. It 's kin d of ha rd 10 exp lain, but I was never a crazy guy for raci ng, It was not somethi ng that I would die for, because I wasn't sure if th at ,,:'as th e kind of li fe I wanted to have. I had ridden motorcycles so much, I thought. " How crazy co uld some- body be 10 want to beat somebody on a motorcycle?" I sti ll ha d 10 gradua te from h igh school, and my fa th er wa nted me 10 maintain rnv school work - my parents didn\ th ink th ere was any real Iurun- in it (moto - cross). BUI th at was the tim e when motocross was j ust sta rti ng OUI and there was very lillie money in it. CN: The riders who were Pro s then raced on Sunday and went back to th eir regular jobs Monday. LaPorte: Righ t. I th ink T ony DiSte- fan o was probably th e most success- ful motocross rid er back th en , Gary Jones, too, CN: While riders lik e T ony, Gary, Jimmy Weinert and Steve Stackable made up the fir st generation of Amer- ican motocross sta rs, you, Bob Han- nah, Mark Barnett and Broc Glover came along as part of th e second gen eration. LaPort e: When I came int o racing, th ere were rider s a lrea dy out on th e Na tio na l champions hips, In the 125cc class th ere was Marty Smi th, Tim Hart, BruceMcDoug'dl, Chuck Bower, and when Han nah came in he rode a few Na tiona ls in 1975, but not seri- o us ly or any th ing. Suzuki wanted 125cc rid ers 10 heal Marty Smith; there was a big market in th a t class, and Ma rt y had won th e champio n- ship for the second year in a row - he won in '74 and '75. For '76, Suzuki wa nted to come in; th ey'd never used any new sta rs , it had a lways been a guy who was corn - in g up. So, th ey ca lled me and as ked if I'd like to ride for the 125cc National Champ ions hip. I said, "Sure, but I have to th ink abo ut it." It took me on ly a cou ple weeks to figure it ou t. beca use I ei ther had to go to school or go to work , but I al so had this oppor- run ity to race, I thought I'd never have tha t chance again , to be able 10 travel - a t least for free - make money and have a rea lly good time, I wa nted to do it for a t least one year. CN: What kind of contract did Suzuki sign you for ? La Porte: I th in k it was for $1000 a month. Bon uses were, $1500 for win- ning a National moto, $500 for second and 250 for third, For winni ng th e 125cc Champio ns hip, ir was 10,000; second was three or four grand, And motorcycle. That was one of my big p roblems when I was young, until I was abo ut 23 or 2,1. I bel ieve th at if I was as aggressive and crazy th en as I am now, rnv res ults would have been a lot better. it 's in cred ible, bUIwhen I was 18, 19, 20, 21. I'd ride rea lly fast if I crashed a nd h urt myself. because I gal reall y mad, th en I'd go like crazy . I co uldn't get my adre na1in going before a race; ir was nothing! So I guess it took me a wh ile to ge t aggres- sive on a motocycle, because I reall y didn 't have th is thi ng abo ut havin g 10 beat someone , havin g 10 prove that I was better or faster - even though that was what I was sup posed to do. I was fa irly fast and I was competitive w!thout even having the desire to wm. When I .won th e 500cc Nationa l Champions hip in 1979, when I was 22, the yea r before that I had a very good cha ncebecause I was becoming real aggressive, but we had pro blem s with th e bikes, In '80 I co u ld 've won agai n , bu t I jUSI had problems, In '81 I wen t 10 Honda, and th at's when I hurt myself a t the beginning of the year. Not many people know this, but when I signed the co nt rac t with Honda a fter I lefl Suzuki in 1980, I cras hed at Saddleback in a small (local) race - it was morel ike a practice - in Janua ry, and I lore th e med ia l collarorul ligaments on the insid e of my kn ee, cut some muscl es in my ca lf. di slocated my wr ist a nd bro ke three bones in my (left ) hand, T he doctor laid me th at I wouldn't be a ble to race for a t least a year-and-a- half, and he said tha t he wasn' t sure if I co u ld eve r get the strengt h back in my hand, When they operated on me, th ey popped th e bones in my hand back into position. But a couple of them - like th e narvicula r bone - have never healed , I was out for three months a t the beginnin g of rhe year; I didn't even ride ha lf th e stadium races, and I had 10 weeks before the first Nat iona l to get ready, So I went 10 (Sou thwick) Massa chusetts. which is one of the best tracks in the eas t for me. bu t I co uldn ' t even hang onto th e bars. I realized that it was ging to take me a long tim e to get back to 100%- and it does! When you hurt yourself, it takes a long time, men tally and phys- ica lly , 10 ge t back. So, a t th e end of '81, j ust when I started to do good in th e National s and won a race in Florida - I was · also seco nd a few times - it was th e end of th e season in August. Then came the chance to go to the Mot o- cross and Trophee des Nat ions for Honda, When I hea rd th at , I sa id, "T h is is my chance to go racing in Europe," which was what I was try- ing to do for the last three years, when I rode for Suzuki. I was

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