Cycle News

VOL. 54 ISSUE 28 JULY 18, 2017 P99 course was in Jupiter, Florida, with Palm Beach International Raceway (also known as Moroso Motorsports Park). And that would play a big part in DeGouw's career a decade or so later. DeGouw progressed through the ranks in road racing, at first having fun at the amateur level. He won an AMA Amateur National Road Race title in 1971 racing a Honda 500cc and then another in '73 racing a Kawasaki H2. He then raced in the AMA Junior class for a couple of seasons before turning expert in 1976. DeGouw raced AMA Formula 1 on a Yamaha TZ750 for 10 years. Growing up racing on a lot of tight and twisty circuits, it wasn't surprising that DeGouw earned his best national result (eighth) at Loudon in 1984. He also scored a top-10 at Brainerd in his final season of pro racing in 1986. DeGouw admits his racing career was not a stellar one, but he said it made it that much sweeter the times he had successes. He became better known for being a race promoter and club racing president and he says that all happened by complete accident. "The owner of Palm Beach Raceway and the Florida Grand Prix Riders Association had a falling out," DeGouw said. "I was winning races on my TZ at the track at the time, so that's the only way the track owner knew anything about me. Some friends told me the only way he was going to have motorcy- cles race on his track was if I ran them. I didn't know anything about running races, I just wanted to race, but I met with him and we became partners and that was in 1975." Perhaps one of the reasons the track owner picked DeGouw was he knew that DeGouw and his family was in the commercial utility business. "There were many times I take a dump truck out there with hot asphalt and patch up the track," DeGouw said. DeGouw was promoter of what turned out to be the last round of the AMA Superbike Championship at Palm Beach (then called Moroso) in 1982. The race was originally supposed to run before the Oc- tober Daytona finale, but was rained out. DeGouw was on the line for a lot of money, and he wanted to protect his investment. "I went around and we had Eddie Lawson, Wes Cooley, Mike Baldwin, Wayne Rainey, Fred Merkel and all those guys," DeGouw remembers. "I asked them, 'Hey, if the championship is decided at Daytona will you come back?' Lawson and Baldwin both said 'No way.' Rainey said he would be there." DeGouw hoped to high heavens that the title would not be decided at Daytona. "Baldwin had to beat Lawson at Daytona for the championship to be decided at our race," DeGouw said. "And by god, Baldwin beat him right at the fin- ish line, so they had to come back and the cham- pionship was decided at our race. The funny thing was Lawson won the championship at our event, but the AMA forgot to bring a number-one plate. I just happened to have one at the track, so the photos you see of Lawson holding up the number-one plate was because we just happened to have one there." DeGouw said because of the rescheduling he still lost money on the promotion, but not nearly as much as he would have had the title been decided at Daytona. Later DeGouw also co-promoted some WERA Pro Formula USA races at Palm Beach. Today DeGouw has been running club races in South Florida for 42 years. Having races thoughout the winter, DeGouw has enjoyed hosting a virtual who's who of top-name road racers over the years at his events, who would come down to race in the off season, including the late great Nicky Hayden. "I never thought I'd get as much satisfaction out of the sport when I quit racing," DeGouw admits. "But I found that I did." One of his great joys DeGouw says, is watching and in some cases helping the careers of riders who came up racing his events in Florida. DeGouw was a major mentor to former AMA Superbike factory racer Donald Jacks and he admitted when Floridian Thomas Stevens won the AMA Superbike Championship in 1991, it was one of the best days ever in his years of being involved in racing. DeGouw also was involved for years in putting together the American contingent of riders who would race the Macau Grand Prix each year. "It was described as a road racing junket and we always had a great time with that." CN ROAD RACING Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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