Cycle News

~to be turning their back on out- door motocross and making it so hard on the promoters to make a living. They could end up screwing up the en- tire system. If there are no more out- door races and no more Saddleback Parks, then where do you go to prac- tice? You don't buy stadium bikes. Everything could turn around. If the outdoor tracks become history there won't be any place to ride, and then what happens to bike sales? Then the whole thing could take a big dump. The AMA better straighten up their act before that happens because they'll go down the tube just like every- one else. II mere .. much opportunity now for a young rider .. when you started? There's more money now. Yeah, that's for sure. But then you could get a lot more for your money.. Then you got stock bikes and a little bit of money, now you get factory bikes and a contract, but now you have to devote a lot more time to it. When I was a kid you didn't have to train, you just·cruised to the race, had fun and tried to win after working five days a week. Now you work 18 days a week trying to get prepared. Should there be more emphuia among American organizers fo!, longer, tllIlIgher mocos to develop better riden, potential World Champions? Well, the riders themselves can't do that, they have to ride what's available. Like, I'd come back to ride a National and see the track and say: Why don't you run your ribbons down this big ~rlydownhill and be trick instead of easy? But they didn't want to listen. Were you surprUed that America's fint dirt world champion wun't a aaot.oe:ra- rider? I never really thought one way or the other who would be the first, but I am really happy to see that Bernie went to Europe and just showed them that America has more than apple pie and baseball. He went over there and smoked them all which is the hardest thing to do, coming from a different place. I respect him because I know how hard it is. After just a couple of years he put it on them babies. I think that's great. With Andretti winning, Kenny Roberts, Bernie, America has the hot guys right now. I'm the only guy who didn't win. I blew it. That would have been a nice triple - motoe:roM, triab and road racing. How do me American riden rate now wim the Europeans? Well, it's the same old thing. The Trans·Am is history now. You can't talk abolit that. Like Malherbe, finished third in the world champion- ship. He won three, maybe four motos and came over here for the Trans-USA. He won Ohio which is just a rypical American track which has nothing to do with Europe. He just flew in, he wasn't set up for over here: Then he's second at Buchanan and he would have done great at Unadilla and prob- ably won the whole series in front of all those Americans on their own little tracks. And that again is a hard thing to do, not being familiar with the tracks and being away from home. If he can do all that and still only be third in Europe, that tells me that there are still some fast'suckers over there. No matter how fast they think they're going over here, there are still aome faster guys over there. Do you think the manufaeturen over- emphasize the American champion- ships? Well, they're in business to make money. If the magazines are writing about the stuff over here, then they're going to use the championships over oo-e to sell motorcycles. That's business. I wish that the GPs played a more im- portant part in the PR over here but ... You don't see Heikki or Moisseev in big .a~ _over here_ If a. guy .~!.U .the Superbowl, you see 10 times as much in the ads. You and Weinert are me old men. Yet you're younger now than when Roger won his fint championship. Why do we see so many shooting stan - here today, gone tomorrow - in American motoe:roll? Maybe it's not knowing their limitations or sheer bad luck. I think it's probably because there's so much more to do in the States than in Europe. So many other things to have fun with and goof around. This i$ an easy life, no matter what anybody thinks about it. We got it over here. It's easy not to have a big drive and a big goal, and guys give up too easy. What is me key to longevity, sticking it out? You have to have a goal or you can't go anywhere. In the beginning my goal wasn't to be World Champion. That would have been ridiculous because the first time in Europe I got smoked and lapped and I said: Boy, I'm in the wrong sport, I ought to start water skiing or something. After a while it got to the point I was doing okay. And when you beat the big boys just one time, that's. all it takes. You go: Well, I just beat them and I know I can now. So it's up to you to try and do it and that's what I did. Once I got a taste I felt there was no reason I couldn't win. It would just take a lot of work and a lot of time and that's been my goal. Everybody has to have a goal to do something. But the main thing is mental attitude and wanting to do it. Like r said in the book, to figure out what that is to keep you happy is one of the hardest things. Everybody is different so it's a compli· cated thing that's hard to talk about. It -=mI, for the _ part, the major- ity of Americans who want to race in Europe are me ones who haven't gone over yet? I don't know what they're expecting, but it 'is a lot of work and it's really different. You don't have mom to take care of you, and you don't have your trick water bed or your dune buggy and your Jet Ski. There's nothing to do, and it rains all the time, lousy weather. It's boring as hell if you're not racing or going to the races. So it's pretty 4epressing, is what it is. That's the problem. They go there and they might have fun at the races, but they're depressed all week and when they get to the race they're de· pressed and can't race. Plus, it's un- familiar and the tracks are different. Nobody ever sticks at it long enough to get used to the tracks and get over the depression and that's more or less what I did. And I can kind of put up with it and that's why I can concentrate on trying to win races instead of concen· trating on not being depressed. Any- body who tells you you go to Europe for a vacation is full of it. "Ifthe winner (ofa Supercross event) was. making 10 or 12 grand, then I could see risking what you have to risk zn front of all those people. But it'sjust not worth z't for what's being paid now. " AmeriCUl tracb, European tracks. Are Americans riding a different sport here? It's the same. You can get an American ~ •• '~J•• ' IJ track in Sweden or somewhere that you could stick a TT on. The others are great like Unadilla. There can be lousy conditions but a really good track. Motocross is motocross. If you go to Europe it's going to be a change, and you have to get used to it. Just like Malherbe coming here. That's why I thought he did such a good job adjust· ing to small tight tracks where you don't need a lot of horsepower. What about me 1UC of terrain? It depends. Ohio is using everything that they have. They just don't have the hot spot for a big downhill, uphill Grand Prix race track. You won Unadilla chis year, but otherwise didn't have a particularly sparklingTram-USA senes. There were only five races. II the series anti-climactic for you? II me year pretty much over for you mentally after me GP season ends? Well, after being over there in depres· sion land for all that time I'm just like anybody else. I like to get back to fantasy land here and then I start having fun. The one American track that is "European," you wellt out and won on it, Yes because it's neat and fun. Every· thing worked good. The week before Howerton was just a rocket at Buchan- an. I should have gotten second, but a rock hit m~ gas tank and it lost iu gas. What do yOu chink about the IlobertaI Sheene pullout· from nM road rac- ing? I think that's great. Those guys get paid more than us. For start money Roberts gets like $3000 and like I'd get $!l00. There should be some difference for the risk, but not mat much. Their races are more dangerous and they get giant crowds, but then they cut his start money in half_ The just break the rules and change everything, do what· ever they want. They're really a power- play organization over there. Old guys who run the whole show. Why won't me nM pay decent money? They don't have to. They know the guys are contracted to race. They get 120,000 people and give you $!l00. And they make a million. Why be so greedy that you're going to screw up the whole thing? Why not just give them 10 grand and have 190 left instead of 200 and make everybody happy? Would me RobertslSheene thing work for mOtoe:roll? The only way it would work is if the riders stick together. Like when we had a little protest at stadium racing. Proratl have worked in Europe at GPs. Once or twice. That's the whole key, once the riders decide to stick together. The road racers are older. They're making good money, and they've been around. Younger guys tend to fold, and it won't work. I think in Europe in the 500cc class, it might work. Instead of $500 for winning a GP we could win five or six thousand dollars, which would still be low pay for a profession- al sport. How much will we see of you in 0. Aa'....'11? I don't really know. If I had won the World Championship, I imagine a lot. But seeing that Roberts won and Bernie won, I might be getting third billing. They spent a good amount of time with you. Yes. But it seems that all the races they went to were the ones where I didn't do well. They got two motos I won, anyway. What about me bikes in me 500cc GPs. There are plenty of production bikes. How much difference is mere between the production bikes and me works bikes? On a given day all the bikes are cap- able of winning witli the right rider on them. But, of course, all the good riders are on factory bikes. The semi- production Maicos and KTMs are sometimes lighter than the works Japanese bikes. They might be simple, but mey're within the same weight limit, putting out the same honepower. Sometimes the semi'production bikes are more dependable. H_ long do you plan to pursue me World Ch'mpiouship? It depends, really. If I ride this year and don't win because I'm DOt fast enough, chen I'd only ride one more year. But if I win this year, I'd want to retire real bad. I would have ridden my 12 yean and made my goal and I'd want to stop. I'd never be second again. But chen~come to the prob· lems where you'd be getting a lot of money to keep going and getting lots of nice deals, and it would be awful hard not to do it even if you suspect you might get beaten. Then you'd have to make a decision, and I can't say what I'd do then. But I'd like to win and stop and say: Fine, I did that, and move on to something else. . "Graham (Noyce) dz'd good all year, but he isn't that good, " What about the auto racing? Well, when I talk about something ebe, that's kind of what I'm talking about. What kind of racing? Some kind of open wheel, fortDula racing. I'd like to go to England and do something over there. What it takes to be a xood motocrou racer is DO dif- ferent dian what it takes to be a good car racer other than you have to be in shape to be a motocrOllCr. You make split-second decisions all the time and go into the comer faster and come out faster and look for lines. It's all the same stuff. I'm not saying a motocrou guy can jump in a car and be a hero or anything, but with a certain amount of time under his belt I'm certain a good motocross racer could be a good car racer. I don't know if I'd like to get as serious as I have about motocrOllS, but I'd like to have fun and maybe try to make some money at it. I'd like to get in a car on the side while I'm still GP racing and learn it a little bit. What about going before the cameras? That'd always be nice. The problem is that motorcycle industry is a closed little tight thing, and to get out of that into magazines or television or com- mercials you really have to have a con- nection. Even if I won the champion- ship several times that wouldn't assure me of getting anything. The only one I could think of is an American Express commercial. This will be your ninm Jar 0ftnCU. In me put you've talked about that one 1iu1e plaque you can pat up on me wall: World Champion. Would mat make it all worth it? Oh, yeah. In the beginning you starve to death, but motocrOllS is becoming a big sport. I've made a good living at trying to be world champion so I'm not complaining in the least. But if I never make it I'll feel I didn't reach my goal and was unsuccessful~Even if I never made another pemay but made it, that's still really important. If it was just for the money I don't think I'd be interested enough to keep doing it. Like I said, if I won the champion- ship there would be a decision to make even if someone said: Here's a million dollan. I would have done it. I'd rather everybody remember me as a winner. If I can win it ODe time I'd be happy. • - 00 ~ o 23 •

• Cover