FOUR-TIME 500cc GRAND PRIX CHAMPION EDDIE LAWSON
P96
INTERVIEW
It was Freddie Spencer and Wes
Cooley and Mike Baldwin. It was so
competitive. To win a race or even a
championship was a big deal back
then. I look back on it now and I think
about the commitment that Kawasaki
Rookie Lawson (27)
chasing Freddie
Spencer (3) and Randy
Mamola (6) in 1983.
Lawson's
crowning world
championship
glory was
his victory
on the 1989
Rothmans
Honda
NSR500. In
the process,
he beat his
career-long
rival Waayne
Gardner on the
same bike.
put in and the effort they put into
it. It was big. You don't realize it
until you look back on it.
They treated me so good. I
have nothing but great memories.
I hate to use it—it's a cliché to say,
"Those are the good old days,"—
but for me when I look back, I
hate to say that, but they were the
good old days. Everyone uses
that term too much, I think. But
I really look back on it with fond
memories.
You were '81 AMA Superbike
Champion with Kawasaki.
Were there any thoughts of
going to 500 grand prix with
Kawasaki?
I wanted to, but that's right
when they pulled out of GP rac-
ing. That KR500 with a little bit of
development would have been,
for sure, a top bike. It just needed
