Profile: Dave Emde

PROFILE: DAVE EMDE

Out To Prove Lightning Strikes Twice

Dain Gingerelli

From all indications, it was to be a two-way dice for 1st: Kenny Roberts vs Steve Baker. The Loudon pits were buzzing at the fantastic times turned by the pair on their factory TZ250s. But the real talk began after the first lap. Second was not KR, but a rider few had heard of, number 192, Dave Emde. Struggling to maintain a close 3rd was Roberts.

That was in 1976. Emde's crank broke after a few laps, but in his first race as an AMA Expert he burst on the scene like Leon Spinks all over Ali. Later in the pits Roberts was seen walking with Dave, arm draped around his shoulder as though they had been buddies for years. Roberts can recognize talent and Dave Emde showed lots of it that day.

He looked good at Laguna Seca two months later, and had the confidence to win. In the pits he seemed unmoved that he had just beat Roberts in his heat, and stood a fair chance of dethroning Baker in the main. At Dave's side was his older brother, Don, winner of the 1972 Daytona 200. "Don't be too sure," Don said under slightly muffled breath. "Roberts may have lost the heat, but he'll snap back at you in the main." He did, but not after some fairing-banging racing, the kind Roberts does best. Dave was not yet 18, and had learned another lesson from one of the best ever.

David Emde is young, aggressive, tal ented and from a family of winners. His father, Floyd Emde, won the Daytona 200 in 1948. Don did the same in 1972. As might be expected, Dave wants to win Daytona too-and soon. At the age of 20, he has plenty of time.

Dave got his start running amateur short scrambles and TTs in the San Diego. Cal ifornia area. He showed a strong interest in motocross during his formative years as a racer, and could very well be racing bikes with knobbies rather than the slick-shod machinery he races today. Having estab lished himself as a promising rider in Southern California, he ventured to the Snake River in Idaho for the motocross race held in conjunction with the Evel Knievel daredevil missile jump. He was running 2nd to race winner Marty Smith until a flat tire relegated him to 3rd. His dirt racing career was terminated with a broken back later that year.

Road racing was next. Mel Dinesen, who tuned for Don at Daytona in `72, offered a ride on an old air-cooled TA250. At a time when TZ250 water pumpers became man datory in order to win road races, Dave and Mel did well with the dated bike. Floyd then decided it was time for Dave to have something competitive. He bought a new TZ and from that day Dave has never looked back.

He won the Daytona amateur 250cc races in 1975 and 1976. Three WERA Western Regional Championships in `76 were added to the list. He placed 2nd in all three classes at the national level. His peak for 1976 was reached when he beat Steve Baker at Riverside in the lightweight qualifying heat.

Most racers are content to settle for 2nd in a heat race, but the pair went at the 10 lapper as if it were the main. The rookie from San Diego was holding his own. "I couldn't believe it when I saw Baker's shadow coming around me on the outside of Turn 9. 1 knew I had him the whole race, and that was his last hope. Unfortunately, he fell off. But I felt I beat him, crash or no crash. And that made me feel real good."

Dave rode the entire 1977 season for Mack's Cycle Center (with full sponsor ship from Nippondenso spark plugs). In cluded in the deal was a TZ250, a TZ750 and a Kawasaki KZ1000 for superbike competition. He placed 2nd on the Ka wasaki at Daytona, then returned to Southern California for the annual six hour race at Ontario, which he won with buddy Harry Klinzmann. The 250 rider was-earning his stripes on the big bikes, too.

Dave was selected to replace Randy Cleek at the Anglo-American Match Races last spring. U.S. team morale was low, because of the unfortunate deaths of Cleek and Pat Evans at Imola. It got lower when Dave crashed hard at Mallory Park.

Trying to adjust to the four-cylinder Ya maha, Dave found himself in trouble at Gerrard's Turn, a fast right-hander. The throttle stuck, high-siding him off the bike and over a six-foot fence. He was knocked unconscious, and the apparent severity of the accident caused a working corner mar shal to shout "He's gone, he's snuffed!" Sharon Carruthers, wife of Kel, witnessed the crash and heard the marshal's com ments. Relaying the news to the pits, every body thought that Dave was dead. Which, in fact, was almost true. The track doctor said he lost Dave's pulse for about 10 minutes. Says Dave about his 10 minutes in purgatory, "I don't remember a thing, but if I was dead, I didn't go to a heaven or a hell."

The crash didn't slow him down much.

He went on to capture the AMA 250cc Championship, placing in the top 10 at Daytona and Charlotte, with a 3rd at Sears Point, and his first win at Pocono. Leading the points battle at Riverside, he almost didn't make the main, having scraped his right knee at the turn marker for the very fast Turn 2. "It hurt so bad I almost couldn't ride. I couldn't bend my leg. I let a muscle therapist work on me between practice and the heats and the pain and swelling went down within an hour. It was unbelievable. All he did was push and pull on some of my muscles."

Dave won the race, beating Gary Nixon in the process. He also ended the year as AFM 250 champ, Manning Racing 250 champ, and the Southern California 250cc Champion. He has established himself as a charger on the 15-cubic inch Twin. Now he is studying hard on the TZ7SU I-our.

His most difficult lesson to learn is how to pace himself in a race. Floyd. his most encouraging tutor, knows the value of race strategy and helped Don during his early days of racing. "Don was a thinker. He knew when to lead and when to follow in a long race. That's how he won the Talledega lightweight race against Rayborn and Nixon, and the `72 Daytona. Now I'm trying to teach Dave `thinking.' I tell him, `you've got to figure out your position in a dice or race at all times. If you zapped the guy at Turn 9, then use it to your advan tage.' David will grasp it soon. And he has Mel tuning for him again. Mel's a thinker, in the tuner's aspect of it. Some of it will rub off on Dave, just you watch."

Although Floyd never compares his two sons. there is a parallel between their rac ing careers. Both were initiated on Dinesen bikes, then rode Mack Kambayashi-pre pared bikes (Don on a factory BSA Triple), then returned to Dinesen. History tells us that Don won the "big one." Don't be surprised if lightning strikes twice in the same Dlace.