It's the Secondhand Motorcycle Show!

It's The Secondhand Motorcycle Show!

A Double Feature at Houston's Astrodome, Featuring New Rules, New Riders, New Machines And Two Victories For the Old Guard.

Compressing the rear suspension with his considerable bulk, Tex Peel checked chain tension on his Harley XR750. Rickey Graham had just put the bike into the TT final at Houston, the opening meeting of the AMA/Winston Pro national championship season. Peel didn't see it that way.

“Winston Pro racing really begins at the Sacramento Mile,” he grumbled as he tightened the axle. “Houston isn’t like any other race on the circuit and what happens here won’t mean anything.”

“Fun, though,” his audience volunteered.

“I’m miserable,” said Tex.

Moods change quickly when you’re having fun. Half an hour later Tex Peel was literally dancing for joy, whirling around the infield as teammates and rivals shook every hand they could catch. Riding with layers of tape over broken ribs, Graham had won the TT going away. Peel’s XR is immaculately prepared, expertly tuned . . . and at least seven years old. Behind him stretched four factory teams using every modern technotrick money can buy.

All right, let’s be fair about this. Houston is different. It’s held sort of inside, that is, in the Astrodome. The tracks are tight and artificial and the record does show that yes, what happens at the TT and the short track at Houston seldom have a bearing on who’s got what points at the end of the year.

Still, the two races and the emotional actions and reactions to them and during them make it fair to predict we’re going to have an interesting year.

Begin with the rules. They involve licensing, specifically the change that allows experts in various classes to move laterally; motocross to dirt track, road racing to motocross and so forth. The proponents said it’s only fair. The licensing difference came about because motocross became big time racing while the AMA first ignored it, then made separate classes and championships. Anyway, the boosters said, letting riders switch back and forth will bring in new names and famous names and will help draw crowds.

The opponents were the dirt track riders and tuners. We earned our licenses, they said, and paid our dues. Why should these guys have handed to them what we

Allan Girdler

bled for? Besides, they’ll use the wrong .lines and won’t know how we ride.

Fair arguments on both sides, but the vote was to allow the transfers. That set the stage for some controversy.

But first, short track. There were no transfers there. Instead, despite the national series having only two ST races each year, there were some displays of strength.

Honda had Mike Kidd, the new Number One, and protege Billy Heardon, first year expert and hoping for rookie of the year, on MX-based water-cooled machines. The rules allow 250cc two-strokes, so it was easy for Honda. And for Yamaha, with a similar machine for 1981 rookie of the year Jimmy Filice. Kawasaki had Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson leading a flock of more than 30 green bikes. There were sharp private Suzukis and Can-Ams. They are all naturals. Motocross has presented racers with wonderful new engines, water-cooled or not and the big teams have a wealth of tuning data and parts from which to draw.

Meanwhile, when Harley-Davidson sold its Italian factory several years ago, canny team manager Dick O’Brien figuratively swept up all the Aermacchi twostrokes he could find and squirrelled them away. The rules don’t say the engines have to be new or in production, merely that they were once sold to the public.

Last year the short track race was won by Jay Springsteen. This year team tuner Bill Werner dragged the bike, which he estimates to be seven years old, out of the corner of the race shop and dusted it off. Just for insurance, he installed a new piston, value maybe $15.

Springer won again.

That makes it sound easier than it was. There were some good rides and good riders, especially Kidd and Lawson. The most determined racer was Scott Parker. Another rule change for 1982 changes what used to be the trophy race, a money >

event for those who didn’t make the main event, into a Last Chance Race, with the winner getting into the main, for money and points.

There were six preliminary heats, with the first two finishers going to the main. Parker was third in his heat.

There were two semi-finals, with the winner going to the main. Parker was second in his heat. Everything comes to he who doesn’t quit, and Parker held on and won the last chance.

Another incident will become meaningful later in this narrative. Jimmy Filice was leading a semi but was caught by Steve Eklund, who got his front wheel inside Felice’s rear wheel and didn’t back off. This is perfectly fair, done all the time. Filice was eased out of the groove and didn’t make the main.

The actual short track final was fierce and fast but not close. Most riders can tune their suspensions to run low in the groove or high on the cushion. Springsteen set up his bike to do both at once because he can get more out of the machine. So he did. He won his heat and he won the final short track.

Then—oh Damn!—Springer went to the press box. Last year he won the short track, had a glass of orange juice and was second in the TT This time somebody handed him a soft drink. Springsteen’s medical problem is as mysterious as it is well known, but he was elated, happy to be back, hot and tired and gulped down the drink. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he

said when he realized what he’d done. Then he got sick, too sick to ride the TT.

He was missed but there was lots happening anyway.

The newcomer controversy involves Steve Wise, ex-motocrosser. He was good if erratic in motocross. And he’s twice won the Superbikers TV show. He then switched from Honda’s motocross team to the road racing team, with national TT races being an extra.

It’s hard for outsiders to know just how closely knit Winston Pro racers are, but they are. They risk limb and livelihood wheel to wheel 20-some times each year and they don’t accept outsiders who haven’t proved themselves.

There’s also some brand involvement here. Last year’s chuckle was about Mike Kidd winning the championship on a

Harley for a team that got some of its money from Yamaha. This year’s ironicjoke shirt says: “Harley Built It, Yamaha Won It . . . Honda Bought It.” Honda has a reputation for muscling into racing, not just flat track but road racing and motocross as well, as a sales tool. Harley and Yamaha in contrast are seen as caring about racing and as taking care of their customers.

There’s no prejudice against twostrokes. Nobody objects to Eddie Lawson or Wayne Rainey using motocross-based Kawasakis in TT because both men are members of the club. Jerry Greer’s Maico is respected but Greer comes out of sports man racing. His rider Rod Spencer earned his license on dirt tracks so there’s no beef if he wears motocross clothes rather than flat track’s traditional full leathers.

The objections to Wise, then, weren’t personal. But he is outspoken. Told about objections to his riding, Wise asked if they were here to race or play tiddly-winks.

Stage set? Okay. Kidd was fastest qualifier and won the first heat. Handed the microphone, Kidd said the flat track guys were about to show the motocrossers what racing really is, a remark that seemed like an answer before the question.

Scott Pearson got an early lead in the second heat and kept it, followed by Don Shobert but all eyes were on Wise, who came out of the pack like a rocket. He used different lines and jumped higher and farther than the other riders. He also looked in control.

Wise caught Eklund. He out-jumped the former national champion on the big jump, out-braked him into the tight turn and got his front wheel inside Eklund’s rear wheel.

Eklund went down. From the press box above the turn it looked as if he slipped, rather than was pushed. After the flag Eklund rode up to the referee and complained. There was no formal protest and there were no contact marks visible on either machine.

Mickey Fay, who has Honda support but not a full factory contract, won the third heat, after a restart caused by a crash that put Filice out. Spencer and the Maico were second. Graham went from fifth to first in four laps of the last heat.

Wise won the first semi and his onehand jumps won the crowd’s hearts. Randy Goss re-read the Dick O’Brien Book of Winning and took the second semi.

Again, the main event’s action was behind the leader. Graham’s Harley has a frame made before 1975, reworked by a previous owner and reworked again by Peel. It doesn’t look special but Graham is good and he’s brave and Peel knows what combination will work for which track. Graham won with something in hand.

Behind him it was Kidd then Wise then Fay. At one point Wise came up and got inside Kidd but Kidd just held on and it was Wise who rolled off first. Eklund did to Filice what Wise did to Eklund what Kidd did to Wise and that’s a full circle.

As the leaders came up on slower riders, Graham got past Terry Poovey but Kidd didn’t. He went down and couldn’t get his motor restarted. While Wise and Fay dueled for second, Wise’s rear brake rod broke. He settled for third while a hardcharging Spencer got fourth and a ditto Randy Goss, on the factory XR750 that’s probably newer but no lighter than Peel’s, was fifth.

And that’s the way it was. Didn’t prove one darned thing. To see Gary Scott and Dave Aldana lined up in the last chance heat was to know that as Houston goes, the season probably won’t. You can’t call Houston a forecast.

But you can call it good racing. Œ