What do you all think of Mike Healey?

I kinda agree..I've known quite a few people to get mixed up in heroin/opiate related drugs...they are very untrustworthy. Heres the thinh though...

If his body was really that twisted up from injuries..him being a dope fiend isn't really his fault. Alot of people get into that stuff because of injuries and the pain is so bad they can't function without it. He said his back was trashed...

I wouldn't let this guy near my house/family/kids ...im sure hes a nice guy once you get to know him (alot of drug addicts are) but drugs change people.

It's pretty sad seeing once good kids/people turn into lying fiends..even worse when it happens to people you wouldn't expect it to happen too.

i may just be very naive here, but i am still baffled by how people who have the spotlight, a time to shine, a chance to inspire, go and lose reality for something as usless as drugs. ill use chris farley for example, people loved him, he was wanted, had the money to live a kick back life, very likeable......then why? Even MIke Healey's career, something to still be proud of though he wasnt on the top, a lot of people would have loved to experience his success,.....just dont get it. pissed it away.

jakejdnotes wrote: i may just be very naive here, but i am still baffled by how people who have the spotlight, a time to shine, a chance to inspire, go and lose reality for something as usless as drugs. ill use chris farley for example, people loved him, he was wanted, had the money to live a kick back life, very likeable......then why? Even MIke Healey's career, something to still be proud of though he wasnt on the top, a lot of people would have loved to experience his success,.....just dont get it. pissed it away.

If you haven't been through it, you wont ever get it.

I agree with your last sentence, but your 1st sentence displays your lack of knowledge concerning addiction. I agree i did not like the article, it seemed a little rushed and Healey came off as a dick. Like blaming the lady for telling him how easy it was to steal a purse or blaming a guy for turning him on to oxy's. he saiid it was his fault but why play the blame game?

He is a piece of shit. I personally know a guy who took classes with him when he was around 14-15, and mike hooked him on painkillers. Fucked up thing to do to a kid

jakejdnotes wrote: i may just be very naive here, but i am still baffled by how people who have the spotlight, a time to shine, a chance to inspire, go and lose reality for something as usless as drugs. ill use chris farley for example, people loved him, he was wanted, had the money to live a kick back life, very likeable......then why? Even MIke Healey's career, something to still be proud of though he wasnt on the top, a lot of people would have loved to experience his success,.....just dont get it. pissed it away.

Outsider wrote: If you haven't been through it, you wont ever get it.

true, i myself will never get it...but whats the attraction when you hear the negative outcome? the road back from addiction is a road i would never want to travel. what draws people in knowing the possibilities?

crashnburn11 wrote: He is a piece of shit. I personally know a guy who took classes with him when he was around 14-15, and mike hooked him on painkillers. Fucked up thing to do to a kid

Not much Different than Ryan Hughes smoking weed. Just sayin'.....

crashnburn11 wrote: He is a piece of shit. I personally know a guy who took classes with him when he was around 14-15, and mike hooked him on painkillers. Fucked up thing to do to a kid

langhammx wrote: Not much Different than Ryan Hughes smoking weed. Just sayin'.....

Comparing weed to pain killers is not a good comparison.

What's everyone cooking at home next sat night for MEC????
I need some ideas??
Seriously lets get off the bitch session
You can find good in anyone if you look hard enough

crashnburn11 wrote: He is a piece of shit. I personally know a guy who took classes with him when he was around 14-15, and mike hooked him on painkillers. Fucked up thing to do to a kid

langhammx wrote: Not much Different than Ryan Hughes smoking weed. Just sayin'.....

Somebody tells the facts of Hughes being a pothead. Ryno Power is more than nuts and berries!

Healey has always had a punk rock look, today is no different. He portrays a punk rock personna. He's had his demons his whole life, they finally grasped ahold of him to led him down the nasty path he became. I knew Mike and he was always a nice guy around me. Even in his later years when he was supposedly hooked on drugs. I'd see him at the tracks when he was supposedly under the influence and he was friendly like always. I don't have a bad experience with the guy. I hope to see him at the tracks now, I'll approach him and talk to him. My guess he will be as nice as he always was. Away from the track is where I never saw him. So I can't comment on his life away from the mx tracks. But his story is told. Hopefully he can grasp onto a clean life as an ex junkie and make his life the best that he can do for himself, his daughter, his mother and friends. Everyone should have a second chance, but if they screw it up again. No sympathy. From what I've heard, Mike is doing well. I hope he can live it straight and never go sideways again.

Ill restate something already said. If you haven't been through it, be happy that you will never truly get it. As someone who spent some time with mike before any of this(training) I can only give my first hand opinion. He was always a great trainer and a good guy to me personally. Now I realize that he's made GIGANTIC mistakes since then. And I know there will be plenty of talk about how it was own doing and all that jazz. Again see the second sentence. Just my opinion and experiences. Hope mikes doing better now.

Mike Healy.....not really considered a legend.....but definitely someone who made a mark in the sport. Good dude who did something stupid. I think that pretty much sums it up.

Hopefully he keeps it on the right track now.

I have a cousin that went down a similar road but now he's been good for many years and doing real well. I'm proud of him.

dirtnapper wrote: I just read the article in the Nov edition of RacerX. Hmmmm......DC said in his column "his life gets so dark and dirty that its not an easy read." I didn't agree.

Two things:

1) I find it hard to feel bad for people that get so snared and trapped in drugs. There was a time when those people did not do drugs. They started on thier own will. Its NOT a secret that heroin and cocaine are hard, dirty, horribly addictive drugs. Stay the hell away from them. There ARE other things to do to fill a void in your life than pump drugs into your veins.

2) Can it be good for an rehabbed ex-pro ( Mike ) to be teaching motocross schools while carrying around two packs of smokes and chain smoking through an interview? Not a really good example to be setting to young kids. ( I know, I know, its only cigs, but thats my opinion............flame away)

Overall, I felt after the article that Healey is just a guy that still doesn't really give a f#@k and wants people to feel sorry for him. I don't.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Just because you use hardcore drugs does not mean that you will be addicted to them. Claims of how highly addictive these drugs are were created as a scare tactic. People that get hooked on this stuff have what some call an addictive personality, the reality is that they have low numbers of D2 receptors in their brain which makes them more susceptible to addiction. This lack of D2 receptors is usually caused by certain things in ones childhood. With that being said I wouldn't send my kids to his school, there plenty of better choices.

jakejdnotes wrote: i may just be very naive here, but i am still baffled by how people who have the spotlight, a time to shine, a chance to inspire, go and lose reality for something as usless as drugs. ill use chris farley for example, people loved him, he was wanted, had the money to live a kick back life, very likeable......then why? Even MIke Healey's career, something to still be proud of though he wasnt on the top, a lot of people would have loved to experience his success,.....just dont get it. pissed it away.

Outsider wrote: If you haven't been through it, you wont ever get it.

jakejdnotes wrote: true, i myself will never get it...but whats the attraction when you hear the negative outcome? the road back from addiction is a road i would never want to travel. what draws people in knowing the possibilities?

THIS!!! This is what I don't understand about people experimenting with hard drugs. Ask any current or former addict - it NEVER leads to any good.

MX4EVR wrote: What's everyone cooking at home next sat night for MEC????
I need some ideas??
Seriously lets get off the bitch session
You can find good in anyone if you look hard enough

We are having a discussion about a subject. No need to say we're bitching.

I fully agree with your last sentence.

jakejdnotes wrote: i may just be very naive here, but i am still baffled by how people who have the spotlight, a time to shine, a chance to inspire, go and lose reality for something as usless as drugs. ill use chris farley for example, people loved him, he was wanted, had the money to live a kick back life, very likeable......then why? Even MIke Healey's career, something to still be proud of though he wasnt on the top, a lot of people would have loved to experience his success,.....just dont get it. pissed it away.

Outsider wrote: If you haven't been through it, you wont ever get it.

jakejdnotes wrote: true, i myself will never get it...but whats the attraction when you hear the negative outcome? the road back from addiction is a road i would never want to travel. what draws people in knowing the possibilities?

Once someone is addicted the pain comes from stopping. A good friend went through 9 months of hell just to get back to normal.

I bought the issue just to read the article and was a bit dissapointed. Like someone else said, it was rushed. The article could have easily been twice as long and gone into more detail on both the good and bad of Mike Healy and I wouldnt have minded the longer read.

Ive never met Mike so I cant say whether I like him or not, but I do know the older I get the more acepting I am of other peoples imperfections.

I doubt many people that start taking drugs consider where this road might lead them months or years later. I believe it is
usually the crowd one runs with that get people started making poor choices.

wasn't it RC who always praised how important it is to "choose" the right people you hang around and surround yourself with ? always made sense to me. And You see it so often... I mean it's easy to do the right things when everything runs smooth but You also need the right people around You once things get difficult... how you deal with the bad days makes a huge difference in people's careers... and the enviroment is essential then. it's like going to rehab to work thru the pain or just taking a pill and chill...

Over the last ten or so years I've seen a lot of people basically go down the same road as what he described in the article. I don't know that any of them got to the point of shooting heroin but the vicodin, oxy, soma cocktails were enough to finish them off. Good people turning themselves into pieces of shit and not even realizing they are doing it. Friends, neighbors, customers, members of their families, moms, dads and kids. It's pretty crazy when you start counting up the deaths. Healey is lucky to be alive. Hopefully he can keep shit straight. As bad as the pain killer epidemic is around the country, if you haven't seen it affect anyone around you, you might want to get your eyes examined.Pain management clinics locally were giving free office visits and prescriptions if you brought in new customers. Pharmacies were getting robbed on a regular basis. They were literally putting up lighted signs in front of the pharmacies advertising that they were out of all those pain pills in an effort to head off the robberies and break ins. Crazy shit, and all doctor prescribed.

Kinda funny how quickly peole who don't know him personally are quick to judge him by whats written and said by people who don't know much more than what they heard. I met Mike 20 years ago and yes he has had some demons to deal with but he has always been nice and respectful to me and others I have seen him around. Not many of us out here can throw stones at glass houses. I know most of us look in a mirror some days and don't like what we see and make changes and I pray Mke has done the same. The only real judge is waiting for us when we die and all the other judges until then are just people who are holding one piece of baggage or another.

newmann wrote: Over the last ten or so years I've seen a lot of people basically go down the same road as what he described in the article. I don't know that any of them got to the point of shooting heroin but the vicodin, oxy, soma cocktails were enough to finish them off. Good people turning themselves into pieces of shit and not even realizing they are doing it. Friends, neighbors, customers, members of their families, moms, dads and kids. It's pretty crazy when you start counting up the deaths. Healey is lucky to be alive. Hopefully he can keep shit straight. As bad as the pain killer epidemic is around the country, if you haven't seen it affect anyone around you, you might want to get your eyes examined.Pain management clinics locally were giving free office visits and prescriptions if you brought in new customers. Pharmacies were getting robbed on a regular basis. They were literally putting up lighted signs in front of the pharmacies advertising that they were out of all those pain pills in an effort to head off the robberies and break ins. Crazy shit, and all doctor prescribed.

Over 20k people die every year in the US from prescription drugs. Most of them are from painkillers.

CamP wrote: Over 20k people die every year in the US from prescription drugs. Most of them are from painkillers.

And I'll bet everyone who has replied in this topic knows at least a couple of them.

I have no clue about Mike's life but I've met many current and former drug addicts. From crack, angel dust, cocaine, heroin, oxy this and oxy that....It fucks up not only the addict but every close family member who also have to pay a price for their poor judgement in life. AIDs in the 80s scared enough needle users in that lifetime. Angel dust fried the brain cells well beyond any type of medical knowledge could repair. For as far as we have evolved and our knowledge of drugs and its side effects some of us just can't deal with life.

i think you're up in the night if you think Mike Healey gives two fucks about whether you or anyone else feel sorry for him or not.

my .02

people fuck up, and he did big time. now he's living with it.

Motocrossers are prime candidates for addiction because they tend to be thrill-seekers that don't consider consequences as much as other people. The craziest addictions I have seen were for drugs that are entirely legal- that would painkillers.

Also, it tends to happen when people's riding days are winding down and they are losing that aspect of their life. It sucks when you are too busted up to ride. I'm there right now (can't even lift my leg and sit on a bike)- but I don't take pills.

We had quite thread on here awhile back with people talking about painkiller addictions. It seems to be very widespread.

Whether anyone knows it or not, pain killers are a huge problem with riders of all ages, yhey can be highly addictive and several riders take them. I know two very promising rides whose careersstalled out and ended because of their addiction. One current team manager had a bout with oxy, and a retired rider was recently arrested over illegally obtaining them. They have caused a lot of personal problems with current and former riders and nobody seems to know or care. I can personally attest to how addictive they can be, i caught myself getting there after injuring my knee, but I was lucky to have the right person there.

IMO, its a bit sad that nobody in the sport reports any of it nor is there any type of counseling for riders to help them manage any of it. MX is a cruel industry in that it will use you for all you're worth then spit you out when you need them most. I'm not making excuses for anyone, but when a team manager is helping you get them so you can ride his bike, maybe some slack could be given, just take a look at Roncada.

i was lucky enough to see him in 125 GP's, and he was so fast ... he was wild back then , and i guess his rock star friends wernt exactley what you needed as an athlete........ however, i cant help thinking that the lack of a proper AMA drug testing for god knows how long , means that riders just get sucked in ,knowing that there are no real consequences...it needs sorting , and soon, as we have just seen with Lance Armstrong , even the best will run fast and loose with the rules.. a proper drug test program from 2014 should be announced now.. the sport is blighted by back chat and rumours , and it needs putting right