Personal cool stories with pro racers

Beast666 wrote:

Since I have hung out with several pro motocrossers over the years just as friends and shooting the breeze my best pro racer encounter was of...

Since I have hung out with several pro motocrossers over the years just as friends and shooting the breeze my best pro racer encounter was of a different sort:

In 1990 I was returning from The IJSBA World finals in Lake Havasu, AZ. I made a side trip to So Cal to pick up some race parts and other items from my sponsors. I stopped in Phx, on the way back. At the hotel I was staying at there were several NASCAR transporters in the parking lot for the race in Phx that coming weekend. I was in the parking lot with my ski on a work stand installing the hop up parts when a guy walks up and starts talking about jet skis and racing. I was talking back but did not make eye contact as I was focusing on getting some hoses attached to the new rack of carbs I installed. When i looked up it was Mark Martin who i was talking to. i buttoned up the ski and put it back into my van. Mark looked at me and said when are you going to go test it out? I told him I was not planning on riding it till the next day back in NM. He said why not today there are plenty of lakes nearby? I told him this is true I might just go grab the wetsuit and go and test it out for a few. Mark asked if he could ride with me and perhaps try out the ski for a bit as he was bored.

Long story made short Mark rode shot gun and then did a few laps around the cove. that evening he rings up my room and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out with the team in the pits the next day while they were setting things up. Needless to say my travel plans were changed at that moment and i spent a few extra days in Phx.

Bauer wrote:

I have some good ones about a lot of guys spanning some forty years of racing debauchery, including a few from last night at the after-race...

I have some good ones about a lot of guys spanning some forty years of racing debauchery, including a few from last night at the after-race party at Marty Tripes Vintage Days at the Ranch, but here's one that makes me chuckle...

Back in 2005 had Windham, McGrath and Short at my Big Air Kid's Fair at Loma Linda Children's Hospital, along with Chuck Miller, who was their boss at Honda at that time. Now, Chuck and I go back a looooooong ways and have done plenty of stuff that he probably didn't make a part of his corporate bio as the new Race Teams Manager at Big Red. He's also a top-notch fuckstick practical joker, almost as fucked up as Moates was, but maybe a shade less brutal...but that may only be because Chuck is a company man who has guys in suits with powerful traditions to report to, while Marty could get away with anything, since he was an owner at No Fear and his partners were nearly as twisted as he was. If MIller had his own company he'd spend half the day just fucking with his friends.

Anyway, those guys didn't know Chuck was coming and I hadn't mentioned it to them, since I'd been inviting him for years and he'd never made it to the gig. Jeremy and Andrew had worn their team shirts, but Windham had forgotten to bring his and it was funny as hell to see his face drain when he saw Chuck show up. He was like, "Oh fuck, what am I gonna do?", and those other guys were milking it. It was pretty funny, especially for me, knowing how Miller really is. So I told Kevin that if Chuck gave him any shit about forgetting his shirt, all he had to do was mention "Ruby Sisters, the Gorilla and Baja" and Miller would STFU. He laughed and wanted details, but that tale was sealed to secrecy by all of the parties involved, never to leave Mexico.

So, after the all-day event, which can be emotionally difficult after visiting every patient in the hospital, they had an hour or so before they were all headed to Chaparral for their Fan Appreciation autograph dealio, so I invited KW, MC and Shorty to dinner, figuring it was the least I could do to thank them for their support. So we all have dinner and a couple of drinks at the Elephant Bar and the check came. I picked it up and was just kinda looking it over, because I pretty much always check restaurant/bar tabs to make sure I'm not getting burned...force of habit. So then Kevin takes it and looks at it, then Jeremy and I said give it here so I can pay it. Well, those guys can never let an opportunity for a little competition or gambling to go by unnoticed, so McGrath says, "Let's all throw down our credit cards and let her pick which one she wants to use".

Being the only non-millionaire at the table, I mumbled what was probably the weakest protest I could come up with, like "No man, you guys have done enough...OK, I'm in". So the waitress walks up, we told her the deal and we all tossed down our cards: three platinums and a gold. At first I was horror-stricken, because mine stood out...but then I'm thinking she'll grab one of theirs, since they were obviously big ballers and I'm hucking a lowly gold card. But noooooooooo, she goes right for my card and says some bullshit about gold being her favorite color and walks away! They all put their cards away and we were all laughing, when suddenly Windham stops laughing, grabs my arm from across the table and looks me in the eyes like he's about to tell me the meaning of life or some shit...so everyone is quiet for a second and in this serious, low voice, he says, "Don't you know that you should never, ever, play the Gold card...", and we all just cracked the fuck up like it was the funniest thing we had ever heard. I don't know why, but it still makes me laugh, even as I type this.

The best part was that I wanted to pick up the bill anyway, since it was the right thing to do. I did learn a lesson though...Never, ever, throw down the Gold!