Posts
589
Joined
2/4/2009
Location
Adelphi, OH, USA
Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 11:10pm
* A Forty Minute, Sixteen Second Conversation with James Stewart.
One interesting thing, he said his 125 got real slow in '04. Well, that's when they started having to run that crap unleaded gas. I still say that's where it all went wrong for two strokes. I was watching Unadilla '01 last night, and on the hill after the wall, the guys on 125s were pulling the guys on 250Fs, even Pastrana, and he was pretty heavy for a 125. I'll bet it was a hard decision in '04, whether to ride a 125 that was slow or a 250F that he was always leaning up against a fence post and walking back to the pits from.
I thought that was interesting.
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Imagine that? Non risk takers? And they promote gambling?
To be honest, nothing really, we talked after the race and it wasn’t his fault. I’ve always been the person to take the fault with my team, even going back to the days at Kawasaki. When that thing would throw my over the handlebars I would still say it was good. I knew that it wasn’t his fault, the direction we went was more my direction and I couldn’t be mad at him for that. So instead of going back and getting mad at each other, we went back and worked on it and won six races in a row.
~James Stewart~
What about your summer plans? Do you know which GP’s you’re going to do yet?
Well they keep cancelling the ones I want to go to! I wanted to go to that South African one and they cancelled that one. Then the USGP, that one is cancelled and the South America one is also off. I don’t know, I may just race the whole AMA nationals.
Oh man, people in Morgantown just peed their pants…
I don’t know for sure, don’t go twisting my words. You never know.
I won’t, I’ll type it out just like it is. The reason I ask is I got a couple letters from Euros that wanted to know if “Booba” was racing the GP’s.
Yeah, Booba would definitely be in Europe, Booba’s coming. If I had my first choice and could do anything I wanted, I would race the outdoors series over here but that’s not my choice, it’s not up to me. We gotta do what we gotta do.
~James Stewart~
But his people would have you believe that he didn’t care about that World title because he was just gearing up for the AMA series.
I know, I know. I heard that but I gotta keep my mouth shut because the guy that was saying that was the guy that I’m working with now (laughs). I have to watch how I say that, it’s so funny man. This paragraph is going to get me in trouble and all that but I just to tell Aldon this to get him pissed off. Whenever he gets me mad I tell him that one time, I went down to Phoenix supercross and ate a pack of those white powdered donuts and went out and gave your boy the business.
He gets so mad at me and all that. I tell him that I believe in his program and all that but I also believe in the sweets also.
One time before the Millville national, I saw John Dowd eat chicken fried steak and eggs with all that white gravy on top and he went out and won that day. True story.
If I would sit here and tell you all the stuff that I would eat before a 125 outdoor moto, it would blow your mind. I used to eat chicken wings, I would eat a hamburger right before the main event! It was all that, especially now that I’m supercross only, I can hit the vending machines at the Holiday Inn.
When Aldon hears those things, he must be just freaking out.
Yeah, he loses it. I just tell him that I went out in supercross and gave his boy the business with the white powdered donuts. I’m like “You know that white stuff on my lips? That wasn’t dust, that was the powdered sprinkles from the donuts I just ate”. It was funny.
I mean what if he was hurt 2 races into SX like last year and all of the sudden he decided to definitely ride the entire outdoor series? Could Suzuki pick him up to since Chad won't be there? Could Honda grab him to replace Townley? Could Kawi get him back to show RV the ropes? I'd think that Yamaha has some sort of contractual protection from that sort of thing happening - maybe a first-refusal deal for the outdoors.
I think James can ride the outdoors if he wants to - he'd probably only need 11 out of the 12. Maybe even just 10.
My guess is that when he says "it's not up to me", then it must be up to those who foot the bill... and we all know L&M/San Manuel are only in for SX; they'd have to nearly double their budget for this year to cover the Nats, and clearly they've decided it just isn't worth it. Could they change their minds? Sure, but based on what? It won't be simply because some think it's "the right thing to do." Perhaps the new Allisport/NBC/Universal tv package for the Nats will convince them? But probably not; in this economic climate it's safer to wait a year and see how the Nats come along with the new deal.
Sure, James could bankroll a race team out of his own pocket to contest the outdoors, but it wouldn't make any business sense whatsoever.
Pit Row
People have been saying for a long time that the season is too long and too hard on the riders and teams, and this is what it's coming to. James went out and raced RC from gate to flag for 2 years, then won a 450 championship, and that was enough. If he wants to win more than 72 SXs, he's going to have to preserve his body, and he's proven everything he needs to outdoors anyway. I don't like SX only deals any more than anyone else, but our sport has had a problem for a long time and there has been no resolution, and you can't blame riders for trying to figure out a solution on their own.
I think if he wanted to he could race the outdoors. I forget what he named it its something like JS entertainment. I for one would be happy to not see him race the outdoors, hes already had a perfect season, and it would be nice to see villopoto Alessi, Grant, all battle for first instead of 2nd.
Clearly the RV/Kawi/Honda/Suzuki examples were huge hypotheticals. Things change all the time. Many thought Dungey would be wearing One gear. Who would have thought that One would barely have a presence on the track? They had their eggs in Dungeys basket; things change.
I don't know why L&M might change their minds, but just because I don't know why doesn't mean they won't. I can't pretend to really know the ends and outs of the riders contracts, but I'd guess they aren't written on a napkin. Lawyers are involved on both sides. Heck, I even encounter contractual stipulations at my not so exciting level in the entertainment industry.
Without knowing the numbers it's hard to speculate what makes business sense and what doesn't.
I agree that if he's going after 72 he'll need to concentrate on SX.
BTW.........How does it feel to be known for starting the first gay moto web site Void?
Kind of makes the haters looks silly.
But, keep telling James what he should do, I'm sure he's taking notes.
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