On Track Off Road No. 189

ing ‘I’m close’. We went from
high anxiety to the world is
good again. We then go to
Europe and A1 gets closer and
the [expectation] starts creeping
in and it was more than
any of us thought it would be.
We’d never won one before!
You never get as many calls
from winning the 250 championship
as you do the Supercross
championship.
Logistically how it is managing
a team when the whole
operation is split the breadth
of the United States?
It is very challenging from a
managerial standpoint and
a personal one. Up until we
moved into the Husqvarna
factory facility here and did
the Aldon Baker deal with
KTM then I spent time with
my riders every day. You go
from spending every week and
every day travelling together
to a weekly phone call or
seeing them every month or
two. I’d see them every Saturday
but not during the week.
It became difficult for me
because beforehand I could
gauge how the weekend would
be because of the week leading
up to it; whether there was
personal, technical or bumpsand-bruises.
I mean, if you
ask a rider how the week went
they’d always say ‘it went
great’. Ask them how they feel
that day ‘I feel amazing’. Then
you come to find out that they
had a big get-off or the laptimes
were not great one of
the days. It has been difficult
for me with that. So much so
that I put together a whole
analysis for how much money
we’d save if we moved the
whole race-shop to Florida!
And then having 80% support
at the test facility and 20%
here for - literally - as few
as six and at the very most
thirteen weeks in California.
The rest of the time would be
over there. Managing it all is
difficult: when we were doing
the tests with Thomas with
suspension and chassis then
the way we had it set-up that
week would normally take
a month and the frustration
level of the rider increases.
Generally I think we missed
the boat a bit and all of my
staff said they’d relocate. Most
of them have been with me a
long time and that’s the way
we always operate. If someone
has an issue then we address
the issue. Now we are doing
it through other ways of
communication but it is not
like doing it hands-on. So I
made up my mind that I’ll just
spend more time in Florida
and I’m looking at Real Estate
there. I don’t worry about
Jason and Zach because
they have been doing it long
enough and they can communicate
well enough. They know
what they are looking for and
what needs to be done. But
with the young guys it is very
difficult. I remember when
Jason started riding with me
he couldn’t tell you anything
about the bike! He’d just
adjust his style to what the
bike was doing! Now he’s in
a different league. He knows
what he is looking for and that
makes it much easier but we
have to develop the young
kids and the amateurs. We
have three programmes and I
feel we could shorten the time
of development and therefore
the results if we had the ability
to be there more.
Could riding for you be quite
intimidating? Simply because
of what you have achieved in
the sport?
I hope not.
In the same way that young
guys might be daunted by riding
and working with Roger
De Coster?
I don’t see myself that way.
My wife might tell you that I
can look quite intimidating
from a distance but I feel I am
nice guy and if you can’t get
along with me then you can’t
with anyone.
It’s more your standing…
Roger is the guy at the top of
the totem pole. Even though
I’ve had success I would hope
I’m still humble and grounded
as when I started. I’ve been
successful in anything I’ve
done, whether it is business,
sports or racing but I know
it takes time. When I first got
into this I remember walking
into Mitch Payton’s office. I
had never met him and I was
very intimidated at the time!
This was fifteen-twenty years
MEETING BOBBY HEWITT