This interview was originally taken in late ’07. It’s one of those interviews of dumb luck and one I hadn’t dreamed I’d be having. Schwantz has always been my hero. He’s the reason I got speeding tickets, out ran cops, crashed, learned to wheelie and became such an avid fan of motorcycle racing.
RH: I used to spend hour upon hour watching your races back in the early nineties. Sometimes I’d watch the same race as many as 3-4 times a night until the next one came on the following Sunday only to start the process all over again. I’d sit and dissect every move you’d make. I think it was because of your do or die racing technique that I walk with a limp today.
KS: Ha!
RH: I know you have twenty-five wins in the Moto GP and one World Championship. People have said you either would win the race or crash trying. Do you know how many crashes you had?
KS: Out of the 100 Grand Prix I rode in, I remember fourteen DNF’s. Seven of them where my fault and seven where mechanical. The leathers I wore before Dainese would get numbered. The last suit that I wore in 1989 was suit number 19. As soon as one would hit the ground it’d go back in a box and they’d ship them back to the company.
RH: Someone said, “Kevin’s skill and showman ship would have a big influence on Valentino Rossi.” I know you’ve had some interaction with him. How much do you converse?
KS: I don’t know if it’s a lot, but when I first went to Misano in ‘88 or ‘87 I got to watch Rossi racing pocket bikes and he was actually wearing one of my Schwantz (replica) helmets. Yeah, it’s been said several times that I am his hero or whatever, but what he has accomplished and done makes him a rider to the very top level. As far as interaction goes, it seems that whenever he and I go to the Grand Prix we always end up sitting in the trailer talking and shootin’ the shit. We watched a video of the race at Barcelona, after Stoner beat him that day, sitting in his trailer drinking red wine, while he and his mechanics and friends cursed at the TV in Italian every time Stoner would pass him by. But more than anything it’s a mutual respect.
RH: What do you think of Stoner?
KS: You know for a kid who last year everyone thought, are you going to be anything? He never really proved anything during testing and was never the fastest guy consistently. For him to come out and race as well as he has and make as few a mistakes as he has, is really something.
RH: I saw him in the 250’s and thought he could go somewhere but I never expected this.
KS: I raced with him in Italy at a Supermoto race during a motorcycle show in ’04. Me, Vali and Stoner got to ride together. He and Rossi in the dry got away from me but in the wet we where racing a little closer. Stoner was so fast and trying so hard that he hit Rossi and ran him a little wide so I snuck in beneath them and won the race. Casey has always had the ability (to win). What Casey said to me is, “What matters the most is having a crew, motorcycle manufacturer and tire manufacturer that is solely focused on me.” When I was with Michelin I would say, “Hey that tire doesn’t work for me.” And they’d say something like, “Hey it works for Rossi, make it work for you.” Or, “Pedrosa likes them, figure out how to use it.” Because at Honda your low on the pecking order but when you are with Ducati or Bridgestone the worlds at your feet. They come to you and ask, “What can we do for you and that makes a big difference?”
RH: I heard talk of you pushing for, or starting a singles series…
KS: I rode a Troy Lee, and Roland Sands and a couple different guys 450 Supermoto bikes with 600 Super Sport front ends on them, and essentially turn them into road racers. I rode them around Laguna Seca. They’re well, well under geared and (I was) running them off the rev limiter everywhere. It’s supposed to be an inexpensive way to go road racing. My question to them has been, “How long is a 450 motocross engine supposed to last when you’re doing that to them down the straight away?” (Pantomiming his right hand pinning open the throttle.) “The last turn at Laguna was third gear. Before I even got to the top of the hill I was pinning the rev limiter. With a 450-motocross engine most manufacturers recommend engine rebuilds after 20 hours. That’s in a motocross element where full throttle is only for a fraction of the time. By the time you get that bike built for $10-15 thousand bucks and then for every rebuild you’re putting in a couple thousand bucks more…is it really going to be less expensive then a 125 Grand Prix bike? You know they are light and nimble, they handle great. For as under geared as it was at Laguna my statement was, “The front’s not in the back and the back’s not in the front. It seems pretty close to correct. But until you gear one right and ride one into and out of a corner to see what it does and see what the geometry is like, how will you know if it will handle like a road racer should?
RH: So that’s where you’re at with that?
KS: I’ve gotten several calls and they all say, “Give me a quote! We want to hear what you got to say!” I ain’t saying anything about it. I’m not going to go out there on a limb and tell people, Go buy one dem things they’re great! Then find out they’re blowing up or they don’t handle great, or they are not geared correctly and you can’t get them to turn. Until I ride one and get a little closer to one in complete development. Eh.
RH: What about the other extreme such as the Ducati Hypermotard, is that just going to far?
KS: I think a motorcycle is a motorcycle whether on dirt or pavement or whatever it is, if a dirt bike has slicks it’s going to react the same. I mean the same basic skills apply. With Road Racing it’s speed, how fast can I get around that track? With dirt bike riding it’s, “Can I actually do that jump without dying first?” So I think all of this is good, good fun and great training. I think when a guy goes from dirt to road racing it’s for the speed. It’s funny because with Rodney and Michael the off road Suzuki guys, we’ve said, “Why don’t you come to the (Kevin Schwantz Suzuki) school, ride a sport bike with us?” “Up yours!” They said, “Those things go over a hundred miles an hour!” Its like they’ve just got that in their heads. They’ll go a hundred through roots and between trees but wont go over a hundred on anything else.
RH: I learned how to ride on a dirt bike.
KS: That’s just normal. Most of us where what 5-6 years or so? You had to learn on a dirt bike what else was there? Now they got little bikes for kids that look all sporty and sleek but they have only been around a few years. Before that what else was there?
RH: I heard your first bike was a Bonanza Mini Bike, complete with a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine.
KS: Briggs, 3 ½ Horsepower!
RH: Good little bike?
KS: It was, you know? It served its purpose, until I got on a Mini Trail 50. The Sales Manager had just taken it in. He said to me, “Hey, look at this new bike I got on trade. Want to ride it?” I didn’t even have my helmet on I just jumped on it and rode it right out of the parking lot. The mechanic had just rode out of the shop on a test ride and I said, “Hey let’s race!” So we lined up and got on the gas. Burrp, burrp, burrrp all the way across the parking lot. I get to the other side and realize my hands aren’t big enough to work the breaks. I rode right into the fence! It was funny because my mom wasn’t there at the time. She came back and started asking everyone, “Where’s Kevin? Where’s Jim?” everyone said we had gone to run some errands. I think I was about five when this happened.
RH: What do you think the Japanese manufacturers are going to do after losing the Moto GP to Ducati?
KS: You know I don’t think it’s a matter of who they lost to, just that they’ve lost. I don’t know if it’s because they lost to a European brand that it will make the pain any greater.
RH: You had talked about the philosophy of Ducati being very focused on the rider whereas the Japanese are more focused on the product. Do you think that will change now that Ducati took the championship?
KS: It very well could. That’d be great.
RH: I know that Nicky was disappointed that they weren’t listening to what he had to say about his bike.
KS: Yeah it’s not Nicky’s bike, it’s Danny’s. Danny’s the size they want, that’s what will increase the horsepower, he’s close with the sponsors his dad is to. Nicky has a lot of things working against him. Even after winning the World Championship. It’s like they almost didn’t want him (Nicky) to win this last year judging by some of the things they did and didn’t do. They told Danny don’t race anywhere near him and sure as shit he knocked him down, ya know?
RH: Do you still street ride?
KS: I got bikes at home but they don’t get ridden very often. I really don’t have that much time for it. My motocross bikes and mountain bike get a lot more use than my street bikes do.
RH: Any more auto racing aspirations?
KS: Not really. The main reasons I got into car racing as much as I did was to forget about bikes. It served a purpose in my life. If someone where to call me up and ask me to sit in a car for an endurance race or something I’d probably go do it.
RH: What’s your take on the tire situation for the Moto GP?
KS: This is the pinnacle of the sport. Why do we need any rules at all? It should be about displacement. Maybe have some aerodynamic restrictions that say the fairings have to stay within the wheels, and see how much speed the engine can find. Now it’s all electronically restricted. That’s the only other thing I think that would help it, if they got rid of all the electronics. But then it would mean going back to carbureted engines.
RH: Why do you think Suzuki would bring on Capirossi and not Ben Spies?
KS: I don’t really know why. I think Japan realized American Suzuki had a contract with him for next year and they didn’t want to step on their toes. But at the same time the reason Suzuki is able to race bikes at the level they do is because their bikes sell so well. Whether their sales are affected on a world level or if it’s AMA Super Bike they know where to stick riders to keep their numbers up.
RH: April 28th, 1985 you won both legs of Super Bike earning your first AMA victory. What was that like?
KS: It was fun, but you know I don’t remember it all that well. We had gone there, practiced there, it was where I got my try outs at the end of ’84 and got my ride. I went faster than they went in the AMA Super Bike races that year. So it was almost like I was supposed to win. No big deal. And of course Fred Merkel was sick for that race. They said he was quoted as saying he had the Schwantz flu. That was one of those weekends when everything goes like it’s supposed to. We were fastest in practice too.
RH: In ’88 you fractured your forearm during practice at Daytona. You went on to win that race then two weeks later you went on to win again…
KS: Two weeks later it wasn’t fractured anymore!
RH: Two weeks later it didn’t hurt at all? That’s a major stress point for a racer. I’d have to image that’s a part of your body that’s taking a lot of abuse.
KS: I don’t remember it hurting much. In Daytona my arm was swollen as thick as my elbow all the way down to my fingers. The doctors would wrap it and say, “As long as you don’t fall off and land on it again its not going to get any worse, it’ll just be painful.”
RH: During the German Grand Prix at Hockenheimring in ’93 you had an average speed of around 126MPH. What’s a race like that feel like.
KS: Most races you average about 100, not there though. That tracks not safe. When a track isn’t safe enough for their Porsches you start to think, “Should I be riding this track? I don’t know…
Kevin shrugs his shoulders and raises his hands. Then suddenly tucks in behind an imaginary bike, his eyes shut tight and his hands grasping the handlebars, smiling through clenched teeth.
KS: You would come out of the stadium and go down the back straight away full out. Even your gears where laughing at you. They’d sound like, “Nyah, ya, ya, ya, yaaaah!” the whole time. I’d be tucked in behind my screen with the engine screaming, head down, starring at the tach the whole time. That was a fun track. You’d ride that track wide open the whole time and still it just on a two-minute lap.
RH: What do you think about when you race? Do you think about winning, or do you think about just getting out there, going fast and having as much fun as you can?
KS: I think what made it that much easier for me to race at the top was all the fun I had. All the traveling, PR and hotels, everything that took place, it all revolved around that one hour on Sunday, that was it. That is what I did all that stuff for, it all came down to that one moment. But that is also why I quit racing. It stopped being the kick in the pants that it was. It was still fun but it was just riding around doing laps. If I didn’t win I’d think, “I’ll win another one.” instead of, “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done!”
RH: The Moto GP was different back then as well. Wouldn’t you guys go out, have fun and party?
KS: I think that is what made the risk we’d take that much more acceptable. Back then it was all about that one hour. Outside of that we had pretty normal lives. Yeah I’d train a little between races but we’d go out and have fun. Now, with guys like Valentino Rossi, the sport has gotten so big it becomes all they do. They can’t go anywhere or do anything without everyone scrutinizing everything they do. After we would race we’d load up, fly back to Texas, and outside of only a couple of times hardly anyone would ever recognize me. There was some Suzuki shops that I’d get noticed but, well, I could go into Yamaha shops no problem!