Johnny O'Mara

JOHNNY O'MARA

Supercross Champion

The O'Show plays on

DALE BROWN

THE "O'SHOW" HASYET TO PLAY on Broadway. and it hasn't reached the silver screen, but it's been a box-office smash for Supercross. for Honda and for its star. Johnny O'Mara.

It's been five years since the show first started, when O'Mara originally burst into the National motocross spotlight, and in that time he has captured two National titles and a multitude of individual wins. In addition. he was a member of three of the four American teams that have won the Motocross and Trophee des Nations world team championships. A chro nology of O'Mara's rise through mo tocross racing reads like the script to a Hollywood success story.

The son of a Van Nu~s, California, plumber. O'Mara has been racing motocross for 15 years. But in MX, like show business, it's hard to get started unless you have a good agent. O'Mara's first step to the big time was, as he tells it, meeting his current mentor/manager. Al Baker. in `76.

"Al wasn't really sponsoring me back then." O'Mara recalls. "It was one of the guys working at his shop who was helping me out." Eventu ally. though. Baker went out to watch O'Mara race, and was impressed. "Ever since then he's been behind me all the way."

It was, in fact, Baker who was in strumental in getting the O'Show a tryout with Mugen. a company that sold Honda-based MXers and hop up parts in the U.S. That tryout blos somed into a sponsorship that bene fitted both Mugen and O'Mara. "It opened a lot of people's eyes," O'Mara says now.

Despite~i back injury suffered in an auto accident that kept him out of some mid-season nationals. O'Mara scored two fourths and had several other topI 0 placings that year. But the big turning point came at Mid Ohio at the 125 USGR It was a muddy. wet day. and all of the U.S. stars like Mark Barnett and Broc Glover were there, as well as all the top Europeans. When the muck had stopped being churned, the winner was Mugen's Johnny O'Mara.

`~Tha~ was the icing on the cake." he remembers. `Everyone really be lieved in me after that. They saw me only getting fourths in the nationals. and then they saw me beat Glover and Barnett. plus the Europeans. That's when they said, Yeah, this guy could really amount to some thing.' To this day. that race is proba bly my biggest one single event win."

indeed. it was that win that helped net O'Mara one of the most soughtafter positions in all of racing: a fac tory ride with American Honda. Two years later. Honda's faith in O'Mara would pay off in the form of the 125 National Championship. "There were four of us going for it (O'Mara. Ward. Barnett and Lechien). and I was the most consistent. From race to race. I would go 1-2 or 2-1. never 1-4. The other guys had a couple of me chanical breakdowns, but my bike al ways ran perfectly.

"I was strong that year. training really hard. And I needed that cham pionship. because if I hadn't gotten it. that would have been just too many years working at it. Ward worked a long time to get his: some thing like seven years. I didn't want to be working that long at it."

Ward did ake the 25 title away from O'Mara in 1984. But O'Mara won the Supercross title, which he says more than makes up for losing his outdoor crown. `~The Supercross series is the big one. All the top riders are in it, and I won by a big margin. Winning the Supercross Championship felt a lot better than winning the 125s. Supercross is the most presti gious and pays the most money."

Money.1n~t surprisingly, has be come a major factor in O'Mara's life since his rise to stardom. A couple of years ago, Honda's bonus for win ning the Supercross Championship was reported to be $ 100,000. Plus, there are bonuses for race wins, out side sponsors. purses and contingen cies, all on top of his base salary.

O'Mara cl~iims that the r~ioney hasn't really changed him, though. "It just confuses me. I'm very self conscious about the money I make and real nervous about spending it. Al Baker handles most of my finan cial affairs. I have an accountant and lawyers and people like that, so the money is put in the right areas."

LikT~e many others who have reached his level of success, O'Mara is incorporated."My corporation pays me each week,just like a regular job. All the bookwork is done up in Hesperia. near Al's place. They have girls working on it for me: it's a fulltime job for them. I have to pay them, hut it's well worth it because I don't have the time to do it. This way I can give 100 percent to my racing."

Even though motocross has been financially rewarding to O'Mara, he's amazed at how little the sport, in gen eral, pays. "Right now, the purses are ridiculous. It's not fair to the riders, even the factory riders. The priva teers aren't making anything. With our salaries and bonuses we can walk away with seven to eight thousand af ter a win, but that's what the purse alone should pay. Anaheim in 1984 was a sellout and Mike Goodwin made a lot of money. I won the race and got $1500 plus $1000 from Miller Beer. Nationals are the same way: purses there are ridiculous as well. I don't know what the answers are. We need to sit down with the promoters and discuss it."

Nonetheless, when O'Mara lines up for the start, all the financial mat ters go to the back of his mind. The race is what matters. "There are a lot of butterflies. I'm nervous and so is everyone else, but I'm really con centrating on getting the holeshot. That's what's going through every one else's head, too. In Supercross. the start is so important. It's hard to come from behind. There are 10 guys who can win one of these things. and to pass those 10 is going to take a lot. Not too many riders have come from lower than fifth on the start to win a main event. It seems like you have to be in the top three to have a chance. Even if you're out in front with a big lead, it's better to keep attacking the course. If you slack off even a little bit, you lose your rhythm, and that can get you in trouble."

With five wins and a host of top placings in 1985, the O'Show didn't find itself in trouble too often. O'Mara feels he owes much of his success to his tuner, Jim Felt. "He's great," says O'Mara. "probably the best in the business. We work very closely together. His bikes work and he's behind me 100 percent, always pushing me. When I get down, he's there to help me back up. We're really good friends-it's almost like we're brothers."

There are others in O'Mara's booster club, too. His girlfriend, San dra Benedict. his parents. even his fans have been a source of support. His advice to some of those specta tors with visions of becoming future O'Shows? "Be sure that's what you really want to do. It's not going to be easy and you'll sacrifice a lot of grow ing up. things like having fun with your friends. Racing isn't all that much fun: it's more like a job. espe cially when you get to the expert level. Young kids considering it will just have to set their minds straight and go for it. You can't cut corners at all. There are so many good guys that you can't win unless you're doing cv erything right."

iJudgingby the past racing season, it's certain that O'Mara takes his own advice. He's been doing something very right.