Interview: Danny “magoo" Chandler

Interview: Danny “Magoo" Chandler

RACE WATCH

The wild man speaks out on the dangers of motocross

RON LAWSON

In the summer of 1982, Danny “Magoo" Chandler was the best motocrosser in all the world. He won the 500cc USGP, the Superbikers competition, both motos of the Trophee des Nations and both motos of the Motocross des Nations. And he did it all with a certain flair and wild-man style that made him a crowd-pleaser all over the world. Three years later, he would crash at a Supercross in Paris, France, breaking his neck and leaving him permanently paralyzed from the chest down. Today, Chandler lives with his wife, Tracy, and his daughter, Kayli, in northern California, where we visited him to talk about his career, Europe and the future of motocross.

CW: What happened at Paris when you got hurt?

Magoo: I did a tabletopper, a onehanded one, and landed with my hands on the bars, but 1 went off the track and hit a hay bale. The front wheel hit it and went up. then the rear wheel kicked me up. And as I was going over the handlebars, 1 hit a camera with my left shoulder. It spun me around and I landed on my neck, straight up-and-down. It shoved my head forward. The damage is at C-5 here (points to lower neck).

CW: With David Bailey getting hurt and the FIM effectively outlawing double jumps, there has been a lot of talk about doing away with doubles over here. Do you think that’s a good idea?

Magoo: It’s hard to think of what racing would be like without jumps. Are we going to go roadracing or what? I think in Supercross they have gotten a little out of hand, but I don’t think it’s the promoters’ fault; it’s more the riders’ fault. They’re the ones out there with the mindset that says they’re going to jump so far. They’re the ones doing it. If one of the top six guys does it, then they all have to do it, especially if they’re in a points race.

CW: It seemed like you were always one of the six who would do it.

Magoo: When I’d see somebody do a double. I’d know I had to do it. Some people really pissed me off when they said, “The way you rode, you kind of deserved it” (getting injured). But all I did was ride the best I knew how. Maybe that was a little bit crazy sometimes, but I never wanted to change my riding style. And then, when David got hurt, I said to myself, we got the wildest man in America, and now we got the smoothest guy in America, both in the same boat. What does that tell you? The risk is there, no matter how good you are or how careful you are. If you put yourself in that situation, sooner or later you’re going to crash. There’s nothing you can do about it.

CW: Is motocross too dangerous these days?

Magoo: It’s strictly in the hands of the riders. I've always felt that way. They have their own minds, and they can do the doubles if they want. It’s hard to think where Supercross would go now if there were no doubles. It would be basically a shorttrack. The whoops would be there, but they’re dangerous, too. A guy could get off in the whoops, flip over and land on his head real easy. And it doesn't take much pressure. It only takes two pounds of pressure or less to break your neck. All you have to do is hit just right.

CW: Is racing in Europe as dangerous as racing in the U.S.?

Magoo: I don’t think that it’s more or less dangerous. I think racing is as dangerous as you make it. You put yourself in a high-risk position so many times that sooner or later, the risk gets greater. It’s different if you go riding once a month or once a year, but if you go riding every day, the risk gets greater. It’s just something you accept.

CW: What was your insurance situation when you got hurt?

Magoo: In France, the medical bills are all paid for through their taxes. But when I got home, I didn’t have any insurance. We got MediCal, so that helped, and then the benefit race held for me helped, too. But we had a big bill. I was in the hospital three months. The total was about $200,000.

CW: You were injured for most of the previous season too, weren't you?

Magoo: I separated my shoulder in Italy. My shock broke when I was going off a big downhill jump. That’s another situation—I could easily have broken my neck there. It was a perfectly good jump, but my shock broke when I hit it, and I don’t even remember going to the hospital. When I woke up in the hospital room I was dying of pain and my face was all cut up.

CW: If you had the power to control the sport of motocross, is there anything you would change?

Magoo: The only way the sport can grow is with better insurance—like a disability insurance program. We pay enough money, or could pay enough money, to have a good program, so if something did happen, you’d be taken care of. But the actual sport itself would be hard to change without it suffering. I think taking anything away from the tracks would be a real letdown. I’m sure there are things that can be safer—how far apart the jumps are, and the speed you have to hit them at, or maybe they should design them with more lift. I don’t know.

But I don’t think you can make racing completely safe. There’s always going to be that risk. That’s the chance you take. If I had to do everything over, I wouldn’t change a thing. Well. I would change one thing: I would wear better protection. I think a lot of equipment could be made better. Better neck protection, to prevent hyperextension above the neck. The clothing could be built a lot better, too. Look at football players. They take the most abuse to the neck. And as many people are there are in football, there aren’t that many injuries. They have chest protectors with neck rolls, and they wear all that stuff for a reason.

CW: Do you think the shoulder pads and chest protectors they now have in motocross are adequate?

Magoo: Some of them are real close. But I think there could be a neck roll, and I’ve had some ideas on shoulder pads with a back piece that goes down into a kidney belt. I’ve talked to a few doctors about it. There are a lot of things that could be done to protect the riders. I don’t know how David Bailey landed, but when he broke his back, I imagine it was from getting thrown too far backward. It’s hard to break your back by bending forward.

There is a lot of gear that could help prevent some of those injuries, but people would have to wear it. We’re all too into being “Hollywood.” I was that way. I never wore a chest protector unless I had to. I hated them.

CW: Were you wearing one in Paris?

Magoo: No. I hardly ever wore them in Supercross. Hardly in any outdoor races, either, unless it was rocky.

CW: When you were with Honda and doing so well, was that the best money in motocross?

Magoo: No. The best I ever did with Honda was almost $300,000. The year I got hurt, with oil companies and other sponsorships you can't even get in the States, I was going to start out with $400,000. That was without any bonus money, without even winning.

CW: With Honda, most of the money came in bonuses?

Magoo: Yeah, Honda was paying about $60,000 plus bonuses. It’s unheard of to get start money in the States. In Italy, you can go to a race and get $4000 just to show up. And if you win, there’s bonus money.

CW: How did the fans react to you over there?

Magoo: Great. It’s not that they are a lot better, but there are a lot more of them. I was always pretty friendly, I thought. I like to be in the limelight. I was one of those types. I wasn’t a bashful guy.

CW: How would you compare your riding style to that of the Europeans?

Magoo: American and European riders are different. Americans won’t count anything out. Europeans will look at a double and say, “Oh, it’s not possible.” Americans will go, “Hey, this can be jumped.” I used to go out and step it off. At the race in Italy where I separated my shoulder, there was a double there. Malherbe and Thorpe looked at me and asked, “Do you think it’s possible?” I stepped it off, and said, “Yeah, that’s going to be possible.” They said I couldn’t do it, but on the second lap of practice I made it. Then they all had to do it. The only one who didn't was Thorpe. He won’t try a double unless he knows he can make it.

CW: How do you approach a double jump, mentally?

Magoo: Some guys will come up to the jump and stop. The next lap they’ll stop again, and this will go on all day, or until they see someone make it. A lot of riders are that way. If I thought I could do it. I'd take two or three runs at it. If I didn't do it in those two or three runs, then I wasn't going to do it at all—unless I’d see someone else do it. Then I had to do it. But for me to make a double that nobody else was going to make, I'd usually do it in the first or second lap of practice. That would be the only part of the track I would think about. Before I even put my helmet on. I’d be thinking about making that double. First lap I’d only jump off the first part of the double, just to see how I flew; on the second lap I’d put the hammer down and just/A. I’d try to jump past the second jump, just to be sure I could make it. After I’d clear it. I'd start thinking about whether I should be landing on the face of the second jump or the backside. I'd try to land perfect, be smooth. But usually the first time, I would just think about getting over it.

CW: What kind of effect do you think that your injury, as well as Bailey’s, will have on the sport?

Magoo: I don’t think it will have any effect. That’s part of life. I’ve accepted it. It’s really difficult for me. I’m bummed out. But life goes on, and I just wish that in my 1 5 years of riding I had put money into a retirement or disability thing, with the AMA or something. That would sure be nice. I could live pretty good and I wouldn’t need all those donations.

CW: As far as money goes, have you got everything planned out now?

Magoo: Oh, yeah. I’ve got social security. Everything's pretty good. I was in a big bind there with the hospital bill, and I had a tax problem, but who doesn't have a tax problem?

CW: What are your plans for the future right now?

Magoo: Try to get a job, something that I like to do. I helped some guys out a couple of weeks ago with motocross, and they did real well. It made me feel good. They improved a lot, so I was thinking of teaching a couple of small motocross schools.

But it’s really scary right now with all the lawsuits going on. I'm helping the OHV park in Sacramento with a couple of lawsuits. It’s crazy—you can’t really protect yourself. Some guy is suing the OHV park for a couple of million, and I’m acting as a defense witness. He was going down a hill there and fell in a rain rut. He got hurt pretty bad. So he felt that the park should have taken the rain ruts out, or put a sign up saying there were rain ruts. When you get on a motorcycle, it’s your own problem. You should know what to expect. You should know it’s dangerous.

CW: What kind of advice would you give young guys coming up now?

Magoo: Wear the best protection possible. Buy football shoulder pads or something, even if it means looking like a goober out there. Because I wouldn't wish what happened to me on my worst enemy.