Ups And Downs

UPS AND DOWNS

ROUNDUP

UP: To Southern California’s Brea Police Department, for giving its motorcycle officers freedom of choice. Full-face helmets have become de rigueur since May, 1995, when the department’s motor corps received permission to shelve its old openface lids after several officers’ faces were injured in accidents.

Among the injured was Officer Mike Wilson, who says that communicating with motorists isn’t a problem; he simply removes his helmet first. Currently, all but three of the squad’s 11 motor cops wear full-face helmets. Wilson, however, is a permanent convert: “I don’t want to eat asphalt again!"

DOWN: To Supercross phenom Jeremy McGrath, for his poor choice in neighbors. The reigning AMA champ owns a home in Canyon Lake, California, a planned community north of San Diego that doesn’t allow motorcycles. As if that isn’t ironic enough, the AMA filed a lawsuit against Canyon Lake last year and detailed the situation in American Motorcyclist magazine. McGrath defends his actions, saying that he selected the community for its watersports, and that he has the right to live wherever he chooses. That may be, Jeremy, but you’ve obviously surrendered your right to ride a streetbike home.

UP: To IndyCar racer Paul Tracy, for his good taste. The 1996 Marlboro Team Penske press kit lists Tracy’s favorite movie as On Any Sunday, gives his favorite actor as Dennis Hopper, star of Easy Rider; lists dirtbiking as one of his favorite hobbies; and includes a pair of Harley-Davidsons among his personal “cars.” Tracy recently joined fellow racers AI Unser Jr., Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jeff Ward in a fundraising ride to Florida’s new Homestead Motorsports Complex.