I was at school when the racing career of Freddie Spencer was peaking. By the time I exited the school gates in 1986 he was coming close to retiring from Grand Prix racing, although he’d compete in American Superbikes until the mid-1990s, as Fast Freddie started to lose the S from his nickname.
Living close to a Honda dealer, I’d picked up on the Spencer brand in my impressionable teenage mind, which explains how I’d ached for a Kawasaki AR50, and ended up with a Honda MBX50. So much for the power of dreams.
Over the years I’d seen plenty of ex-racers at various events, taken the odd photo and walked on by. But when I heard Freddie Spencer was guest of honour at a bike show, I decided to chance my arm and invent a bogus magazine for a press interview. My shield was my freelancing badge, and my wing man was Gary Hurd, known for his hatred of anything Honda. So what could go wrong?
So at the NEC in 2010, Gary and I arrived in good time for our 2.15 appointment. Luckily our bogus press passes covered up the BBQ sauce stains from our last-minute mistake to stop for some foot longs from Subway’s.
The reality of bike mag interviews:
If you thought that the average interview with a motorcycle celebrity is glamorous, then I’m sorry to burst that bubble. Generally the excitement is all about the people, rather than the location. And this encounter is a case in point.
We were first introduced to Freddie as he came out of the toilets, which was followed by a slightly awkward handshake and a procession to a ‘quiet’ room. Now we had ten minutes of time with Freddie Spencer to fill with questions for our bogus magazine. In addition, it turns out the ‘quiet’ room was a communal backstage area full of rubbish and people passing through.
Being the ‘pros’ we were, I decided to get stuck in by telling Freddie how I wanted to call my son Freddie Spencer Redmond. Not the coolest of starts, but one I managed to quickly salvage by actually asking some racing related questions. However, having under-prepared, I quickly realised I didn’t actually have any racing questions, and also had to ask him if I could borrow a pend and some paper for any answers.
Five long minutes had already passed by the moment where in desperation I asked him whether a Jaffa Cake was actually a cake or a biscuit. But fortunately that was as awkward as it got. By now, my brain had kicked in and I was able to ask some proper questions. We talked about his double championship year, as he explained how he’d developed the Honda 250 from scratch in pre-season. He also went on to talk about his AMA Superbike years, and one topic just flowed into another. It was going so well now that we shot over our ten minute slot, but Freddie wasn’t bothered. The tales of his years at Honda were so interesting and funny, I was able to sit back and enjoy the moment as my pen had run out of ink anyway.
40 minutes later our time was over. Despite Gary asking Freddie about the Yamaha years, which saw me and Freddie both almost fall out of our chairs. After smiles and friendly handshakes, Gary even posed with Freddie, which now has pride of place in his toilet. Gary’s not Freddie’s.
The saying is ‘Never meet your heroes’, but I’ll disagree. Freddie Spencer was, and still is, a legend.
Freddie Spencer: Career Details:
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1961, Freddie Spencer began riding at the age of four, and competing in dirt track. He moved into road racing and signed for American Honda after winning the 1978 250cc U.S National Road Racing Championship.
Having won two legs of the Trans Atlantic Match races in 1980, the following year saw his split his time between AMA Superbikes and the European GP circuit on the Honda NR500 four stroke.
By 1982 he was a full-time Honda GP rider, and the factory had developed the NS500 three-cylinder two-stroke. 1983 saw Freddie Spencer become the youngest 500cc world champion at the age of 21, by just two points after a titanic battle with Kenny Roberts.
Legendary status was sealed for Spencer in 1985. Following a tough year developed the radical Honda NSR500 V4, he not only won all three classes at the Daytona 200, but went on to win both the 250cc and 500cc GP championships. He’s only the 5th and last rider to manage that achievement.
Sadly wrist injuries, possibly caused by the strain of racing two championships in one season, affected his riding and he never too a GP victory after 1985. In 1988 he retired, despite aborted comebacks in 1989 (Yamaha) and 1993 (Yamaha). He did return to racing in the 1990s in AMA Superbikes, finishing 8th in 1991 and 7th in 1992 for Two Brothers Racing on a Honda. In 1995 he finished 9th on a Fast By Feracci Ducati, and at the end of the year took over the works Ducati from Mauro Lucchiari in World Superbikes. His best results in WSB were 7th in the USA round, and the same in Australia, finishing 25th in the championship.
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