Thursday, September 11, 2008
Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed "The Texas Tornado," will offer candid insight before every MotoGP event in 2008 about the characteristics of the upcoming circuit, his tactics and possible motorcycle setup for the weekend, the personalities and rivalries of the exciting world of MotoGP, and personal anecdotes about the region where each event takes place in "Tornado Warning."
Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 34, is in his sixth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Yamaha Tech 3. His next race is the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sunday, Sept. 14 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The colorful Edwards will compete in the inaugural MotoGP event at IMS along with fellow American stars Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.
Based on your comments after the race, it seemed like Misano wasn't great, but it was better than Brno. Is that accurate?
I would say it was progress from Laguna, Brno, even Germany. With Michelin, they always work in a real small range, you know? We might have five different tires, but the range is not big enough. You might need something softer, but you don't have it. You might need something harder, but you don't have it. Now they're working in a way to where they're just broadening their range. We've got stuff that's way too soft; we've got stuff that's way too hard. You've just got to find something in the middle. As it turned out in Misano, we just had to run the hardest tire we had. That seemed to be the best one after four or five laps. The problem is, I ride the front. I've always ridden the front. Hell, I won two (World Superbike) world championships riding the front. I weight-transfer with throttle, and some of these guys, I could never use Valentino's tires, they weight everything going in pretty evenly to begin with. So style sure has something to do with it, but at the same time, if you can't get heat into the tire … That's basically what happened. At Misano, it about flicked me on the sighting lap a few times. Warm-up laps, getting started into the race, warm-up laps, it flicked me a few times, feet off the pegs, and I thought I'm having to stretch my leg out as far as I can just to get my knee on the ground. And I'm sitting on the grid, honestly, was probably the first time that I've been scared. I was scared. I knew that if I went into Turn 1, Turn 2 with 18 guys around me and frickin', I knew what was going to happen. I was going to bend it in, and it was going to flick me. When I started the race, I just … If I was 20 again, maybe I would have risked the flick a lot more. But I'm obviously not 20 anymore. Even though, hell, I think I list 15, 18 seconds in the first three laps to the leaders. I couldn't get any temperature in them. And still at that pace, I was bending it in, and the rear was coming around. So it was probably the most risk that I've taken in a long time. This whole risk-reward thing that I talk about occasionally, I don't mind taking a lot of risk if I know my reward is going to be a podium or a top step. But if you have to take a lot of risk and your result is still going to be sixth, that doesn't settle too well with me.
Once you got heat in the tire, was it OK?
Oh, yeah. That was the thing. I think my fastest lap was the third-to-last lap, or something like that. It was good, and it was definitely the best tire that we had for the race. Problem being was that the beginning of it was just insane. Talked with James (Toseland) after, 'cause he run the same tire. I said, 'How did you do it in the first few laps?' I lost 10 seconds to him in the first three laps. And he was like, 'Dude, it was just …' He just explained it the same as I did; it was just insane. It's just ridiculous, especially when you see the Bridgestone guys in front of you, and they're just cramming it on its side, no fear whatsoever. Wait - don't say Bridgestone guys. Say 'the other manufacturer.' (Laughter)
Does going to a new circuit like Indy balance the playing field?
Yeah, I think it balances the scales to a point. We're all going there as an unknown, not really knowing what to expect. Riders, as well, as far as learning a track. Usually guys who learn the quickest tend to come out on top. Tires, you know, with this rule we have going to a new track makes it real difficult because you've got to pick your tires on Thursday before you even get on the track. We're just hoping they got the right information (from the July test).
So it could be a real crapshoot, right?
Oh, it could be a crapshoot. There's no question about that. We could have everything too hard or everything too soft. It could be chewing up fronts in three laps. WE don't know this. This is just something we're going to have to go there and assess.
Do you learn new circuits quickly?
Generally, yes. Generally, I've always been a quick learner when it's come to learning new racetracks. For some reason, I've always gotten along with that. That's one thing that basically having the confidence, that's the key. Having the confidence under you, knowing everything's under you and everything's going to stay there, that's the big key of really learning a track, knowing that you can pretty much play around and get away with it.
Based on what you know of the track, is there a buzz going around as to "Indy is like this track or that track?" If so, what is that track?
Man, I don't think you can compare it, to be honest. How to you compare Indy to somewhere? You might compare somewhere similar to Indy. But I don't know if you could compare anything, even the road course. It is flat. It's probably the term that I've heard kicked around, that it's a flat circuit. And obviously we go to some camber, off-camber, elevation, a bunch of stuff. That's really about it, though. I haven't heard any negatives. There's not much positive except that it's at Indy. Nobody knows anything about it. I'm sure we'll get an earful when we get there.
Explain to somebody who doesn't understand what it's like to travel all over the world to race in all of these different countries what it means to race at home, in your country.
It's cool. It's not an American sport. It's not something that we do growing up, thinking I want to be the next Freddie Spencer or Schwantz. Usually the kids around here grow up wanting to be Ricky Carmichael or whoever it might be, a motocross guy. To have a sport that was basically more or less invented in Europe and then to come here, any time you come to the U.S., it's cool, man.
Explain to someone who is an auto racing fan what is attractive about MotoGP?
I was at Indy at the 400, and there is something in the air about cars being inches apart doing 200 mile an hour down the straight. (With MotoGP) The excitement. The anything can happen at any moment, which is like NASCAR. But NASCAR, let's say, it's a little more, it can happen and it can be carnage at times, which it can be in motorcycle racing, as well, but it's different, man. I don't know. It's more stuffin' and frickin', I don't know. The thing is, the rider - I'm not saying anything bad about the drivers; they drive the (crap) out of those things - but the riders' body weight, foot peg weight, handlebar weight, how you sit on the bike, everything has to do with racing motorcycles. It's not just sitting in and driving and pushing the gas. I'm sure there are different styles of cars, as well. I'm trying to make this sound good for drivers, as well. (Laughter). It's just different. The excitement of the bikes doing 200 mile an hour right beside you is something special, as well.
You wear a U.S. Marine Corps hat a lot at the track. What is the story behind that hat?
Let's see … the U.S. Marine Corps hat. I've always felt somehow, I don't know if it would be connected, maybe. I don't know, man. I'm into that stuff. I'm always watching documentaries and The History Channel on TV. My heart goes out to these guys, and I see what the reaction is, and that pisses me off more than anything. Here we've got guys who are giving their lives to fight for our freedom and yet you still have people who are so against … I can understand being against the war, but at the end of the day, you still have to support the guys who are out there doing it. It doesn't matter what your belief might be. When these guys come home, and they're missing a limb, it's gut-wrenching. They just don't get the respect or the acknowledgment that I believe they deserve. It's the only that I can, I don't know, show my support. It's the only thing I can do. Let's see, last year I had a special paint job on my bike at Laguna. I wanted an old veterans' bike. That's what I wanted. My original thought for a paint scheme was I wanted something to do with the bike just having a million names on it, and all of those names being veterans or a memorial-type. I just wanted something to show a lot of support for our troops. At the end of the day, it got nixed because me and Valentino are pretty upbeat kind of guys, and we have fun and we joke around with the crowd and we know how to get the entertainment value out of the crowd, and they thought it might be a bit of a downer. So anyways, we just went with an American flag paint scheme type deal at the end of the day that worked out pretty good. But it's not the message that I was wanting. I could go on for hours about this. I just feel the guys get the respect they deserve. It's the only way I can show my support. To top that off, it's actually one of James Toseland's friends, I was hanging around with him the weekend of Misano, and he noticed I was wearing a U.S. Marine Corps hat, and he was a big, old dude, his shoulders were about 4 feet wide, slim waist, a couple of tattoos on his bicep, and he gave me a little badge. It was the Royal Marines commandos badge, and I chunked it on my hat, as well. It was like, 'We love ya; Marines love ya, man.' He was English. I could go on forever about it. At the end of the day, they just don't get enough respect. That's the only thing I can do.
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