MOTOR RACING : Shobert Riding Through Second Life

It is 3:30 on a windy afternoon at Laguna Seca Raceway. Grand Prix motorcycles are whizzing around the course in their final qualifying session for a world championship road race the following day.

A growing line of enthusiasts has formed beneath a huge Honda tent in the infield. Several hundred stand patiently, clutching programs, photographs, caps, any scrap of paper, waiting for the star attraction. There are bare-chested men with ponytails; teen-agers and younger kids carrying bags of handouts from manufacturers; young women wearing colorful T-shirts with the cyclist’s provocative slogan, and bearded men in black leathers adorned with Harley-Davidson insignias--everyone wearing a cap of a favorite make of bike, rider or sponsor.

“Autograph session at 4 p.m. with Bubba Shobert,” reads a sign at the tent entrance.

Shobert hasn’t ridden in a race for two years, but the motorcycle faithful were lined up to watch him sign his name, pose for a photograph or just say a few words as if he were world champion.

Two years ago, Shobert was projected to become just that. He had left a remarkable career with the American Motorcyclist Assn., in which he had won three Camel Pro dirt track championships and the 1988 Superbike road racing championship, to join the world 500cc circuit.

At 25, he was only the third rider to attain cycling’s grand slam, winning in all five types of racing--road race, mile, half-mile, short track and TT steeplechase. Only Dick Mann and Kenny Roberts had accomplished the feat.

Today, Shobert is a spectator, a victim of what may be the most bizarre accident in motorcycle racing--if indeed, it can be called a “racing” accident.

After the 1989 United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, Shobert was riding on the cool-off lap with his friend, world champion Eddie Lawson. Ahead, Australian rider Kevin Magee stopped in the middle of the track to do a burnout for the spectators. Shobert and Lawson, still going close to 70 m.p.h., didn’t notice Magee until it was too late.

Lawson swerved abruptly and missed him, but Shobert wasn’t so fortunate. He hit Magee’s bike, and the two riders went sprawling. Magee suffered a broken ankle and Shobert a concussion.

“I’ve looked at films--I don’t remember a thing about that day--and the accident doesn’t look that bad,” Shobert says. “I didn’t even think it was bad when I woke up. I never did feel any pain.”

Shobert was unconscious for 10 days. The crash bruised the left side of his brain, causing a partial paralysis of his right side. After six weeks in a San Jose hospital, he was flown to his parents’ home in Lubbock, Tex., where he underwent therapy and physical rehabilitation for two months.

“I had to learn everything over that I do with my right side,” he said. “I even had to take speech therapy to make the right side of my mouth work right. Little things you take for granted, like tying your shoes, picking up a knife or a fork, throwing a baseball, I had to learn all over again.”

One of the little ironies is that during therapy, Shobert, who had moved to Carmel Valley in 1985, regained most of his West Texas accent, lost while living in California.

The right side is still not working as it should. Even when Shobert smiles, the right side of his mouth is slower than the left.

“I feel like I’ve had two lives, one before the accident and a different one since,” Shobert says. Doctors will not sign a release for him to return to racing, and down deep, he knows it’s a good thing.

“I ride my bike down the coast to Big Sur early in the morning before the traffic,” he says, “but I have to think about what to do with my right hand, when to twist the throttle and how to put the front brake on--things I used to do instinctively.

“I guess my golf game is a barometer of how I’m really doing. In my other life, I shot in the low 80s. Now I shoot in the low 100s. I had no idea when I began rehab that (hand-to-eye coordination) wouldn’t come back. The doctors are afraid of my getting hit in the head again. They said if I did, I might be a vegetable.”

When he is not working out on his 10-acre spread in Carmel Valley, playing golf on the exclusive Carmel Valley Ranch course nearby or riding along the coast, Shobert does public relations and project development work for Honda.

“Honda has been very good to me, taking care of my insurance and things like that,” Shobert says, “but I’m getting bored doing just PR, which is mostly talking to dealers and prospective customers and signing autographs. I did some test riding on their new 600 (bike) and gave the engineers some input. I’d rather be closer to racing, maybe running my own team, the way Kenny (Roberts) and Wayne (Rainey) are doing.”

Rainey, the world champion who lives in Downey, rides for Roberts’ Yamaha team. He also formed his own U.S. team this year with Kenny Roberts Jr. as one of his riders.

“If I had my reflexes back, I would have liked to ride with Wayne’s team,” Shobert says. “His dad, Sandy, was my mechanic back in 1982 when I was riding a Harley and just getting started and Wayne was signed by Kawasaki. Wayne and I still go riding dirt bikes together over at Kenny’s place near Modesto. He’s been my best friend for a long time.

“I was best man at (Rainey’s) wedding, and he’s going to be best man at mine.” Shobert plans to marry Tara Sumners of Newport Beach on June 22. Rainey will fly back between world championship races in Yugoslovia June 16 and the Netherlands June 30.

Shobert and Sumners have a baby son, Clint, who was born while his father was undergoing therapy in Texas.

“We named him Clint, but I almost named him Birdie,” Shobert says with a smile. “I was playing in a golf tournament when I got a call from my mother that Tara was about to have the baby. She made me a plane reservation, and I kept on playing in the tournament. I birdied the next three holes and almost got a name for the baby.”

Motor Racing Notes

STOCK CARS--Former Southwest Tour champion Dan Press, who sold his car and has not raced this season, will make a comeback Saturday night at Saugus Speedway in the Miller 100, a NASCAR Southwest Tour series event for All-American Challenge cars. Press, the 1989 champion from Frazier Park who has been racing at Saugus for 18 years, will drive a new Ivan Baldwin-built car owned by Charlie Saied. In the tour’s fourth of 15 races, Rick Carelli of Denver will be seeking his third consecutive victory after winning at Las Vegas and Cajon Speedways. Carelli’s first series victory came at Saugus in March 1987 in his first start.

John Borneman, after winning two consecutive Winston Racing Series main events at Cajon Speedway, will go for No. 3 Saturday night on the Gillespie Field oval where he won track championships in 1987 and ’88. . . . The second Coors Silver Bullet series race will take place Friday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . The Toyota Budweiser super production series for unlimited cars will resume Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. Cal Club regional sports car championship races will also be on the program. . . . Sportsman cars will be featured Saturday night at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino.

MIDGETS--The fourth and final race of the ESPN Saturday Night Thunder series at Ventura Raceway will be held this week, with Sleepy Tripp still looking for his record 132nd United States Auto Club victory in national and regional events. Tripp was beaten narrowly by veteran Jimmy Sills last week. P.J. Jones, who missed last week’s race because he is also driving in the Indy Light series, will return to the midgets at Ventura. In the three-quarter midget companion feature, Cory Kruseman will attempt to win his third consecutive main event.

MOTORCYCLES--Monrovia’s Billy Hamill has returned briefly from the British League to ride this weekend on local speedway tracks--Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa and Saturday night at Speedway USA in Victorville. The new Lake Perris Fairgrounds track will open next Thursday night, replacing Ascot Park on the weekly speedway schedule. San Bernardino’s Glen Helen Park began its weekly operation Wednesday night.

The touring pros of the American Motorcyclist Assn. will hold a Salute to Ascot night on May 11 when a national half-mile championship race will be run for the first time at the Los Angeles County Fairplex track in Pomona. Defending champion Scott Parker will be seeking his fourth consecutive Camel Pro championship.

SPRINT CARS--Mike Kirby, who won his first California Racing Assn. main event last week at Hanford, was the Figure 8 stock car champion the past two years at Ascot Park. . . . The CRA is taking this week off to be ready for the 14-race Midwest tour, which will start on May 4 with a race at Tucson Raceway Park. . . . Santa Maria Speedway will play host to the Golden State Challenge series for winged sprint cars Saturday night.

VINTAGE CARS--The third annual San Diego Historic Grand Prix is scheduled this weekend in the parking lot of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Race director Fred Marik said he expects more than 150 entries for the 14 races--seven Saturday, seven Sunday.

DRAG RACING--The opening event of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Super Series--for super eliminator, super comp, super gas and super street--will be held this weekend at Bakersfield Raceway. The SoCal Pro Gas Assn. also will compete Saturday at Bakersfield.

RALLY--It was an all-Millen day at the Subaru PRO Rim of the World Rally last weekend in the hills near Lancaster. Rod Millen and navigator Tony Sircombe won seven of 11 stages in their Mazda 323 to defeat national champion Paul Choiniere’s Audi Quattro. Rod’s wife, Shannon Millen, became the first woman driver to win a Group A championship when she drove a Mazda GTX to a class victory.