Motorcycle racing is a brutal affair, in both the
physical dangers and the elusiveness of success for its competitors. Victory and
fame are dependent on the merging of raw talent, discipline, opportunity, will,
and desire–not to mention capable machinery and ample luck. Among the myriad
names inked into the annals of this most ephemeral of professions there are but
a relative handful that have earned the status of legend. When a racer continues
to garner respect and reverence years after their reign is over it is a
testament of true greatness.One such racer is American Wayne Rainey. Today, Rainey is best
remembered for his Grand Prix World Championships in 1990, 1991, and 1992—a
period many regard as the golden age of the premier class, when the grid was
stacked with, perhaps, the most competitive field of international riders ever.
It was also a time of great technological leaps that resulted in exotic,
blisteringly fast, unpredictable 500cc two-stroke machines. The raspy,
eardrum-tickling grand prix bikes in motion were an amazing sight and sound to
behold. The men who rode the howling, biting monsters were leather-clad
gladiators, plying their precarious trade on the paved arenas of the
world.
 RIDING STYLE. Helmet: Shoei X-Eleven Norick TC-1 Leathers: Spidi R2 Kangaroo Gloves: Cortech Scarab R.R.Boots: Sidi Vertigo Corsa. Photograph by Don Williams. (Click image to enlarge)
Rainey emerged from this tumultuous racing era with a fluid and
calculated riding style that tamed the irascible temperament of the famously
hostile two-strokes. His quiet reserve and calm attitude contradicted a fierce
intensity and a win-at-all-cost determination that was as intimidating as his
results. The famously clinched jaw and thousand-yard stare were portents to
numerous track records, pole positions and race wins. But, the most predominant
trait was Rainey’s unrelenting obsession to push himself and his motorcycle to
the limit, through every corner, over each section of track, all the time,
always searching for that crucial edge. If Rainey was winning with a comfortable
six-second lead over second place, he wanted to stretch it to seven. Indeed, racing is a brutal affair. It possesses a cruelty
beyond the fleeting of fame. In 1993, en route to a fourth consecutive world
title, Rainey fell prey to the consequences of speed, suffering a horrific crash
at the Misano circuit that left him badly broken and confined to a wheelchair.
Since that dark day in Italy, the racing establishment has often wondered what
might have been, had the champion, just hitting his prime, not been sidelined.
As proof of Rainey’s continuing legacy, Laguna Seca raceway named one of its
corners after the hard-charging racer. Rainey was inducted into the
AMA-associated Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999, the FIM named him a Grand Prix
Legend in 2000, and his induction into the International Motorsports Hall of
Fame is this year in Talledega, Alabama.  Although Rainey is strongly associated with Yamaha for his
illustrious Grand Prix career, he earned his first championship stateside,
taking the number one plate in the 1983 AMA Superbike series aboard a Kawasaki.
It was a year that gave the racing world its first real glimpse of the future
star. For anyone who witnessed the diminutive Rainey coax the mighty lime green
superbike to six consecutive race wins that season, it was obvious the blond
Californian was destined for great things. That breakout 1983 season established
Rainey as self-possessed and intensely focused, pushing for the same absolute
perfection and total dominance that would later carry him into the stratosphere
of racing, securing his place on the coveted mantel of legend. (Click image to enlarge)
RetroSBK’s Will Kenefick chose to honor Rainey’s
accomplishments—as well as acknowledging how the young racer’s inspired
performances fueled his own passion for racing—by building a tribute bike,
commemorating that landmark 1983 season when Rainey officially entered the
record books as champion. This is the company’s second tribute project in a
continuing series honoring some of racing’s most influential, shining stars (the
first was the Honda CBR1000RR Spencer Tribute, RRMC’s November/December 2005
cover bike). The concept behind the tributes is to embody the soul of a
significant machine and individual from yesteryear in a current platform. In
this case, a brand new 2007 Kawasaki ZX-10R carries the torch of Rainey’s AMA
title. With just a scant few miles on the odometer, the bike was stripped down
to the chassis so RetroSBK could reinvent the machine from the pavement up as a
modern offspring to Rainey’s 1983 mount.
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