The Infallible Kevin Schwantz

Opinion/Commentary
By Pete Hitzeman
Behind the Visor

I'm writing this, knowing fully that it will attract nothing but the ire and disdain of the motorcycling press, and large parts of the motorcycle racing community. But I wouldn't be writing it if I didn't think it needed to be said, because I know from many private conversations that I'm not alone in this sentiment.

Kevin Schwantz is not God.

The 1993 500cc World Champion has found himself embroiled in an ugly legal and public relations battle with the Circuit of the Americas, the new Grand Prix track that opened last year in Austin, Texas. Schwantz was involved in the negotiations between the track and Dorna, rights owners to the MotoGP championship, to create a third US round for the series at COTA. At some point, Schwantz was under the impression that his company was going to be the promoter for the race. Instead, Dorna and COTA signed a contract that did not include Schwantz or his company. Schwantz has filed suit, alleging "tortious interference and fraud" on the part of COTA, but not naming a dollar amount, or mentioning Dorna at all.

Whether or not Schwantz has legal standing is a difficult question. If all he had was a verbal agreement, and COTA denies that any agreement ever existed, one would think it would be hard for a judge to award any ruling in favor of the plaintiff. If. It strikes me as exceedingly odd that someone with 25 years of experience in the MotoGP paddock would rely on a handshake agreement, and not have something, anything, in writing. That level of naiveté is expected from a Moto3 rookie, but certainly not a seasoned veteran of the business.


And that's assuming there was any agreement at all. COTA has said repeatedly that there was no such agreement either between Schwantz and the track, or between Schwantz and Dorna. If that's the case, and Schwantz thought as a matter of course that he would be the event's promoter, then naivete has graduated to delusion. If.

Which leads us to last week, when things turned uglier still. During a private team test at the facility, Schwantz was present at the behest of the Attack and LCR Honda teams. At some point during the weekend, he was asked to leave the premises by track officials, who claimed that he had no authorization to be present for the test, since he was neither a member of a team or of the press. That's a pretty fine line to draw, since he was there, at least nominally, as a riding coach for Blake Young, who was testing Attack's new CRT machine.

Regardless, it was a private test at a private facility, and so they are perfectly within their rights to ask someone to leave. Particularly when that someone is engaged in active litigation against said facility. What part of Schwantz that thought he'd be welcomed on the premises of a facility he is suing is beyond me, invitations from teams notwithstanding. Schwantz's popularity among riders, teams and fans means that banning him from the track is a risky public relations move, but one can hardly blame the track owners for chafing at his presence.

But most striking to me in this whole sordid saga have been the reactions of the motorcycling press. Their affection for Schwantz has always been thinly veiled, but now that it seems it's time to take sides, they've done so, almost universally. Condemnations of COTAs actions are as ubiquitous as the complete disregard for the facts in the story, and the very real possibility that it is Schwantz in the wrong. Predictions of doom and gloom concerning the circuit and the upcoming MotoGP round are commonplace.

The prevailing notion, if one only reads the dozens of articles swirling around the interwebs, seems to be that the motorcycling community is united both in their support of all things Schwantz and in their willingness to punish the track for their alleged transgressions. But outside the press offices, I don't think this is universally the case. My conversations with hundreds of fans, largely from a younger age bracket than that occupied by the vast majority of moto journalists, yield a very different view.

Pardon me for a moment while I don my asbestos suit.

Schwantz won a single 500cc World Championship, in 1993, largely because his main rival fell. Wayne Rainey, who had bested Schwantz every year prior including 3 championships in a row, was leading the race and the points when he crashed and was paralyzed at Misano, departing the championship three rounds early. Despite winning a single world championship in seven full seasons, Schwantz is regarded as a god. Contrast that with Casey Stoner, who won two championships and 13 more races over the same span, and is practically a pariah.

The difference between those two is personality, largely. Many who saw him race talk about the ethereal qualities of Schwantz's riding; about how what he did on a bike was something magical. They'll get misty-eyed talking about his willingness to win or crash in any given race. But I can tell you, having watched Stoner over the same period in his career, his riding was no less magical, and his bravery just as unmatched. So the only real difference, and the one that matters to the current crisis, is that Schwantz is well liked, and Stoner is not.

I don't mean to say that winning a world championship, any world championship, is a mean feat. Respect should be given where it is due, and certainly Schwantz was one of the best of his generation. But are we to pretend that if Nicky Hayden were in the same position, the visceral reaction against COTA would be the same? Of course not. Hayden's championship was discredited by many in the media before he even won it. And let's not forget, Hayden was also guilty of the cardinal sin (so say the same media) of beating Rossi. Come to think of it, so was Stoner, whose championships are similarly disparaged in some circles.

Perhaps some of my generation's skepticism about Schwantz is rooted in the contrast between him, post-racing, and the other greats of his generation. Rainey, Doohan, Lawson, and Roberts Sr. all stuck around racing for a time after their GP retirements, mostly by running teams of their own. After that, they each settled down to relatively quiet, private lives, seemingly content with their accomplishments.

Schwantz chose to remain involved, and not just in the traditional manner of running a team or opening a school, but by staying in the paddock, keeping in touch and involved, at least tangentially, in all manner of projects and operations. There's nothing wrong with that, and his presence always seems appreciated by the teams, but neither has his role ever been clearly identified. He just seems to always be there, for something or another. With his roles in previous projects containing such vague titles as "consultant" or "advisor" or "coach," it's not hard to imagine that his presence as a go-between for COTA and Dorna may have involved a bit of presumption on the part of Schwantz, rather than any expressed agreement.

So from that dispassionate viewpoint, Schwantz's involvement with the development of COTA, and with bringing a MotoGP round there, and his subsequent disenfranchisement and lawsuit all start to appear as something between confusing and extortionate. Time will likely reveal only some of the facts related to the case. But if the viewpoints and opinions of the entire fan base are considered, and not only those in the air conditioned, trackside media centers, it won't be only COTA's reputation that suffers.