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“Turning the Page”
Motorcycle Road Racing Champion Rich
Oliver Calls it a Career
Story & photos by Eddie Graveline
www.motopress.net
Last Sunday, Auberry
resident Richard Oliver won the final round of the 2003 American
Motorcyclist Association’s 250 Grand Prix road racing series. In doing so,
he closed a long and colorful chapter of his life. Oliver is retiring from
road racing. At 42-years of age, it would appear to be a logical decision.
The perplexing issue, though, is that his exit comes on the heels of the
most successful season of his career.
Sunday’s win at the Barber
Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama was the eleventh for Oliver in as
many rounds this year. He won his fifth national championship and led every
lap of every race along the way. He has 71 career victories—more than anyone
else in the history of the class and AMA professional road racing as a
whole. With history and momentum both in his corner, why quit now? For
starters, he’s a racer without a series.
Prior to this season, the
AMA announced that it would make a few changes to its national road racing
series. In an effort to streamline the program and make it more television
friendly, the sanctioning body determined that some events had to be removed
from the lineup. The 250 class was deemed expendable. Considering his
success on the track, it would seem that a rider with Oliver’s credentials
would be able to find support in a different class.
“The number of top quality
rides is shrinking every year”, he said. “The factory teams are downsizing
due to the money involved and my age is obviously a factor. I’ve been
surprised, though, because I’ve actually been approached by some
manufacturers interested in having me ride other classes next year. It would
have to be the right situation with winning machinery and all of the
financial details, but it’s nice to know that I’m still being considered.”
Whether the effort was
conscious or not, Oliver has been preparing for retirement for a while. Like
any level headed business man, he made sure that his financial ducks would
be in a row.
“For the past couple of
years, I’ve been developing what I call the Rich Oliver Mystery School”, he
said. “I run five-day pro camps for serious racers and two-day fun camps for
recreational riders on my property in Auberry. I developed a unique, yet
very effective training routine during my racing career and now I’m passing
those secrets on to my students. My camps not only teach riding techniques,
but focus on nutrition and the mental side of competition as well. I do a
bit of stunt work and riding for television and commercials, which I will
continue to do, but the school is my number one focus now.”
A career in top level racing
requires a lot of time away from home. In other words, family life is
difficult to balance, if not impossible. It’s something that Oliver decided
to put off until he could focus on it.
“Being on the road has made
it very difficult to maintain relationships”, he explained. “That’s why I’m
thrilled to have met my fiancée, Karin, who I’m marrying next spring. She
and her two children, Matthew and Megan, have been a wonderful addition to
my life and the timing couldn’t have been better. ”
In addition to establishing
a family, retirement is allowing Oliver to devote more time to other
interests. In contrast to the stereotypical motorcycle racer, he is a
serious artist. In fact, even though it hasn’t dominated his schedule, he
admits that art, perhaps more than anything else, has shaped his
personality.
“Having more time to
concentrate on art is one of the things that excites me the most right now”,
he said. “I started with painting and have ventured into sculpting and even
some furniture. We’re currently working on creating a professional portfolio
to show my body of work. I’ll have time to keep things updated on my
website, www.richoliver.net , where I show my work in addition to
information on my racing and schools.”
Oliver is a native of
California’s Monterey Peninsula—a popular vacation destination for many
valley residents. That being the case, some might assume that he would
return to his roots and the popular climate.
“My folks still live in
Pacific Grove, where I grew up”, he said. “But I’m staying right here in
Auberry. I’ll take the beauty of the Sierras over the crowded tourism of the
ocean any day. To me, it’s the most beautiful place in the world”.
Rich Oliver has
accomplished more in the last twenty years or so, than most athletes do in
an entire career, or lifetime for that matter. Unlike so many who flounder
after exiting professional sports, Oliver’s passion and drive have him as
excited about the next chapter of his life as the last.
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