Thursday, September 25, 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 Tech 3 Yamaha. His next race is the Grand Prix of Japan on Sunday, Sept. 28 at Twin Ring Motegi.

The colorful, candid Edwards competed in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14 at IMS along with fellow American stars Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. 

You live just north of Houston. Was everything OK with Hurricane Ike? Is everybody OK? Is your property all right? 

A tree bumped the house, but it didn't fall on the house, so we got it taken down. The new house, we had some newly planted palms in the back that we were relocating, and they fell down, which is no big deal. Nothing got tore up, luckily. We didn't sustain any damage. I've got my shop out there on 20 acres, and no problem there, either. Basically, when I got back, there were a lot of trees down throughout the whole neighborhood, so I got back and got my work boots on, jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, and hell, I've been working for the last four or five days. We've just been cutting it up and hauling it out of the property. We have a big, old stack of wood, and now we'll have a big bonfire come wintertime sometime. (Wife) Alyssia's parents had a house on Bolivar, the little peninsula that got hit the hardest, and it's no mas. No more house. It's nothing but a slab. It's just east of Galveston. It's what you see on all the Internet, the devastation on Bolivar, Crystal Beach. Yeah, it's gone, man. Everything's gone. I own a house down there, a big two-story house that we built. Actually, Alyssia's father built it, and I was bank. It stayed up. Somehow, it stayed up. We've been trying to sell it for about six months. We already have about 20 or 30 lots down there. We've been stockpiling lots. I don't know; we're just going to have to see. It's not a huge investment, but it's something we're definitely going to have to sort out at some time. 

Yeah, it doesn't look like anyone is going to live there for a while, unfortunately. 

It's devastating, man. Hell, I've spent lots of time there. They've got businesses, obviously, restaurants or fishing companies are out there. It's a family business. They all live there, they've got their boats there, they got their grandkids, everybody's doing everything. And now nobody's doing anything. It's just completely wiped out. It's insane. It's crazy. Other than that, everything up here north, we came out pretty much unscathed. It was right at the coast where it really took a bad hit. 

Moving on to Indy, I know you had a problem with grip. Was it the same problem that has been around since the Sachsenring, or is there a new dimension? 

Hindsight is just so easy. I hate the fact that you can look back and say this is the decision we made that really screwed us up. What we did is we felt we'd go to Indy and what we call the short bike, which I never run. I always run a little bit longer than Valentino. But we know what next year's bike is going to be, we kind of know some of the dimensions about next year's bike. So we thought we'd go ahead and get a jump start and kind of go that area, which I call the short bike. Well, me being a front-end guy, once you've tucked that rear wheel under you more and more, well, it just takes weight off the front. We should have just waited. Now we're going to wait. So basically Indy was just, it was all for nothing. I went out there, and I just was so uncomfortable. I couldn't get anything working, even in the dry time, the wet time. We just kept jacking around, trying to make it work. Come race time, hell, we couldn't do it. I went out there in the race, and I was riding my ass off. I couldn't get the thing to turn whatsoever. I feel like I'm hanging off it. You're about to crash every other corner, but you're still running 15^th. The hardest races you ever run in your life are those. You're struggling just to stay upright. You go off and win a race and freakin' blitz them by 10 seconds, that's just easy. Honestly, when the bike is set up and everything is feeling good, that's easy. It's the hard points that are the struggle. 

Did it make you feel worse because you were at your home track, Indy? You weren't in Malaysia; you weren't in Brno. You were in your back yard. 

Yeah, that made it sting a bit more. But I think that basically also was another reason why we made a wrong decision. We should have just waited. We know what works; we know what's worked all year. We should have just held off on this decision. We should have done it maybe this next race in Japan or wherever. But because it was so bad, we just scrapped the idea completely, so let's just try to get some good results for the rest of the year. 

Have you ever competed in stranger conditions in your life than at Indy? Not only on Race Day, but downpours Friday, hot sun Saturday and then gale-force rain Sunday? 

There was one time, I think it was 2001, we got rained out in Philip Island, Australia. We did the first race (World Superbike), and in the second race there was like 7 feet of water in the tunnel, and the track was just flooded, so they canceled it. We couldn't run the second race. Those conditions were pretty bad then. To make it even better, one of the guys blew an engine in the first four laps coming down the front straight, and you just saw a big oil slick running all the way down the front straightaway. And they didn't red-flag it. So you saw it, but you just had to stay inside of it. Well, the track cambered to the inside. That oil kept getting closer and closer and closer, lap by lap by lap. Those were some pretty hard conditions. And to top it off, you're doing 180 mile an hour down that straight, trying to avoid that oil. That was pretty hairball at that time. But I would say as far as wind and gusts, that tops it all, at Indy. They made the right decision by red-flagging it, but it was almost like it was a couple of laps too late. The last two or three laps, man, they were just … Hell, I almost crashed going slow. I was going slow, and I went to flick into a corner, and a gust hit me and pushed me out to the white line. I missed the apex by about, I don't know, 10 yards, and I thought, "Jesus Christ, this is jacked up." Then they red-flagged it. 

What did you think of the vibe of the race? 

It was cool. I loved it. It's so hard for me to sit here and explain the difference. Laguna is Laguna. I've done World Superbikes, I've done AMA, I've done all that at Laguna. I know when I show up at Laguna, even though I'm from Texas, I'm kind of hometown-ish, home country. That has its own vibe that I've grown up with, let's say, for the last 15 years doing it. For me, going to Indy, someplace you've never been, for me, as well, it felt like going to a new track. We could have been in Turkey, or we could have been wherever. That was kind of my feeling, initially. Once we got on the track, once all the fans started hooting and hollering, and seeing you in the paddock for an autograph, and you ride through the paddock on a scooter and you've got 200 people hooting and hollering at you, I was like, "This is pretty cool." I don't think it was really until then that it kind of set in that, "Wow, geez, we're at home." On Friday, even on Saturday morning, when everybody started really showing up, I said, "This is cool." It was fun. It was a lot of fun. I had a good time, too, man. I was passing out shirts, just jacking around and playing with the crowd. 

Anything special about Motegi? Do you like that track? 

No, not really. There's nothing really special about it. It's just another track on the schedule, just as far I'm concerned. It's not something you can't wait to go. The race after that is Philip Island, yeah, I'm excited to go to Philip Island. Motegi is, I don't if it's where it's located … I'm not talking about Japan but where it's located in Japan. It's kind of in the middle of a rain forest. It's just a weird location for a racetrack. You just kind of sit in the hotel and go to the racetrack, eat hotel food the whole time. It's just not very energizing. 

Are you returning to a baseline setup for this race? 

Yeah, that's the plan. I haven't necessarily had good results at Motegi, but I seem to go well there. With the rain last year in the race, and how I think two years in a row I got taken out in Turn 1 and tire problems there the year after. I have a good pace around that track, but it just never put the result together. We're looking to change that, go to a setting that we know works. It (track) is very similar to Le Mans: Stops and starts, long turns. We should be all right. 

Two big news stories in the series in the last week. One is Nicky Hayden going to Ducati. Do you think that's a good move for him? 

I think it's a better move than what he's on, to be honest with you. If it's a good move, we'll find out. But I think for him, I think for Ducati, I think for their American market, I think for everybody it's going to be a good deal. He's so overshadowed at the moment with Pedrosa pretty much demanding, or maybe (Alberto) Puig, his manager, is demanding all the attention. People aren't stupid. Everybody knows what's going on. I like Dani. I get along good with Dani. I don't have a problem with Dani, never have. That was the only thing that kind of I was cringing about at Indy. When they introduced him, here's Dani Pedrosa, man, the crowd just lit up. As much as I don't like my worst enemy, still, I don't know, man, that's just hard. That's just harsh. You've got somebody out there busting his balls, making a living and doing what he does, he might be a (jerk) or his manager might be a (jerk), but you've still got to give the guy some respect for what he does. And boos just don't cut it, if you ask me. 

You kind of know the feeling of being overshadowed, considering you had Valentino Rossi as a teammate. But the difference is that you get on well with Valentino, he's one of your friends, while Nicky and Dani don't get along very well. 

Honestly, our situations were entirely, completely opposite. I knew when I came into the team what my role was. I knew there was zero expectation of me beating Valentino. My role was to come in, create harmony, have a good team, everybody gets along, there's no drama. That was my role. I knew that. Nobody ever told me I couldn't beat Valentino, obviously. The couple of times that I did, it was, "Hey, good ride." It was never, "You weren't supposed to do that." For Nicky to win the World Championship and then be the second rider, that doesn't sit well with anybody, I don't think. 

There are rumors that Dorna may announce a single tire supplier for 2009 at Motegi. You like that idea, don't you? 

I do like that idea. I think it just levels a lot of things out. There's always been tire wars here and there. I've never ridden in a championship that has had a one-tire, let's say, spec tire. When I was in AMA, everybody was on Dunlops, but that was because they were the only guys that supplied. As far as a mandatory one-tire rule, I thought it was going to be a disaster when they went to World Superbike. I was like, "That's bogus." But I'm a hardcore Michelin guy. I always have been. And to kick Michelin out and Dunlop in favor of Pirelli, I just thought that was absolutely ridiculous. Come to find out, it frickin' works like a charm. I think all you've got to do is look at all the series now. It seems like there's quite a few world series that are on one tire. At the end of the day, it makes sense, for factories, especially. Not tire factories. For motorcycle manufacturers, it makes a lot of sense because you're not going to be let down by the black round things. Everybody gets the same ones. It's up to you, and your riders and your engineers to figure out how to make that tire work the best. At the end of the day, tires dictate, they dictate just about everything you can do to a bike. Pace you can run, how long you can run it, how far it's going to drop off. Basically, it's up to the rider and the engineers to sort out how to get the maximum amount out of that tire for as long as possible. If you can get a maximum amount out for about five laps, but then you just might ruin the tire. It's a big compromise. You've got to work that all out.

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