5 Minutes with … Doug Henry
By Donovan Mitchell; Ray Gundy photos

Originally posted on racerxill.com
Doug Henry is one of the sport’s most beloved riders. His will and courage in his professional career was remarkable. Countless times it was thought he wouldn’t be able to outdo what he had already done, whether it was the time he broke his back, broke both arms, or became the first four-stroke in modern times to win in supercross (a feat he accomplished in Las Vegas in 1998). Henry always persevered when times were tough, most recently by coming out of retirement to shock the off-road world by winning the first GNCC he ever entered, the notoriously rough Orange Crush GNCC in Florida. We rang up Doug just to see what his plans are, and it looks like we’ll be seeing more of him, as always.

Racer X: Doug, what are you up to?
Doug Henry: I picked up a Fun Mover from this company Bradford RV out of Massachusetts, and they gave me a sweet deal on it. I’ve been tuning on it for a couple of days now, so I keep running back and forth from the store to get nuts and bolts for things that I’m building.

Cool deal. About a month ago you entered your first GNCC in Florida. What made you decide to go and race?
I knew it would be a fun time, plus I had some friends that were going to race. There’s a group of guys that go down to Florida every year if the weather is good. It was good, so I went.

Did you have any idea how to approach the race and what was ahead of you?
[Laughs] I had no idea! All I knew was, it was about three hours of racing with some pit stops. I didn’t know how fast I had to go and when to pit. I didn’t have much of a strategy going into it, to say the least.

You did end up winning, and we’ve heard bits and pieces about how it went. Can you give us a blow-by-blow race summary?
Well, I got off to a mid-pack start, and I was working my way up. But you see guys going into the woods every which way, and I thought there was a pack that got away, so I kept motoring along. I couldn’t see them anymore. My thought was, “I’ll never catch them.” When I came around on the first lap, I yelled to my pit crew, “What place am I in?” They told me second! Not too far into the second lap, I caught first, and I was thinking, “Okay, good, there’s the leader.” At the end of that lap he had to pit and I didn’t because I borrowed a bigger tank. On the third lap I pitted and had a 16-second lead on the Finnish guy, Juha Salminen. I decided to get a drink and eat something. As I was taking off, he was right behind me, and we started to battle. I finally got out front again and took the win.

I heard that, after the race was over, you were literally exhausted and just laid down.
Yeah, I couldn’t believe how tired I was on the last lap. If they said there was another lap, I wouldn’t have gone. I was cramping to the point that, when I would sit down, my legs wouldn’t bend. When a section came where I had to sit down, I’d just leave my legs down, because they wouldn’t get back up on the pegs. It was just a survival.

How does this race rank on the all-time toughest things you’ve done?
It ranks right up there. This race was mentally and physically a challenge that I never expected. It definitely is in my top-three as a challenge.

Going back to when we started talking, you have a Fun Mover now. Does it have anything to do with AMA Supermoto?
A little bit, but it has more to do with my family. Before I got it, I was leaving late so I could get there at the last minute. Then I’d leave the race as fast as possible to get back East as quick as possible. Now I can take the family to where I’m going and spend more time with them. It’s kind of a training vehicle so I can take my long trips to practice.

The AMA Supermoto Series schedule was announced recently. Will you be returning to the same team?
No, I will be riding for Yamaha this season. It’s going to be a support team by the name of Graves Motorsports. I’m getting bikes real soon to get all the bugs worked out. Yamaha will be a part of it to an extent with technology and to answer questions.

Last year you had some troubles in the opening rounds that put you behind right away. With the series not being too long, are you going to take different steps toward winning the title?
I just had a couple of mistakes early on, and that’s a part of racing. I’m there to win, and that’s the only reason. If I get the championship, great; if something gets in the way, oh well. I’ve been around long enough to know how it all works.

Do you feel Supermoto is growing and going in the right direction?
I think Supermoto is growing, but I wish they were doing more to make it grow. Road America is going to be great, and we need more venues like it. They just need to work around other big venues right now and it will be even better.

Southwick is on an off-weekend in the AMA Supermoto Series, so is there any chance we will be seeing one of your classic returns?
Yes, I plan on racing Southwick, as long as it doesn’t conflict with anything. For sure, it’s on my mind.

Thanks, Doug, for giving us an update, and we hope to see more of you.
Yeah, I appreciate the call, Donovan, and I’ll look more into where I’m going to pop up next and let you know.