“Look at my bike, man—they’ve got everything off of it,” laughs Mike Hale. “We’re still learning about this thing; yesterday and today was the first time I was really on it, so we’re just trying to learn how it works.”

Mike Hale … that name sounds familiar, you’re thinking. And to any fan of motorcycle racing in the U.S., it should—Hale was the undisputed Golden Boy of mid-1990s road racing. His meteoric rise in 600cc Supersport and Superbike racing (which peaked in 1995 with runner-up finishes in both championships) was combined with ridiculous good looks (he’s a ringer for the guy in 16 Candles), which meant that I—at the age of 17—wasn’t the only one with a crush on the then-22-year-old. Smokin’ Joe’s Honda (Hale’s factory ride) and other sponsors loved the photogenic, friendly high-performer, but when the call came from across the ocean, none of us could compete. Hale quickly left the AMA series for World Superbike, and almost as quickly began to fade from prominence. He reappeared briefly in the AMA series in 2002—racing one full season—then was gone.

Hale sat down to answer our questions about the “missing years” at last weekend’s Road America AMA round, but we weren’t the real reason he was there: Hale, riding for Rockwall Honda, will contend the remainder of this season’s Formula Xtreme races, and—along with team owner Michael Worrell—has plans for 2006.

RRX: Give us a brief summary of what happened after you left the AMA series the first time.
Mike Hale: Well, there were a lot of issues the year that I rode for Powerhorse Ducati in World Superbike. I definitely didn’t meet expectations—most of all, my own—and it was the year Ducati went bankrupt and was bought out, so there were a lot of distractions off the track.

After that, I rode in World Superbike for Suzuki and for Kenny Roberts on his Proton bike in GP for a year, then came back here and spent two full years trying to break into car racing—2000 and 2001. I was driving NASCAR-type cars—regional stuff, NASCAR featherlight cars—but that’s a lot of money. There are so many guys who drive cars and have talent who are on the sidelines because they can’t write a check to buy good equipment. It’s like this [gestures to road race paddock]—but way magnified; it’s a lot of money.

Was car racing always something you’d wanted to do?
It was something I wanted to try. I was able to do that and spend enough of my own money to figure out that racing motorcycles was more my passion and where my heart was. Driving cars, it was racing, but I didn’t drive it often enough to get real comfortable with it. I was always trying to get over this sort of claustrophobic feeling I had being in the car … there’s the harness device, and you can’t hardly move. I’m used to being on a motorcycle, where if the thing’s not turning right, you just start climbing all over the front of the bike or moving your body around to help the thing handle.

So you made a move to return to road racing.
Right. In ’02 I signed and came back with Erion Honda to ride Formula Xtreme and 600s, and I got fourth in the FX championship. But at the end of ’02 I didn’t re-sign to race motorcycles; I had a couple of offers, but it was with questionable support. I didn’t know what to expect [from those who offered sponsorship]. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that the team aspect, the equipment—there’s a lot of pieces of the puzzle that have to be in place to get a good result, and so I said, Well, I’m going to go finish college. So I graduated last December with a bachelor’s in Finance from the University of Texas.

Do you have a family now?
Yep; I live in Fort Worth, I’m married and have two kids—a little girl who’s four and a little boy who’s almost two.

How did this most recent return to motorcycle racing come about?
Last year, I was out at the X Games, just hanging out, and I watched the Supermoto races and thought, Man, that looks like so much fun. And you know, you don’t have to stroke as big of a check to do that and have fun. So I started putting together a deal—Mike Worrell had a couple of bikes and we threw a deal together two weeks before the first national. We qualified for the main event at Vegas, we had some fun; I’ve never raced motocross. Road racing is what I’ve done and where I’ve been successful—that and dirt tracking before—and with this deal, we can get a bike that seems to be pretty competitive.

Mike’s a huge fan, and I’ve been missing it. This is our first race, and we’re still trying to figure out how many mil of preload on the rear spring, that type of stuff, just to help with setup. I have a new sponsor with Pirelli tires; it’s my first time on them, so I’m trying to get a feel for them and how they work. To be within a few tenths of fifth place on my first day—I’m happy with where we’re starting.

What’s your plan for the rest of the season?
I’m trying to keep this light and fun and enjoy it, because I know I’m rusty—I can tell. I’m still a little bit heavy, I’ve got weight to cut, and my mind’s still getting back up to speed. I haven’t ridden any street bike at all since going back to college—the only thing I own is a vintage Vespa that I brought back from Italy when I was living there. It’s a two-stoke 125, and I just tool around with my little daughter.

Five weeks ago, when I knew I was doing this, I started training and lost 12 pounds in five weeks; I’m trying to get back in shape. We’re committed to the rest of this year, with plans for ’06, so we’ll see how this year goes but at the same time put it together and really do it. Right now I’m riding just FX; I wouldn’t say we’re locked into the one class, but it’s quite a bit of an investment. We’ve got spare motors, a good race bike, so right now we’re focused on FX.

Are you excited to be back road racing?
Definitely. For me, I’ve always had an option or two that was available, but from my standpoint, it was always a little suspect. While I love the sport and love doing it, my motivation is, I want to know that when I line up on the grid, I at least have a shot at being in the front. Ultimately, my goal is winning, but this weekend my goal is top 10. If we leave here tomorrow with a top-10 finish, we’re going to be happy. [Ed note: Hale finished seventh.]