Eddie Lawson

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Eddie Lawson bigraphy, stories - American racing driver

Eddie Lawson : biography

March 11, 1958 –

Eddie Lawson (born in Upland, California) is a former four-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. His penchant for not crashing and consistently finishing in the points earned him the nickname "Steady Eddie".

Biography

Lawson began his motorcycle racing career in the Southern California dirt track circuit. When it became increasingly difficult to find machinery able to compete with the dominant Harley-Davidsons, he switched his attention to road racing. In 1979, Lawson finished the season second behind Freddie Spencer in the AMA 250cc road racing National Championship. Afterwards, he was offered a ride with the Kawasaki Superbike team and won the AMA Superbike Series in 1981 and 1982. He also won the AMA 250cc road racing National Championship in 1980 and 1981 for Kawasaki.

Lawson accepted an offer from Yamaha to contest the 500cc World Championship as Kenny Roberts’ team-mate for the 1983 season. Lawson spent the 1983 season learning the ropes of the Grand Prix circuit. In 1984, Lawson began winning regularly and won the 1984 World Championship. It would mark the first of four world titles Lawson would go on to win. After winning two more titles for Yamaha in 1986 and 1988, Lawson shocked the racing world by announcing he would be leaving Yamaha to sign with their arch-rivals Honda fulfilling his desire to work with Erv Kanemoto. He went on to win the 1989 title for Honda, becoming the first rider to win back-to-back championships on machines from different manufacturers. Lawson also won the ABC Superbikers event at Carlsbad Calif. in 1983 and 1985 which pitted the best riders from several disciplines against each other on a combined dirt and paved course. He was riding a specially equipped factory YZ 490 Yamaha. Moto Cross Mag. Feb. 1986

In 1990, Lawson won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race on a Yamaha FZR750R paired with Japanese rider Tadahiko Taira. Lawson also won the Daytona 200 in 1986 and came out of retirement to win it again in 1993. When he retired from GP racing in the early 1990s, he ranked third on the all-time 500cc Grand Prix wins list with 31.

After finishing his motorcycle career, Lawson pursued a career in open-wheel single seater racing in the United States competing in the Indy Lights series and eventually to CART. In the 1996 IndyCar season, he competed in 11 races with his best results being two sixth place finishes at U.S. 500 and the Detroit Indy Grand Prix. His passion for speed remains undiminished and the former World Champion now enjoys driving 250cc Superkarts often accompanied by his great friend and rival Wayne Rainey, who races in a specially modified Superkart to cope with his spinal injuries.

Racing career statistics

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1988 to 1992:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Points 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team Machine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Points Rank Wins
1983 500cc Marlboro Agostini Yamaha YZR500 RSA8 FRANC NAT3 GER9 ESP6 AUT2 YUG3 NED5 BEL5 GBR4 SWE5 SMR3 78 4th 0
1984 500cc Marlboro Agostini Yamaha YZR500 RSA1 NAT2 ESP1 AUT1 GER2 FRA2 YUG4 NED3 BEL4 GBR2 SWE1 SMR4 142 1st 4
1985 500cc Marlboro Agostini Yamaha YZR500 RSA1 ESP2 GER4 NAT2 AUT2 YUG1 NEDNC BEL2 FRA4 GBR2 SWE2 SMR1 133 2nd 3
1986 500cc Marlboro Agostini Yamaha YZR500 ESP2 NAT1 GER1 AUT1 YUG1 NEDNC BEL2 FRA1 GBR3 SWE1 SMR1 139 1st 7
1987 500cc Marlboro Agostini Yamaha YZR500 JPNNC ESP2 GER1 NAT2 AUTNC YUG3 NED1 FRANC GBR1 SWE2 CZE2 SMR2 POR1 BRA2 ARG1 157 3rd 5
1988 500cc Marlboro Agostini Yamaha YZR500 JPN3 USA1 ESP2 EXP1 NAT1 GER4 AUT1 NED2 BEL2 YUG10 FRA1 GBR6 SWE1 CZE2 BRA1 252 1st 7
1989 500cc Rothmans Kanemoto Honda NSR500 JPN3 AUS5 USA3 ESP1 NATDNS GER2 AUT2 YUG3 NED2 BEL1 FRA1 GBR2 SWE1 CZE2 BRA2 228 1st 4
1990 500cc Marlboro Roberts Yamaha YZR500 JPNDNF USADNS ESPINJ NATINJ GERINJ AUTINJ YUGINJ NED3 BEL3 FRA5 GBR3 SWE2 CZE3 HUN2 AUS4 118 7th 0
1991 500cc Cagiva Corse GP500 JPN6 AUS6 USA5 ESP6 ITA3 GER4 AUT5 EURDNF NED4 FRA3 GBR6 RSMDNF CZE8 VDM– MAL– 126 6th 0
1992 500cc Cagiva Corse GP500 JPN14 AUS6 MALDNF ESP11 ITA11 EUR6 GER6 NEDDNF HUN1 FRA5 GBR4 BRA11 RSADNF 56 9th 1