There is an old debate in racing about whether world championship riders are born or made. Some say you really can't teach anything to future world-class riders after they hit their midteens; that the ability to get that last thousandth of a second comes from a drive to win that burns within like a great, fiery furnace. Others say that with the right tutoring, a rider on the cusp of winning can be coached to be a world-championship contender. In Eddie Lawson's case, both views are correct.
Lawson left motorcycle racing with a final turn of his back, retiring from Grand Prix (now MotoGP) after the 1992 season. He cashed in by doing just four professional motorcycle races afterward--Daytona and the Suzuka Eight Hours twice each, largely to fund his then-fledgling IndyCar effort. After the '94 Suzuka event, Eddie Lawson never raced a motorcycle again.
When he stowed his leathers into his gearbag for the final time, Lawson's palmars were vast: four 500cc world championships, including back-to-back titles in '88 and '89, first on a Yamaha and then on Honda machinery; two AMA Superbike championships in the early '80s; plus a pair of AMA 250 Grand Prix titles. His secondary accomplishments, feats mentioned in passing now, would be milestones for lesser rivals.
For example, Lawson is the only man in history to win the 500cc title on different makes of motorcycles in successive years, and he was the first to win a 500cc GP race on the then-dark horse Cagiva. Furthermore, he beat Freddie Spencer to the world championship in '84, when Spencer was regarded as an all-but-unbeatable racing god. Lawson also won the made-for-TV Superbikers event in the early '80s, which pitted riders from all disciplines of racing against one another in a Supermoto-style contest to determine the best all-around motorcycle racer. Moreover, he is one of the few riders to escape the stylish GP game of the '80s without writing a book or getting married.
"That's at Elsinore. And that's my buddy behind me, Mike Tidwell. He was the guy to beat. Wayne [Rainey] and I tried to beat him all the time."
A book on Lawson's illustrious career would, of course, focus on his GP years. And there are certainly a variety of interesting stories from that period, not limited solely to his leaving Yamaha at the end of the '88 season and signing with Honda. The really interesting--and mostly unknown--tales are from Lawson's teens, when he raced on American dirttracks, many times in front of fewer than 100 spectators for less than $5 in prize money. If you're looking for the answer to the born-or-built debate, it's probably found there.
Even before he rode or raced, Lawson loved motorcycles. His father and grandfather both rode. Lawson was riding at age 7 and racing by age 12. His grandfather and father would take him to the desert to go riding when, according to Lawson, his feet "just about touched the footpegs" of a 100cc beater they bought him; that's the footpegs, mind you, not the ground. And the 100 was a brittle little pile. Crashing it usually meant broken levers or bent bars--a complete ride-stoppage. The danger of the fun ending prematurely branded the "don't crash" rule into Lawson's cerebral cortex. Even at that young age he learned to calculate his risks, and the legacy of those first lessons endured.
In both AMA Superbike and Grand Prix racing, Lawson was recognized for measuring his efforts and only going as fast as the equipment would allow him, rather than taking foolish risks that might launch him and the bike into the cheap seats. When he raced GPs in the '80s and '90s, the European press criticized Lawson because of his controlled and understated (yet hugely effective) riding style; they were eager for more drama from a rider who saw boundaries and rarely went past them.
"That's an Italjet 50, my first roadracer. My grandfather Charles Long bought that for me. It scared the heck out of me. It went 70 mph, you know." | 
Eddie's first sponsored ride. "I'm on an Indian there; I rode it at Corona, Saddleback... There was a local dealer, Pomona Valley Kawasaki, and they were my first sponsor. Well, my grandfather went in and negotiated a bike for me..." | 
Lawson on his 1970 Kawasaki Bushmaster. "My granddad bought that for me, too. I was getting big air, so I made my family get out of the motor home and come watch me. It was a 90, and it was brand-spankin' new." |
Lawson on the Italjet again, at Orange County Raceway. "Yeah, look at that helmet. There were only a handful of guys in the 50 class back then--a couple of them were 70 years old. I pulled off a win, but I was pretty cautious." | 
Riding a Yamaha XS650 for Shell Thuett, legendary dirtrack tuner in Southern California. Lawson had his AMA Expert license by the time he was 19. "That must be a daytime TT race at Ascot, because of the up-pipes, 1978 or '79. Back in my Novice/Junior years, we'd race at Ascot every Friday night." | 
Riverside Superbike race, 1982. Eventual victor Lawson (21) behind Roberto Pietri (88), and leading Mike Baldwin (43), Wes Cooley (34) and Wayne Rainey (60). Lawson won the AMA Superbike championship in '81 and '82. |