Wayne Rainey

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Wayne Rainey
Wayne Rainey on the Yamaha YZR500
Nationality	United States
Grand Prix motorcycle racing career
Active years	1984, 1988 - 1993
Teams	Yamaha
Grands Prix	95
Championships	500cc - 1990, 1991, 1992
Wins	24
Podium finishes	65
Career points	1270.5
Pole positions	16
Fastest laps	23
First Grand Prix	1984 250cc Nations Grand Prix
First win	1988 500cc British Grand Prix
Last win	1993 500cc Czech Republic Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	1993 500cc Italian Grand Prix

Wayne Rainey, born October 23, 1960 (1960-10-23) (age 47) in Downey, California, United States, is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he won the 500cc World Championship three times and the Daytona 200 once. He was characterized by his smooth, calculating riding style.

He began his career racing in the American Grand National Championship, a series that encompassed four distinct dirt track disciplines plus road races. Following his success in the Novice 250cc roadrace class, Kawasaki hired him to compete in the 1982 AMA Superbike Championship as a teammate to the then defending National Champion Eddie Lawson. The following year, Lawson moved to the Grand Prix circuit and Rainey took over the role of leading rider, earning the 1983 National Championship for Kawasaki.

In 1984, he accepted an offer to ride for the newly formed Kenny Roberts Yamaha squad in the 250cc class of the Grand Prix World Championship. A less than successful season saw him returning home to join the American Honda Superbike team from 1985 to 1987. It was during the 1987 Superbike National Championship that his intense rivalry began with Kevin Schwantz as the two battled it out for the title. Rainey won the Championship, but the fierce rivalry between the two competitors was just beginning. So intense was their rivalry that they continued their battle during the 1987 Trans-Atlantic Match Races in which they were supposedly teammates competing against a team of British riders.

In 1988 Rainey returned to Europe, again joining Team Roberts Yamaha, this time in the premier 500cc division riding the YZR500. His arch-rival Schwantz followed him to Europe, signing to race the 500cc class for Team Suzuki. The two would continue their rivalry on race tracks all across Europe, driving each other to higher levels of competitiveness. In 1988, Rainey and his Team Roberts Yamaha teammate Kevin Magee would also win the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race in Japan. In the 1989 campaign, Rainey would finish second overall. From 1990 to 1992, Rainey hit his stride earning three consecutive 500cc crowns for Yamaha. Rainey was well on his way to his fourth-consecutive title in 1993. He was leading the championship points and leading the GP when he suffered his career-ending crash at the Italian Grand Prix in Misano, in which he slid into the gravel trap at high speed, breaking his spine against the raked surface designed as a safety feature for car racing. The injury handed the title over to his great rival, Schwantz. Rainey's injuries would render him permanently paralyzed from the chest down.

After turning to Williams team owner, Frank Williams for advice, Rainey later became the team manager for Marlboro Yamaha for a few years. After the 1995 season, Schwantz retired from the Grand Prix circus, partly due to nagging injuries and partly because losing the one great rival that had fired his competitive intensity made him view his own mortality much more clearly ^[1].

Rainey has refused to give up racing despite his disability and now races a hand-controlled kart in the World SuperKart series based in Northern California. He lives in Monterey, California in a house which is built overlooking the Laguna Seca circuit shortly before his career ending accident. The nearby circuit has named a corner in his honor, the Rainey Curve, a medium-speed, acute left-hander that follows the famous Corkscrew. Rainey was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. the FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2000. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.

[edit] Grand Prix career statistics ^[2]

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1984	250cc	Yamaha TZR250	12	0	1	1	1	29	8th
1988	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	15	1	7	1	0	189	3rd
1989	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	15	3	13	4	1	210.5	2nd
1990	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	15	7	14	3	6	255	1st
1991	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	14	6	13	6	8	233	1st
1992	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	12	3	8	0	3	140	1st
1993	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	12	4	9	1	4	214	2nd
Total			95	24	65	16	23	1270.5

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wayne Rainey at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame

Preceded by Eddie Lawson	AMA Superbike Champion 1983	Succeeded by Fred Merkel
Preceded by Fred Merkel	AMA Superbike Champion 1987	Succeeded by Bubba Shobert
Preceded by Eddie Lawson	500cc Motorcycle World Champion 1990-1992	Succeeded by Kevin Schwantz

v • d • e 500 cc/MotoGP Motorcycle World Champions     1949 - L. Graham 1950 - U. Masetti 1951 - G. Duke 1952 - U. Masetti 1953 - G. Duke 1954 - G. Duke 1955 - G. Duke 1956 - J. Surtees 1957 - L. Liberati 1958 - J. Surtees 1959 - J. Surtees 1960 - J. Surtees 1961 - G. Hocking 1962 - M. Hailwood 1963 - M. Hailwood 1964 - M. Hailwood 1965 - M. Hailwood 1966 - G. Agostini 1967 - G. Agostini 1968 - G. Agostini 1969 - G. Agostini 1970 - G. Agostini 1971 - G. Agostini 1972 - G. Agostini 1973 - P. Read 1974 - P. Read 1975 - G. Agostini 1976 - B. Sheene 1977 - B. Sheene 1978 - K. Roberts 1979 - K. Roberts 1980 - K. Roberts 1981 - M. Lucchinelli 1982 - F. Uncini 1983 - F. Spencer 1984 - E. Lawson 1985 - F. Spencer 1986 - E. Lawson 1987 - W. Gardner 1988 - E. Lawson 1989 - E. Lawson 1990 - W. Rainey 1991 - W. Rainey 1992 - W. Rainey 1993 - K. Schwantz 1994 - M. Doohan 1995 - M. Doohan 1996 - M. Doohan 1997 - M. Doohan 1998 - M. Doohan 1999 - À. Crivillé 2000 - K. Roberts, Jr. 2001 - V. Rossi 2002 - V. Rossi 2003 - V. Rossi 2004 - V. Rossi 2005 - V. Rossi 2006 - N. Hayden 2007 - C. Stoner