Darrell Shultz, One Tough Dude

• Larry Lawrence
Here’s my entry for a rider who might have been one of the all-time greats had it not been for him being almost perpetually injured. This is Darrell Shultz on the starting gate for the 1982 Anaheim Supercross. Next to him is Chris Haines, his legendary mechanic who worked with many leading riders over the years. Shultz signed with Suzuki in 1979 and then spent two years mostly on the sidelines with injuries. That was the way his career would go the rest of the way. You look at his record and say, “Well he held it together long enough to win the 1982 AMA 500cc Motocross Championship.” Not exactly. He suffered a serious practice crash before the penultimate round that year and was lying in a hospital with a blown-out knee and a collapsed lung. A couple of days before the Washougal National his dad walked into the room and told him to get up. Darrell pointed out that he was hooked to a machine with a tube running down his lung. Obviously, a proponent of tough love, his dad said racing that weekend in Washougal was the only way he could win the championship. Somehow, they convinced the doctor to let him go, still with the tube in his lung. The doctor warned him not to crash or even get winded or the consequences could be dire. With the breathing tube tape over at the top and strapped down, Shultz raced Washougal, being very careful not to crash or get winded and still finished seventh overall! The next weekend in Carlsbad he was ultra careful again, finished 20th and clinched the championship. It was one of the all-time incredible efforts in the history of AMA Motocross. After winning the title, Shultz had three more knee surgeries in the span of six months and decided to retire from racing. Had he stayed healthy I believe he would have won many more races and titles. 📷Mark Kariya 
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