Dakar-Cairo 2000 Was an Eye-Opener for Cyclist Lewis

At times, racing his BMW motorcycle across the Sahara Desert, all Jimmy Lewis could see was the curvature of the earth, shimmering in the distance.

On some days, he would ride as many as eight hours without seeing another human being. Maybe a few camels.

Lewis has been an off-road racer for years, but nothing in Baja or the Mojave prepared him for what he found racing across the top of Africa in the Dakar-Cairo 2000, the world’s most prestigious rally.

“All I could think about, other than finding my way to the next checkpoint, was that out there in the Sahara, it made our North America deserts look new, it made Death Valley seem inhabitable,” said Lewis, the only American cyclist among the 650 two- and four-wheel competitors and winner of the twin-cylinder class.

“The desert there just looks old, like it was worn out. When a dust storm comes up, it can get really ugly. When you’re on one of the salt flats, you ride and ride until finally you see mountains slowly emerging out of the horizon. It’s really eerie.

“The only way to tell your bearings is with your compass heading, and sometimes the dust is so thick you can’t read it. It’s like riding through flour, or baby powder. When you’re in it, it’s worse than fog. It’s total white-out.”

Lewis, a Cycle World editor from Costa Mesa, rode more than 5,000 miles, most of it at close to 100 mph, as the rally zigzagged its way from the western tip, Dakar, on Jan. 4 to the eastern destination near Cairo, where it ended in front of the Pyramids of Egypt on Jan. 23.

It was scheduled for 17 stages, but four were eliminated because of a terrorist threat in Niger. The field of 400 race vehicles, numerous support vehicles and 1,500 people was airlifted from Niamey, Niger, to the airports of Sabha and Waw al Kebir, Libya, where the rally resumed five days later.

“We [the contestants] didn’t really know what was going on,” Lewis said. “They told us we were changing the route and that was it. From what I heard, the rebels wanted to embarrass Niger by attacking the rally. So they got us out of there.”

Lewis, 31, has been riding bikes as long as he can remember, mostly in motocross or off-road races. He won the Baja 1000 in 1998 sharing a Honda with Johnny Campbell.

In 1996, Lewis first rode Dakar-Cairo as a privateer on a KTM and got only halfway before nearly dying of dehydration.

“The temperature hit 127 [degrees] and I developed diarrhea and didn’t realize the effect it had on the water in your body,” he said. “I was there long enough, though, to get my appetite whetted so I went back the next year and rode with [former world motocross champion] Danny Laporte.”

Lewis finished fourth. He attained his goal of finishing the grueling ride, so he had no intention of returning.

Last year, he was in Europe to do a story on the Dakar rally for his magazine when he got a call from BMW, asking if he would like to ride on their factory team this year.

“I figured I couldn’t beat that,” he said. “I could combine my day job with riding for BMW, and they were paying the $15,000 entry fee.”

Lewis crashed only once during the 17 days, but it happened right in front of a TV camera crew.

“When I got home, everyone kept asking me why I fell so much,” Lewis said with a chuckle. “I told them it was the same crash, that CNN and Speedvision kept showing it time after time.”

Egyptian authorities complained after the rally that too much garbage and trash had been left at the finish site, less than half a mile from the Pyramids, but Lewis said it would have been difficult to know.

“When we got there, we noticed how much trash there was in the area already. It was like a lot of the countries over there; it was dirty and definitely not pristine. All across Africa, the rally people had been very good about cleaning up after us.”

One thing that caught Lewis’ attention was the feverish way locals along the route scoured bivouacs for items left in trash bags.

“It was kind of sad, in a way, to see some of them dash in and maybe grab only an empty plastic water bottle, or maybe only the cap off a bottle, but for them it was like a new toy. We take so much for granted that it’s an eye-opener to see how people in Third World countries exist.

“We want water, we turn on a faucet. They want water, they have to go out in the hills and get it.”

PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY

Southern California’s oval-track racing season opens Saturday night at Perris with a Sprint Car Racing Assn. main event featuring non-winged cars.

The SCRA held its first two races last week at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix and not unexpectedly, defending champion Richard “Gas Man” Griffin won the opener. Jeremy Sherman of Phoenix won the second night.

“I’ve wanted to win here since I was a little kid,” Sherman said. “My uncle has won here, my dad has won here and my stepfather has won here. To get my first win at Manzanita just feels great.”

Griffin and Sherman were the winners, but the SCRA point leader is veteran Brad Noffsinger, who finished fourth and third. Noffsinger, the California Racing Assn. champion in 1986 and 1987, is back after sidetracking his career to NASCAR for a decade. The CRA was the precursor of the SCRA. Noffsinger’s teammates on the Jack Gardner Jr. team include Rickie Gaunt, oval nationals champion, and Troy Rutherford.

Other track openings are Ventura Raceway, March 4; Temecula Speedway, March 11; Irwindale Speedway, March 25; and Orange Show Stadium, San Bernardino, April 1.

CART CHAMP CARS

Roger Penske has canceled his plans to field an entry in the Indianapolis 500 this year, despite having purchased several Indy Racing League chassis with plans to compete.

“If you had talked to us three months ago, we would have told you it was high in our plans, but you will not see Team Penske at Indianapolis in the year 2000,” Penske said. “We are not in a position to give our [Indy] sponsors 100% commitment, and we would be unable to do that.

“I think that in the future, when we can all go back under one banner and under one sanctioning body, then you will see us back there.”

Plans for unification of the IRL and CART were well along when IRL founder Tony George pulled the plug on negotiations and said his organization would go it alone.

Change seemed to be the order of the day when CART held its annual spring training at Homestead-Miami Speedway this week.

Chip Ganassi, whose cars have won the last four CART championships with Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya, has not only switched from Honda power to Toyota, he has also switched from Reynard to Lola chassis.

Penske, with new drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castro-Neves, has replaced his Mercedes power with Honda, his personal Penske chassis with Reynard and Goodyear tires with Firestone. The tire change was mandatory, however, since Goodyear has dropped out of open-wheel racing.

Jerry Forsythe is swapping his Mercedes engines for Ford for Patrick Carpentier and rookie Alexandre Tagliani.

Defending champion Montoya received the Mario Andretti Trophy as the leading vote-getter in CART’s all-star team balloting. Other team members included Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy, Max Papis and Michael Andretti. Greg Moore, who died in an accident at California Speedway in October, was added to the team as an honorary all-star.

Franchitti was injured in a crash Wednesday, the only incident during the two days of testing. The Scotsman was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he is being treated for a broken left hip and pelvis and multiple small bruises of the brain. He is expected to be released from the hospital Saturday.

DAYTONA 500

Pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 is Saturday, when the two-car front row will be determined for the Feb. 20 race. Other places will be set by results of next Thursday’s twin 125 qualifying races.

If Dave Marcis qualifies for the 500, it will be his 33rd consecutive start, a streak that began in 1968 when he finished 20th in the Larry Wehrs Chevrolet.

Eight of 41 500s have been won from the pole.