| Eddie Lawson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Lawson aboard the Yamaha YZR500, 1990. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1958-03-11)March 11, 1958 (age 67) Upland, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Eddie Ray Lawson[1] (born March 11, 1958) is an American former professionalmotorcycle racer.[2][3] He competed in theGrand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from1981 to1992.
A four-timeFIM 500ccroad racingworld champion, Lawson is prominent for being the first MotoGP competitor to win back-to-back 500cc world championships on machines from two different manufacturers. His record of not crashing and consistently finishing in the points earned him the nickname "Steady Eddie".[4]
Lawson was inducted into theMotoGP Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.[5] After his motorcycle career, Lawson pursued a brief career inopen-wheel single seater racing in the United States competing in theIndy Lights series and eventually to theCART racing series.
Born inUpland, California, Lawson began hismotorcycle racing career in theSouthern Californiadirt track circuit.[3] When it became increasingly difficult to find machinery able to compete with the dominantHarley-Davidsons, he switched his attention toroad racing.[3] In 1979, Lawson finished the season second behindFreddie Spencer in theAMA 250cc road racing National Championship.[3] Afterwards, he was offered a ride with theKawasaki Superbike team and won theAMA Superbike Series in 1981 and 1982. He also won the AMA 250cc road racing National Championship in 1980 and 1981 for Kawasaki.[3]
Lawson accepted an offer fromYamaha to contest the 500cc World Championship asKenny Roberts' teammate for the1983 season. Lawson spent the 1983 season learning the ropes of theGrand Prix circuit. In1984, Lawson began winning regularly and won the1984 World Championship.[2] It would mark the first of four world titles Lawson would go on to win.[2]
In 1985, he won the prestigiousImola 200 pre-season race.[6] Lawson began the 1986 season by winning theDaytona 200 in a dominating manner to give Yamaha their firstAMA Superbike victory.[7] He took an easy victory in his qualifying heat race and then won thepole position with a track record.[7] After he disposed of early challengersWayne Rainey andKevin Schwantz, Lawson won with a race time of one hour, 54 minutes, 49.656 seconds at an average of 106.030 mph, shattering the record for the Daytona 200 set the year before byFreddie Spencer by over three minutes.[7]
After winning two more 500cc world championships for Yamaha in1986 and1988, Lawson shocked the racing world by announcing he would be leaving Yamaha to sign with their arch-rivalsRothmansHonda as teammate to his own archrival, Australia's1987 World ChampionWayne Gardner. By switching teams, Lawson also fulfilled his desire to work withErv Kanemoto. After Gardner crashed and broke his leg during the third round atLaguna Seca, Lawson went on to win the1989 title for Honda, becoming the first rider to win back-to-back championships on machines from different manufacturers beforeValentino Rossi did so in2004 (moved from Honda to Yamaha). Furthermore, he was the fourth satellite rider to win the premier class world title before Valentino Rossi did so in2001, 12 years later.
Lawson then switched toCagiva in 1991 and the following year he achieved his last victory (that was also the first win for Cagiva after 10 years of racing). In so doing, he joined a very restricted number of great riders who managed to win races in top class with three different manufacturers, the others beingMike Hailwood (British Norton, MV Agusta, Honda),Randy Mamola (Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha),Loris Capirossi (Yamaha, Honda, Ducati) andMaverick Viñales (Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia) and definitively silenced the critics who believed he would not be as successful away from the factoryMarlboro Yamaha team.[3]
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.[8]
In 1990, Lawson won theSuzuka 8 Hoursendurance race on aYamaha FZR750R paired with teammateTadahiko Taira.[9] When he retired from Grand Prix racing in the early 1990s, he ranked third on the all-time MotoGP class (then known as 500GP) Grand Prix wins list with 31.[3] Lawson came out of retirement to win his second Daytona 200 in 1993.[10]
After finishing his motorcycle career, Lawson pursued a career inopen-wheel single seater racing in the United States competing in theIndy Lights series and eventually toCART.[11] In the1996 IndyCar season, he competed in 11 races with his best results being two sixth-place finishes atU.S. 500 and theDetroit Indy Grand Prix. His passion for speed remains undiminished and the former World Champion now enjoys driving 250ccSuperkarts often accompanied by his great friend and rivalWayne Rainey, who races in a specially modified Superkart to cope with hisspinal injuries, and historic Formula One cars, with aWalter Wolf RacingWR4 at vintage events.[4]
[2]
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 inbold indicatepole position; races initalics indicatefastest lap)
(key)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Leading Edge Motorsport | PHX | LBH | DET | POR | MIL | NHA | TOR | CLE | VAN | MDO | NAZ | LS 18 | NC | 0 |
| 1993 | Leading Edge Motorsports | PHX | LBH | MIL | DET | POR 8 | CLE 9 | TOR | NHA 10 | VAN 3 | MDO 17 | NAZ | LS 2 | 12th | 42 |
| 1994 | Tasman Motorsports | PHX 3 | LBH 18 | MIL 2 | DET 2 | POR 3 | CLE 1 | TOR 5 | MDO 2 | NHA 11 | VAN 7 | NAZ 5 | LS 3 | 4th | 139 |
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Galles Racing | Lola T96/00 | Mercedes-BenzIC108C | MIA 15 | RIO 21 | SRF 7 | LBH 9 | NZR 17 | 500 6 | MIL 20 | DET 6 | POR 15 | CLE 24 | TOR 15 | MIS | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | 20th | 26 | [13] |
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