13 5
THE CHAMPION
When all was said and done in the 1992 FIM 250cc World
Championship, Chesterfi eld Yamaha’s Donny Schmit emerged
as the winner. Unfortunately, his voice is not heard in this feature
because Schmit passed away on January 19, 1996, due to a rare
blood disorder. It was two days after his 29th birthday. But in the
middle of that ’92 title drive, Schmit sat down for an interview
with Cycle News’ Donn Maeda, now the editor of Transworld
Motocross. Here are some of Schmit’s thoughts on 1992.
“The season started off slowly. I wasn’t used to the bike at the
fi rst race, and at the second race I got taken out. I felt pretty
good by round three in Austria, but I crashed in the fi rst turn and
broke the throttle. I was so mad! I could just see my champion-
ship hopes slipping away. From there, things went better—
I fi nished third and fourth in the next two motos.”
“I wasn’t too far ahead of everyone in Italy, but I think I made ev-
eryone look bad in Germany. I won by at least 15 seconds in all
three motos. That has to be the high point of my season because
I took over the point lead in Germany.”
“I was excited and looking forward to coming home and racing in
America [at Unadilla]. But I knew I had to keep my cool and ride
smart. My goal was to ride as best I could and score as many points
as possible without taking unnecessary chances. Maybe if I wasn’t
in championship contention I would have tried really hard to win.”
“I went to the hospital to make sure I was okay, you don’t mess
around with something like that. The doctors helped me really fast
and I drove wide open in my rental car to return to the track.”
“It was a nightmare at fi rst. I could just see my championship
hopes slipping away, again. But I knew that if I tried, I could at
least score some points in the second and third motos. My neck
was really sore, but once the gate dropped, it was the furthest
thing from my mind.”
“If I do win the title, it will mean a lot. Though it’s hard to compare,
I think the 250cc title would mean more to me than the 125cc
crown, mostly because it would be my second title. It’s the pre-
mier championship, and I can say that I’ve won it. My coming to
Europe and all the time away from home would be well worth it.”
“It’s not as bad as some people say. Europe can be a neat place to
live. It’s all in how you look at things. It’s neat to read about some-
thing in the newspaper and think ‘I know where that is’ or ‘I’ve been
there.’ Someday I’ll be able to tell my kids that I’ve been all over the
world doing what I love. How many people can say that?”
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