The Fork in the Road
Fogarty's Test: 
by dean adams

Right about now, somewhere in England, Carl Fogarty is trying to find enough gas to get himself to an airport, so he can fulfil his destiny. 

Getting around in the UK of late, unless you own a horse or furry pachyderm on which to travel, is a hit and miss affair. There isn't any gas in some areas and in others petrol so expensive it precludes driving. Fogarty should be able to make it to Heathrow though, and then on to Italy. And it is there, over the course of the next few days, that Fogarty will decide what he is going to do with the rest of his life. Foggy will test the Ducati Corse Superbike at Mugello in a semi-private test this week. 

Injured at Phillip Island, Fogarty has been unable to ride for more than four months while he rehabilitates from a broken shoulder suffered in a violent crash. Late in this convalescing period, Foggy started talking retirement, at times very seriously. At other times not so seriously. He's been working out with a local trainer for almost a month, hence he and Ducati decided that now is the time to see if there is progress with the injury and if they should plan to go racing together in 2001, or if Carl should retire. He'll test for two days at Mugello. 

I had dinner with Fogarty in Germany the night before the Intermot show last week. Well, we ate at the same table in a nice German restaurant, sat across from one another, but we didn't speak to one another. The function was an unofficial Corse team and Ducati management dinner, somehow I found myself invited. 

It was an off the record meeting, with all of the team there, and Ducati's management, including head of the board Federico Minoli. I decided that since I couldn't ask Carl any on the record questions, I wouldn't ask him any at all. And anyway, it was informal and about the last thing anybody wanted was some clueless press guy asking dopey questions. So I sat quietly and drank my beer. 

I did observe him for a few hours though, and based on that I'd be very surprised if he retires. 

Fogarty is probably a lot like you and a lot like me, in terms of interest in things other than racing; meaning he really has very little concern for anything not related to racing. In the course of a couple of hours, the topics of conversation at the table ranged from politics, movies, food, sex and life in our respective lands to racing. Only when the subject was about racing did Carl speak. Then he was animated, telling stories, laughing, recounting past races and racers, pulling no punches on rivals. He didn't hold court, just talked about things he clearly loves: racing, the racing life, and the racing family. 

When the conversation moved to less motorcycle-related topics, Fogarty was as silent as a tomb. He stared at his plate as his wife, Michela, recounted how hard it was becoming to procure fuel in the UK, how his book was selling, what they'd been up to lately and what their life was like. His wife teased him to try and get a rise out of him, to get him to talk about CNN or the latest Rolex watch, unsuccessfully. After a few minutes of staring at his plate quietly, he'd look around idly and then strike up a quiet conversation with the man sitting next to him--Troy Bayliss--about, yes, racing. He talked to Troy about tracks in the UK and team and riders, again, very animated and fueled with a beer, telling raunchy stories about teammates past. It was well-behaved fun. 

He looked good. When I last saw and interviewed him at Misano in June, you could see quite easily which was his injured arm, as the shoulder area was smaller than the other and it sagged down. He carried his arm then like it was still in a cast, rarely moving it. 

Now, after some physiotherapy, both shoulders look the same inside his shirt and he moved it freely about. He said it still smarts when he works the area, but that is to be expected. It's doubtful that it has the strength that it needs to wrestle a Ducati around, but that will come. 

Fogarty will test with his own crew and engineer from Ducati, and they will be left alone by the team. Ducati wants to give him all the space and time he needs to evaluate where he is and what the situation is. 

Fogarty hates testing, and is an admittedly poor test rider, but this may be the most important test of his long career. If Carl decides to stop racing, there is going to be very large hole in his life that he will need to fill. He's seen the world, and conquered it. What Sir Carl Fogarty will do with the rest of his days if he isn't a racer any longer may be the biggest challenge of his life. 

ENDS