Eddie Lawson

For the Waterloo Road character of the same name, see Eddie Lawson (Waterloo Road).

Eddie Lawson
Lawson aboard the Yamaha YZR500, 1990.
Nationality	American
Born	(1958-03-11) March 11, 1958 Upland, California, U.S.
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1983 – 1992 First race 1983 500cc South African Grand Prix Last race 1992 500cc South African Grand Prix First win 1984 500cc South African Grand Prix Last win 1992 500cc Hungarian Grand Prix Team(s) Yamaha, Honda, Cagiva Championships 500cc – 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 127 31 78 18 21 1429

Eddie Ray Lawson (born March 11, 1958) is an American former professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1983 to 1992.

A four-time FIM 500cc road racing world 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".

Lawson was inducted into the MotoGP Legends Hall of Fame in 2005. After his motorcycle career, Lawson pursued a brief career in open-wheel single seater racing in the United States competing in the Indy Lights series and eventually to the CART racing series.

Biography

Born in Upland, California, Lawson began his motorcycle racing career in the Southern California dirt track circuit. When it became increasingly difficult to find machinery able to compete with the dominant Harley-Davidsons, he switched his attention to road racing. In 1979, Lawson finished the season second behind Freddie Spencer in the AMA 250cc road racing National Championship. Afterwards, he was offered a ride with the Kawasaki Superbike team and won the AMA Superbike Series in 1981 and 1982. He also won the AMA 250cc road racing National Championship in 1980 and 1981 for Kawasaki.

Lawson in 1989 riding a Honda NSR500

Lawson accepted an offer from Yamaha to contest the 500cc World Championship as Kenny Roberts' teammate for the 1983 season. Lawson spent the 1983 season learning the ropes of the Grand Prix circuit. In 1984, Lawson began winning regularly and won the 1984 World Championship. It would mark the first of four world titles Lawson would go on to win.

In 1985, he won the prestigious Imola 200 pre-season race. Lawson began the 1986 season by winning the Daytona 200 in a dominating manner to give Yamaha their first AMA Superbike victory. He took an easy victory in his qualifying heat race and then won the pole position with a track record. After he disposed of early challengers Wayne Rainey and Kevin 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 by Freddie Spencer by over three minutes.

After winning two more 500cc world championships for Yamaha in 1986 and 1988, Lawson shocked the racing world by announcing he would be leaving Yamaha to sign with their arch-rivals Rothmans Honda as teammate to his own archrival, Australia's 1987 World Champion Wayne Gardner. By switching teams, Lawson also fulfilled his desire to work with Erv Kanemoto. After Gardner crashed and broke his leg during the third round at Laguna Seca, Lawson went on to win the 1989 title for Honda, becoming the first rider to win back-to-back championships on machines from different manufacturers before Valentino Rossi did so in 2004 (moved from Honda to Yamaha). Furthermore, he was the fourth satellite rider to win the premier class world title before Valentino Rossi did so in 2001, 12 years later.

Lawson then switched to Cagiva 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 being Mike Hailwood (British Norton, MV Agusta, Honda), Randy Mamola (Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha), Loris Capirossi (Yamaha, Honda, Ducati) and Maverick Viñales (Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia) and definitively silenced the critics who believed he would not be as successful away from the factory Marlboro Yamaha team.

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.

In 1990, Lawson won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race on a Yamaha FZR750R paired with teammate Tadahiko Taira. 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. Lawson came out of retirement to win his second Daytona 200 in 1993.

After finishing his motorcycle career, Lawson pursued a career in open-wheel single seater racing in the United States competing in the Indy Lights series and eventually to CART. In the 1996 IndyCar season, he competed in 11 races with his best results being two sixth-place finishes at U.S. 500 and the Detroit Indy Grand Prix. His passion for speed remains undiminished and the former World Champion now enjoys driving 250cc Superkarts often accompanied by his great friend and rival Wayne Rainey, who races in a specially modified Superkart to cope with his spinal injuries, and historic Formula One cars, with a Walter Wolf Racing WR4 at vintage events.

Honors

• Lawson was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.
• Lawson was inducted into the FIM MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2005.

Racing career statistics

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 in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	Machine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Points	Rank	Wins
1983	500cc	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	RSA 8	FRA NC	NAT 3	GER 9	ESP 6	AUT 2	YUG 3	NED 5	BEL 5	GBR 4	SWE 5	SMR 3				78	4th	0
1984	500cc	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	RSA 1	NAT 2	ESP 1	AUT 1	GER 2	FRA 2	YUG 4	NED 3	BEL 4	GBR 2	SWE 1	SMR 4				142	1st	4
1985	500cc	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	RSA 1	ESP 2	GER 4	NAT 2	AUT 2	YUG 1	NED NC	BEL 2	FRA 4	GBR 2	SWE 2	SMR 1				133	2nd	3
1986	500cc	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	ESP 2	NAT 1	GER 1	AUT 1	YUG 1	NED NC	BEL 2	FRA 1	GBR 3	SWE 1	SMR 1					139	1st	7
1987	500cc	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	JPN NC	ESP 2	GER 1	NAT 2	AUT NC	YUG 3	NED 1	FRA NC	GBR 1	SWE 2	CZE 2	SMR 2	POR 1	BRA 2	ARG 1	157	3rd	5
1988	500cc	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	JPN 3	USA 1	ESP 2	EXP 1	NAT 1	GER 4	AUT 1	NED 2	BEL 2	YUG 10	FRA 1	GBR 6	SWE 1	CZE 2	BRA 1	252	1st	7
1989	500cc	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	NSR500	JPN 3	AUS 5	USA 3	ESP 1	NAT DNS	GER 2	AUT 2	YUG 3	NED 2	BEL 1	FRA 1	GBR 2	SWE 1	CZE 2	BRA 2	228	1st	4
1990	500cc	Marlboro Roberts Yamaha	YZR500	JPN DNF	USA DNS	ESP INJ	NAT INJ	GER INJ	AUT INJ	YUG INJ	NED 3	BEL 3	FRA 5	GBR 3	SWE 2	CZE 3	HUN 2	AUS 4	118	7th	0
1991	500cc	Cagiva Corse	GP500	JPN 6	AUS 6	USA 5	ESP 6	ITA 3	GER 4	AUT 5	EUR DNF	NED 4	FRA 3	GBR 6	RSM DNF	CZE 8	VDM –	MAL –	126	6th	0
1992	500cc	Cagiva Corse	GP500	JPN 14	AUS 6	MAL DNF	ESP 11	ITA 11	EUR 6	GER 6	NED DNF	HUN 1	FRA 5	GBR 4	BRA 11	RSA DNF			56	9th	1

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

Indy Lights

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

CART

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-Benz IC108C	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

External links

• Eddie Lawson at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
• Eddie Lawson at MotoGP Legends