Pay Dirt

Darcy Lange was injured severely last year trying to clear what he calls “a little jump” on his motocross bike.

“I just came up short on a jump and went over the handlebars, and the bike came back and hit me,” he says casually, as though it were no big deal that the bike broke his back. “Last year was my worst year for injuries, for sure,” Lange says, the “for sure” revealing an accent that’s part So-Cal, part Great White North.

“It sucks getting injured. Like, last year I started off and broke my back, and then, my first race back, I separated my shoulder. Then I got a few races in and broke my tailbone,” he recalls, struggling to keep his myriad injuries in chronological order. “Then my first race after that, I broke my foot.” Damn, dude.

No stranger to injuries, he lost part of his pinky finger during a race in 1995. But Lange takes the good with the bad, accepting the injuries as part of his chosen profession, even if last year turned out mostly bad. However, in 2004, Lange is heavily favored to win the Arenacross National Championship this weekend at Kemper Arena. Along with taking the title, the young racer could walk away — or maybe limp away — with a serious pile of cash.

Lange lets out a deep, Canadian “jeez” when asked about the championship purse he’ll probably collect. “I’ll get 25 grand from Clear Channel and then all my bonuses. I mean, it’ll be good money,” Lange says, pausing to do the math in his head. “Like, it’ll be up there probably around eighty grand.” That’s almost as impressive as his injury stats, though it doesn’t take into account the exchange rate for Canadian dollars. The mention of that kind of bums Lange out. “Ahhh, it’s not as good as it was last year,” he says.

Still, that’s not shabby for a young guy. Especially when you consider that Lange sees at least nine more years of racing in his future. “I’ll do it till I can’t do it no more,” Lange says. “It’s good money, but you can get injured at any time.”

To help his odds, Lange works out two or three times a week in the gym and follows a grueling bike regimen. “Most people don’t think that it’s very physically demanding, but I guess it’s the second most demanding sport in the world,” Lange says, naming soccer as the most demanding. “Everyone just thinks you get on the bike, turn the gas and go.”

A single Arenacross race is tough, but that’s not the half of it. Consider the toll a year’s worth of touring and hitting competitions every weekend must take. Lange estimates that he’s raced every weekend since November. He went home to British Columbia for Christmas, but he had to race there, too. But Lange is cool with the abuse and with the seemingly endless succession of hotels and arenas.

After this weekend’s final round of Arenacross competition, Lange will celebrate for a day or two, then hurry off to compete in Supercross races until the end of the summer. “It’s definitely a full-time job,” he says. “For sure.”