Photography by Larry Lawrence
If it were a Hollywood movie Colin Edwards would take a stunning come-from-behind win Sunday at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP and then ride off into the sunset. But the reality is no one, not even Edwards, believes there’s a chance that can happen and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why Edwards will not finish off the rest of the season with NGM Forward Racing and instead race only a few more races after Indy, although the final decision on that has not been made.
The inside story of exactly why Edwards isn’t finishing off the 2014 MotoGP campaign is one Edwards either doesn’t know fully, or simply isn’t willing to reveal at this point, but he did allude to the decision being made by someone other than himself. Edwards spoke about the feelings he’s experiencing in his final race in America.
“You ask right now what’s going through my mind and I’m thinking about going to the motorhome and getting a drink to be honest with you,” Edwards grinned. “No, the last GP I mean obviously some emotions and everybody’s been so cool, all the fans wishing me a farewell. It’s been a good day so far and I’m looking forward to the next two days.”
On the subject of what races he might run of the remaining eight races after Indianapolis, Edwards said it was still undecided.
“It’s not 100 percent,” Edwards said of the decision on his schedule for the remainder of the season. “For sure I’m going to do Silverstone, I have a huge fan base there and it would just be… not correct to not do that race. I always look forward to going there and hanging out and seeing all the fans and doing the Day of Champions and signing all the autographs I can. As far as after that I don’t know. Valencia 100 percent, maybe Misano. I don’t know, it’s still up in the air. We’ll see.”
In terms of who made the decision for him to not finish the full schedule, Edwards carefully chose his words.
“It’s not something me or the team envisioned happening,” Edwards explained. “But at the same time, I’m not getting along with the bike. That’s no secret. The easiest way to explain it is they want to try to get somebody on the bike that does get it. And I’m retiring so I don’t have too big of an ego to step aside and let some guys ride the bike for a bit.
“It’s fine, I mean I’m cool with it. Obviously my guys on my crew are not totally stoked with it, but it’s kind of the higher powers to be that kind of figured this was a good option for me to go out gracefully. I don’t know how else to put it.”
Edwards went on to explain that he’s never been able to get the bike he’s currently racing to turn in the corners. He said the entire package that was agreed upon before the season never materialized.
In spite of being disappointed with how things played out this season Edwards said he wasn’t going to let that tarnish his feelings for his years in racing.
“Man I’ve had an awesome career,” said the 40-year-old two-time World Superbike Champion. “I’m not going to let that last two or three races affect anything to do with it. I’m not even thinking about how it’s ending, I just know it’s coming to an end. So high note, low note, it doesn’t really matter. I’ve had plenty of awesome weekends to look back on.”
Edwards said he wants to stay involved in the sport, but is waiting to see what opportunities he has to choose from.
“Michelin is coming in and obviously I have a great relationship with them,” he said. “There are things out there, I haven’t agreed to anything. I’m just kind of waiting to see what all is out there and then decide. I could go home and just hang out, but my wife would probably get sick of that after a couple of months, so I’ve got to come up with something to get out of the house.”
The one thing Edwards was pretty definitive on was that his future would not involve coming back to race.
“Honestly no,” he said when asked if he would consider coming back to race in another series. “I’ve done all that and took a lot of risks throughout my career and I feel like once I’m done here I have no visions of World Superbike or anything like that. Maybe Springfield amateur day, go out and do some dirt tracking or something like that, but that’s about it.”
