The rivalry between Rainey and Schwantz in the 500s era of MotoGP in the late 1980s and early 1990s is one of the most iconic duels in motorsport.
From 1990 to 1992 Rainey won the premier class on his factory Yamaha, with Schwantz leading his Suzuki to the championship in 1993. Both drivers won four races in 1993, with Schwantz on the podium in the first nine races.
But the season was marred by the tragic accident at Misano three laps before the end of the season, which left Rainey paralyzed.
Speaking to Autosport for the January 14, 1991 magazine special about this year’s 500cc campaign and its rivalry, Rainey revealed what he had to do to have an advantage over Schwantz – but found the Texan only got stronger and believes that its ’93 title deserves more credit from people than it gets.
“I wanted him to give up, and the more I could hit him, the more I knew he couldn’t hit me consistently and I really worked on that,” explained Rainey. “So I had my championship run to try to win the championship, but I was also trying to get into Kevin’s head because I thought if Kevin could ever bring it together and sort his bike so that he could ride it consistently. he could be a really big threat to me.
“I treated Kevin like my teammates. The first one I wanted to beat was my teammate, of course, except Kevin, but I knew if I could beat my teammates it didn’t matter as long as I was in front of them.
“Then I can’t blame the bike that much if my teammate crosses the finish line in front of me. And so I saw that I knew it would upset them by overtaking my teammates and being faster than them during the test and seeing what that did morally to them.
“I tried that with Kevin too, but he was really strong. I think he got better as he ran against me more and more.
“In the end, he pulled it through there in 1993 and did a great job. And I think people don’t praise him enough for such a good job this year that he did. “
You can read what Rainey and Schwantz had to say about their rivalry in the 1991 special edition of Autosport. Subscribe to the Autosport magazine here: www.autosportmedia.com/offer/article