Any of you remember these guys???? Brings back great memories to me of the 1968-1985 MX era........ 1. Bob "Hurricane" Hannah 2. Brad Lackey-minus the rubber duckie on his helmet 3. Gary Jones on a Can-Am-also #1 on a Honda 4. "Jammin'" Jimmy Weinert 5. "Texan" Kent Howerton 6. Mark Blackwell, a true early pioneer. Look at the lack of rear suspension on his late 60's Husky..... 7. Marty Smith 8. "Frenchman" Pierre Karsmakers 9. World Champion Roger Decoster 10. Steve Stackable, the ultimate privateer 11. Tony Distefano Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some more of the old pioneers........ 1. Bob Hannah getting a message from his crew.........I wonder what it said..... 2. Legend Adolf Weil 3. World Champion Bengt Aberg 4. Dave Bickers 5.Gary Semics 6. World champion Finn, Heikki Mikkola 7. Jaroslav Falta on a CZ 8. Jim Pomeroy, First American rider to win a world championship round, the Spanish Grand Prix 9.Hawaiian John Desoto 10. Johnny Omara 11.Marty Smith 12. Marty Tripes 13. Rocket Rex Staten 14.Rich Thorwaldson 15. Steve Wise who later became a very good road racer. 16. Early Pioneer, Sylvain Geboers 17. Vlastimil Valek 18. My buddy and MX school partner, Wyman Priddy Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's a dumb question that I always wanted to ask. Why did the MX guys corner differently than the flat track or road racers? The MX guys would lean the bike down and use their leg for balance while sitting on the outside of the seat. The flat trackers would lean on the inside (most of the time until they hit a rut). The road racers even more so. I did it at the time, but never understood why. Did the MX bikes have different lean angles? Dale
Wow, good stuff. Keep it coming. I raced mx from '82 to '04 and remember all the guys from the '80s. It is hard to get too excited about the new racing when the sport has become so different. I'm not a fan of million dollar crybabies. Carl Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
On the flat trackers you are racing on a relatively flat, hard track surface and use the rear wheelspin to keep the rpms up on the engine for quick exits from the corners. In order to keep the balance proper you need to keep the weight centered and the rear end light to keep the wheel spinning. With us old MX'ers, we generally rode on much loamier track surfaces that required quicker turns going from spot to spot. We used the weight and force of the motorcycle to bite into the berm and rebound off it and launch us toward the next intended area of the track. In effect, we approached the entry to the turn as quickly as possible, grabbed the brakes, geared down a couple of gears as we set the bike up to attack the berm. Just before making contact we would grab the gears and go back on the throttle, lean over as far as required, sometime almost flat, slam the berm and hold on tight as the bike tried to right itself and rocket down the track. It was very seldom indeed that we had the opportunity of take a corner flat track style and our tires were not suited for that type cornering at all. The center of gravity and torque delivery on flat trackers is totally different from an MX bike. Much lower center of gravity and broader torque band on the flat trackers. An MX bike wll have a higher center of gravity and a tighter torque band that comes on in shorter spurts. The new 4 stroke MX engines have a broader torque band but I never had the opportunity to race one of them. I would love to give one of them a try but my brain keeps reminding my body that it has aged a few years since putting on the leathers in competition the last time. And the foot was taken off the peg and pointed toward the front axle. It was used to "dab" in case of a loss of balance. By keeping the foot toward the front of the motorcyle, if you had to dab with it it would reebound back and up like a shock absorber and push the knee back toward the rider. If the foot was placed out to the side and dabbed there, it could cause the foot to be thrown backwards from the center of the motorcycle toward the back, throwing the riders leg up and maybe over the rear fender. That is my buddy Wyman Priddy demonstrating the technique we taught. I think this was at the Lake Whitney 250 National in 1974, I think....... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for the photos from the newer riders. My contract was for four bikes, a practice and a race 125 and practice and a race 250. A box truck like a rental moving truck, my mechanic/truck driver, parts and expenses paid and a relatively small stipend and I got to keep the money I won. When I first started racing for K I thought it was really cool. I still had to work during the week to keep myself going. Todays riders make more in endorsements than I made in racing a season. But, I did it because I loved it and would probably do it again if I had the opportunity and the proper age. Arenacross and stadium MX were never my favorites. I loved outdoor MX, weather and all. I rode at the Superdome, the Astrodome and Texas Stadium but did not enjoy it. And I thought the crossover bridge at the Astrodome was a stupid crowd pleaser attempt.
A few more... 1.Roger Decoster as team boss 2. Edison Dye with Dave Bickers, Joel Robert and Roger Decoster 3.Early 70's Roger Decoster 4.Jeremy McGrath signing autographs. 5.Jeremy McGrath at the unveiling of the Na-Na sculpture 6.Marty Moates-the first American rider to win an international MX round on American soil. Won the USGP at Carlsbad, Ca. as a privateer, beating all the factory teams. Started the No Fear clothing line and also the FMF clothing line..........Commited suicide in 2006. Too bad, he had a lot going for him......... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
If you will look in the "Dr. Who, do you remember doing this" link you can see some more older motorcycle competition photos, speedway, flat track, scrambles and MX. 22 years racing MX? Man, your body must be really tough or you crashed into softer landscape than I did.......
First time I saw Marty ride was a thing called "The Firecracker 5000", out in west Texas about 1971 or so. It was a pretty cold day and the track was a joke. Marty looked like he was riding his practice bike, not his race bike. The bike looked pretty ratty. I do not remember if Marty won or not but I remember him coming out of the first turn absolutely hauling like no one I had ever seen. He was hot. He was a big rider back then. I understand he has put on a pound or two since then. Tell him I say hello. He probably would not remember ever being on the track with me except possibly for the times he was lapping me or seeing me laying in a heap on the track being the entertainment. I just could not hang with those guys. I was good against the average to above average riders but when it came to Tripes, Pomeroy, Lackey, Howerton, Steve Stackable and those guys I just could not hang. I finished top ten a couple of times due to other riders attrition but usually ran about mid-pack. Those kind of results do not hold your ride very long. The factories expect a very good showing for the money they shell out. Of course, back then the money was not really very good. 1. Mossier Valley in Euless, Texas in the very early 70's. In the middle is Jody Weisel. I am on the KX250 to the left of Jody at the apex of the corner. Coming up from behind Jody, eying the opening between Jody and myself on the Honda 250 Elsinore is my friend Danny Weir. Danny passed both of us coming out of the corner and went on to win the moto. Danny passed away about 2 years ago. Danny was a privateer who probably should have gotten a factory ride but never did. He was really smooth on the track,,,,fluid......... 2. An old photo from 1970 with me doing the usual........being the entertainment....... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Some photos of your buddy....... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here are some more photos of riders doing the proper foot out to the front axle positioning. You will notice that most of the riders feet are being carried about a couple of inches off the surface. 1. MX foot out to front axle. 2. Foot out again. No. 23 doing it right. No. 69 doing it wrong and having his foot thrown behind him and throwing his balance off. You will notice that his bike is attempting to lose some control, 3. Foot Out Heikki Mikkola 1969 4. Foot out Brad Lackey 5. Foot out Decoster 6. Foot out Mikkola 7. Foot out Ossa Rider Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
"22 years racing MX? Man, your body must be really tough or you crashed into softer landscape than I did......" Cars are safer, and the bikes are sitting a lot these days. My goal was always to come home in one piece and be safe, but still got plenty of injuries. Probably 10 broken bones, 200 stitches, and knee/shoulder/back injuries but not too bad. The dirt IS softer here in New England!!! Hard pack hurts. Bikes had gotten so good by the late '80s with suspension that worked and almost nothing broke any more. You should try a new 250F 4 stroke, I have to admit that they are addictive. The power is electric and soooo easy to ride, like a giant XR80. I will keep my CR500 though...
On second thought, it was not the Firecracker 5000. That was held on 4th of July weekend in 1975 at Big Spring, Texas. It was a two day event with the first moto on day one and the second on day two. I actually placed 7th and 4th at that event, giving me the 6th overall. Marty rode at an event behind the old Rolls Royce dealership between Midland and Odessa Texas near the airport. The track was basically bladed out of a bare patch of ground with man-made hills, jumps and whoops. The track was crap but the racing was still fun.
I remember in all of the photos in Dirt Bike, Harry Everts had "EVERST" stitched on the back waistband of his leathers, but the articles always listed his name as Everts. The story goes that his grandmother sewed the letters on for him, accidentally misspelling the family name, but he went ahead and wore them that way because he didn't want to hurt her feelings.
What do you think about Ricky or Pastrana? They seem like pretty good riders and dont really bs exspecially Travis. Hes just out to have fun IMO.
Carmichael, Doug Henry, and some other guys are standouts in the modern era for sure. I was disappointed in Pastrana until I saw that he is a talented kid and is out there risking his neck in a bunch of things. But the majority of factory riders are not "in it to win" like they used to be. I wish they would get rid of the new 'nascar style' national numbering system, so when you had a crap year you would have a big number the next year and have to earn a single digit number. Everybody wanted that #1 plate in the old days. Now Chad Reed is always #22 even if he wins the championship, and Stewart is always #7.... It would be nice if most of the money was based on your results, not how cool you are. Anyways, there are always going to be a few real old school guys out there, and they will be the ones winning. Plus I don't like the change over to 4 strokes. You used to be able to rebuild your whole engine in your garage, and the 4 strokes are a much more complicated thing. Sorry to rant, as you can see I must be an old fart.
