Your Collection: "How to Win Motocross" by Gary Bailey
Sunday, June 17, 2012 | 6:00 AM
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PrintThis weeks collection comes to us from Bob Foster.
My collection includes the book "How to Win Motocross" by Gary Bailey and Carl Shipman. It was published by H.P. Books in Tuscon, Arizona, and has a copyright date of 1974. I purchased this book new as a teenager and referred to it regularly while I was racing a Husqvarna CR125 and then Suzuki RM125's in Northern California. I have attached six photos including the Cover and the Table of Contents and four other pages. There are lots of illustrations but it is not just a picture book and has plenty of text to make it a useful training manual. There are a number of photos of David Bailey demonstrating technique for his father. In those photos as well as the cover shot, David should be around 12 or 13 years old. Father and son appear to be riding the 250 and 125 Bultaco Pursang, equipped with Goodyear tires. Neither of them are wearing gloves in the cover photo. However, Gary is wearing one of the early full-face helmets.
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I still have my copy as well! I cant begin to say how many times I read it. While many techniques are outdated there so many great training and visualization tools that still apply to racing today. A great read.
I still have mine too. Was the first place I ever heard of or learned how to pre-jump and pre-load the suspension. And that was before long-travel suspension.
What sticks with me most is the technique of dragging your foot/toe behind to "hold in" the rear end in a corner. The physics made no sense to me, but figured I just wasn't understanding something. Out to the practice track trying it and trying it. Going slower and crashing. Gave up. And have never heard of or seen the technique since.
Hey, everything was new then and a lot of things tried and rejected. But I always thought if I ever met one of the Baileys, that would be my conversation-starter: "Tell me the toe-dragging story. What was up with that?"
It was a great book for a guy just getting started. Thanks Gary.
I went to a Guary Bailey MX school in Tulsa OK in 1971. I lost his book over the years, but I still have "The Technique of Motocross" by Ake Jonsson, a great how to ride book. Also, "To Be or Not to Be... A Serious Motocross Rider? Training Manual by Roland Arrehn. It was one of the first books to really focus on MX training, primarily the "Champion Training Method" used by Husqvarna factory riders. Excercises, training, mental attitude. It has photos of Decoster, Lackey, Mikkola, Hannah, Chuck Sun, all the top MX riders of the 1970's.
I was lucky enough to attend a Gary Bailey MX school at a track called Big Oak in North Texas in 1974.
The only thing that sticks in my mind was Gary's son David (about my age) being Gary's visual aid for all of us. He was so fluid then, and, I was in such awe of his abilities.
This school opened my eyes to the potential abilities that I would learn. I have had the pleasure of seeing David Bailey race on several occasions, have raced at his track Lake Sugar Tree for the 1977 National Amatuer Championship, and was present when Danny "Magoo" Chandler, David Bailey and Jim Gibson were on the 1982 MXdN team when Magoo swept all 4 motos (250&500;) and Team USA won.
Thanks for posting this book and bringing back alot of special memories........
My Middle School (Jr. High) had this book in the library (late 80s) and I remember just devouring each page (figuratively of course). Some of it was pretty obsolete. Isn't there something in there about how you should drag your leg through the turns? Ha ha!
mx_563 guess you didn't read my post.
Diggin your toe in, and pivoting the bike to turn, either in a rut or just steering the rear end is a natural progression. If someone has to tell ya that,,,,well I see a looong stay in the c class.
Look at the last pic, 6 of 6. Have you not seen that image EVERYWHERE? Wish I got a $100 kickback everytime that image was used,hell I'd own Racer x and this site and Davey would be four oh nineing my number plates.
Joemx589, you don't understand what the book advocated re the leg-dragging issue. In short: dragging the inside boot toe near the rear axle, in a sweeper, to help "hold" the rear-end in. The book otherwise is/was awesome, but if you read it and saw the accompanying pictures I guarantee you the treatment of the above would leave you scratching your head and saying, "What?"
Btw, was forced into "A" Class in 3rd year. Your concern is appreciated.
LMAO no kiddin????? Im sorry but That was learned on my own is all im saying, ya have to , to go fast, hence "natural progression".. although it can be hard on the knee. And if you were in florida, michigan or california, and forced up, im impressed, otherwise,,,,peer closely in my eye,,,,ya see anything??? LOL
Ohio, And I did not feel honored. This was in the stretch from 1973-1976. I get the idea that you were around then and you know how the pace of bike development was then. I had a very modest budget to race on and keeping up with the endless upgrades/mods required to be at least semi-competitive was very expensive. Forget the wear&tear; of mid-week practice. I had room at home to practice starts and made it a religion.
I may have had a bit of speed, but my results came from the confluence of 2 factors. One, 30 minute motos were still common and, Two, I ran cross county, was on a distance cycling team, and was on my way to a D1 wrestling scholarship (trust me, it's an endurance sport). My deal was pull a holie or close, slowly get pulled by the quicker guys, and then late in the race pull them back. Very satisfying.
Getting moved to A sucked. I knew I was never going to be pro. Never considered it. I wanted to race against my buddies. So we all bought YZ175s and raced each other in the 200 class. And had just as much fun.