by Andy Bowyer
Rev Up: Ride Different
Thursday, September 20, 2012 | 11:25 AM
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PrintHello, everyone, and welcome to Rev Up. I’ve long considered this to be one of the strangest times of the year. The buzz of the summer is gone and we’re left to spin through the convection of politics and pre-holiday banter. This should be a period of relative calm, but I find people are wound tighter instead of using this brief gap to catch their breath. Oddly enough it seems we operate better in chaos. Perhaps media has to reach farther with less going on, but there sure is a lot of noise in the wind right now, both in motocross and the “real” world. Away from motocross I caught a couple of headlines that captured my attention. One, the launch of the iPhone 5, and the other being the sad passing of NFL Films founder and visionary, Steve Sabol. Those two may seems worlds apart, but they are two of the most influential and visonary subjects of modern human history.
Jobs, and his biography is something I want to get into and relate on another column, but for now the launch of the iPhone 5 was enough to influence this week’s Rev Up.
Steve Sabol passed away from brain cancer this week. Along with countless advancements in capturing professional football, Sabol came up with the idea of putting microphones on players, coaches, and referees. NFL Films set the benchmark for all of professional sports. If you have never seen any of the America’s Game episodes you are missing something special.
Thinking of these innovative ideas, the headlines prompted me to think about some of the things in motocross that have evolved over the years.
From that...
Racer X Archives photo
Bikes
It’s almost impossible for the youth of today to understand what motocross bikes were once like. Dual shocked, air cooled, metal gas tank adorned tanks (that fell apart more often than not) were the machines that cut the first berms into outlined tracks. Water cooling came along, mono shocks and disc brakes. Later came upside down forks, digital ignitions, and ultimately the wondrous fuel injected four-stroke machines that are currently on display at your local dealer.
It always seemed to me like Honda and “HRC” were years ahead of technology in the mid 80s. Their works bikes in 1985 looked almost unfair against the other machines. Somehow Ricky Johnson beat them on that Yamaha...wow.
Names like Dave Miller, Gary Emig, and Mitch Payton made some of my machines during this time frame faster. I used to just marvel that they could make a machine that I thought was perfect, even better.
...to this.
Simon Cudby photo
Helmets
Humans are a stubborn tribe. You need to look no further than the evolution of the motocross helmet for validation. Now, the bikes weren’t as powerful back then as they are today, but the steel of a crossbar and the density of a rock were damn sure the same. Why wasn’t the full face helmet invented first? The days of the open-face-venturi-raider, and the “joffa” were gnarly. Jeff Ward, Larry Brooks, and George Holland were some of the last guys to withstand the full face era. Wardy won 500cc titles with an open face. I believe 1989 finally marked the year everyone (even Ward) came to their senses. Ward, and I think JoJo Keller, raced the ‘88 supercross series open faced. Red Dragons.
The lightweight, carbon fiber editions we wear today look like jet fighter lids, and are probably more advanced. I consider this the single best thing to happen to motocross.
Boots
Do you remember your first pair of motocross boots? I remember seeing photos in Cycle News of Jeff Stanton’s High Point boots bending around his foot pegs like a pair of slippers you get after a pedicure. It seemed like we were on the right track in the late 70s with the concrete-like SCOTT boots, but they faded quickly back into the Fox Comp 2, and Alpinestar Tech 2’s that pretty much weathered into the early 90s. I’m not sure what we were thinking but I know guys used to soak those things in mink oil to make them even softer! AXO had a pretty sturdy boot during this time but it wasn’t until the Fox Forma and the Alpinestar Tech 8 moon boots manifested did we finally get adequate foot and ankle support. Today you can literally race with a broken lower leg these boots are so good.
From open-face helmets...
Racer X Archives photo
Starting Gates
Unless you have started a motocross race behind a rubber band, I don’t want to drink beer with you and bench race. While primitive, the rubber band gets the nod over the forward falling piles of shit that followed. I remember seeing nobbies spinning by my helmet mere feet out of the holeshot by kids jumping them so badly. My brother Casey still walks funny because he looped out and broke his tail bone on a forward falling gate constructed of dual five-inch pipes.
Concrete pads with chicken wire covered (backward falling) gates were all the rage in the late 80s. Denny Stephenson got protested at Ponca City for spraying hair spray on his rear tire during his burnout. I saw him throw the bottle back as he put on his goggles. Still one of the coolest things I ever saw at the track.
Today we start on dirt. After all of that.
Tear-Offs
If anything has seen monumental gains in motocross it is the tear off system of goggles. The first tear offs were bulky, blurry, miss-shaped contraptions that were shoved into the creases around the goggle lenses. I remember seeing the immortal Bevo Forti “prep” a pair of goggles for me at Loretta Lynn’s this way. I just thought, “I better only use a couple all week, because no way can I do that again. And, I want these to last.” Roll-offs were the standard for mud, then we tried to get fancy. SCOTT was one of my first sponsors and I was lucky to get one of the first pairs of “EFS.” Electronic. Film. System. It was pounding rain at Ponca and I had no fear because this wonder of technology was being pulled over my helmet. I had the holeshot then hit the first patch of mud and carted huge. As I lay listening to my bike with the throttle pinned, the only thing more annoying was the motor of my E.F.S. system stuck on blast because mud was over the laser sensor. Before I could pick my bike up, the last inches of film flapped out and I spent the moto with a three foot streamer behind me. And muddy goggles.
Today's laser cut 15-at-a-time packs are wonders of evolution and technology. A blind monkey can apply them, and you can yank tear offs with the greatest of ease all moto.
...to this.
Simon Cudby photo
Okay, I’ve ventured past my word count already but I’d like to go on and on. I just wanted to chew the fat with you folks and share this little “evolution and visionary” kick I got this week. Bless the souls that have made things better for us. In motocross and in the world we are raising our families in. People who dare to think different have always inspired me. It’s funny to me how we get so complacent to the status quo. We see things for what they are and robotically accept it. Every so often somebody looks at it and says, “It can be better,” or “What if we tried this?” We reap the fruit of their vision. Be that as it may, times, then and now, are relative. The old timers like to say we have it easy and we aren’t as strong as they were. To that I say, you did the best with what you had, and we’re doing the same. I found an excerpt on the net from the late Steve Sabol that supports this argument:
"I've always believed in that famous quote from Karl Marx, something like; 'Men make history, but not under conditions of their own choosing."
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
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Andy - that was some captivating drabble. I re-lived it as i read it to the end. Rubberband starts at Brown City, Mustang Acres... other Good times
great article ! The 70's were awesome, i sure do miss those days !
Ok So if my first pair of boots were an old pair of 2 sizes too big"Linemens Boots"
That laced all the up to my knees; An open faced Electro helmet with no mouthguard
Carrera Goggles with a rubberband size strap and a beat out lens in them
Lined up behind a rubberband on my stripped down Suzuki TS 90 racing the 100 cc class willing to take a snap to the head from that rubberband trying to get just a little jump on the others; But I didn't care what I was riding or what I was wearing
I was racing and that's all that mattered!!!
The times have changed but the passion still burns after all these years!
VetMXer.. right there with ya, a TM125, I wore plain wellington boots, my blue jeans stuck down in side of them, open face helmet from a department store, loaned my goggles to a friend lining up against me, leaving me to wear my prescription sunglasses at Blood Sweat and Gears MX outside Stillwater, Ok ...no water truck, I tried to start in neutral, leaving me last around the first corner, my eyes burned so bad..I took back my goggles for moto two...
Motomecca.. I am glad to have seen those days, and survived, but I dont miss them much...lol
Andy, great article!! I used the plastic Heckel boots rather than the cool looking Scott's... It is amazing how far we have come with protective gear ..I have heard of air bag research for the street bike guys, maybe we will all wear those some day
Is he quoting the Karl Marx? Who is best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary communist, whose works inspired the foundation of many communist regimes in the twentieth century.
What the heck.
Oh yeah VetMXer, I started racing at age 9 in 1971 at Indian Dunes. Had a long sleeve sweat shirt for a jersey (in the 100º heat), jeans, work gloves, work boots and a department store helmet also. I was happy as a clam just to be racing!
First race bike was a stripped down Kawasaki 90 street bike. So thankful that I was around for the golden age of motocross in the 70s.
Rubber Band Starts ?
That was hi tech compared to hands on hemlets !
Father Time
Pala374
Ahhhhh Yes the 70's was the golden age of motocross!!!
You could achive "Style Points" just by being able to do a "Cross Up"
And the whole world came to a screeching halt for 2 hours that 1 Sunday a year
When the USGP from Carlsbad was shown on ABC's Wide World Of Sports!!
Yeah, I remember my first pair of motocross boots. They were the same pair of Zayre's work boots I worked tabacco with. I couldn't afford Herman Survivors yet.
Dam that was a great article but wtf with the Karl Marx thing? We don't need any commies in this sport.
Best rubber band start memory. The guy closest to the pin to release the rubber band slipped his clutch a bit much, got caught in the rubber band and took out half the class. Good times.
@ rjstreets, lol...nice!
AXO kidney belt. Cowhide gloves with black rubber piping on the top running down each finger. Barum knobby tires. All things from the past that I cherished because we were a family with little means.
@Blackjack are you sure about that AXO kidney belt?
recently went through all the old 70's and 80's MX gear I still have...found one of my pairs of AXO boots from early to mid 80's......went through quite a few pairs back then....they used to have a flat steel rectangular piece molded in the bottom under your foot for added strength.....we had this huge sort of double at one of our practice tracks....I snapped a bunch of those steel pieces in half.....AXO thought I was nuts when I would call them. One time it literally snapped and stuck into my foot a litle....that's one of the pairs I kept....I found my arch supports from Dr Metzger in another pair.....I looked for those things for years
Andy, you had the first-gen EFS system; by the time I could afford one, they had replaced the photoeye sensor with a button that you pushed. Took care of the problem you described about mud covering the sensor and spinning off an entire roll before you knew it.
Alas, even the pushbutton version had problems. The film in mine promptly quit advancing about three months after I bought it. I contacted Scott, and they sent me another electronic unit, and it lasted about...three months before it quit. I gave up on it and went to a manual pull-string version after that...
(Sigh). Looked good on paper!
Andy I remember dual rubber bands. The first would fly about 5 sec before the second and you would inch closer. If you were on the end gate and slow reaction sometimes you would see someone get caught in the snap back. You also forgot the greatest moto x accessory of all time. The early 80"s boot gator! They were the radest things ever. Johney O with white pants and gators was the trickest look ever. LOL
Awesome article, love the old stuff. Crazy this posts now as I am working doing a restore on a 1964 Yamaha YG-1 like the one I raced on short track back in the day. This is why I said crazy it post now. Yesterday I was taking to this guy about the fact that back in the early days there weren't race bikes. At first you took a street bike and made it into a dirt bike. Then they started making some trail bikes that we would convert into race bikes. I just restored a 100cc Hodaka but I did it like one of my old race bikes. When I started on this Yamaha I was going to do the same. Then I thought it would be even better to make it like it was as a trail bike with photos along side of my race bike so someone that has no idea what we had to do back then would get it.
Ok I know everyone is thinking motocross, but before that there was scrambles, and that was motocross before it was called MX. I know because I was there with my 1955 200cc Triumph cub. Oh and while we are talking suspension that thing had none? Well, there was no swingarm so that was a little rough, and the front forks? Well, they did have springs in the front and there was oil in there, so? Ok now we are talking 50s and 60s. Oh, don't know if many of you remember back then.
Those helmet? Man I remember doing a face plant at the old night scrambles track under the lights at Lake Elsinore. I should have been working on A full face after that. Ya the old Bell helmets that I still have one of and my dads old Aria. I even have some old Champion and KRWs. Man how thing have changed.
Crazy I still have the pair of old lineman boots that I wore in 1969 when I won that big race on the 4th of July. Things weren't easy back then, you had to buy the boots then take them straight to the shoe shop and have the soles redone. They had to remove the heel and make a wedge sole so it was flat on the bottom.
This article brings back so many memories. Love the good old days, glad I was there. As important I love the way it is today and glad I am still here.
Rolling Hills in Michigan was my first rubber band start on an xr75 honda 4 stroke
Great article Andy brought back alot of memories especially the rubber band starts.
Yeah, great article. Reminds me of of buying the Jofa chest plate and mouthpiece in the late 70's, then the stupid Scott boots that Hannah wore ($199.95) back in in 1979, then the "Johnny O gators" he wore to keep the mud off his boots.I fell for everything "new" and felt I had to have it to go faster and win my local "C" class, no "D" back then.. I even went to a Gary Bailey school at Lake Sugartree to make me a better rider. It was too cool! Gary and David (Team Green rider at the time) helped my confidence tremendouslly, especially starting the day off with "killerball", a combination of football and soccer and kickball. David rose to basically conquer the MX world in the next few years. I struggled to get to the next MX race on what I was making as a furniture mover. No bad thoughts or regrets though, I just tried to do it all on my own and it was tough. I finally ended up becoming an "A" rider in district 29/13 and have some great memories. Getting passed on the last lap countless times by Scottie "Maw" Shipley but loving the beautifully groomed tracks like Rolling Hills, Birch Creek,, Devils Ridge, Actiontown, has made it all worthwhile. MX is all about heart and desire and that's why I've always been fascinated with the sport and I've made a buch a great friends along the way. I would'nt trade my experiences for anything.
Full Bore Boots, Carrera Goggles, Jofa mouth piece, Hallman Visor, Bell Helmet, JT leathers and a TM 100. Oh and Grandpas work gloves!
I had a pair of the Scott boots (red/blue) and an Electro helmet (yellow/black) with a snap on JT mouth guard (red/yellow),kind of made it like a full face.At least I was colorful.My friend Billybob had a open face Simpson with a Scott face mask that attached to the goggles,I wasn't a fan of those.
Another opportunity to advertise "vintage works bike" website.
There are photos of the works Hondas of which Andy speaks and other '80's-period bikes as well. They really do look like they're from the future compared to the other bikes. There's still cool stuff there even if you're not a Honda fan.
@ Andy, please don't forget that Broc Glover raced an air-cooled YZ490 (truly a dinosaur among its peers) to his sixth championship a year AFTER RJ won the title you mentioned
Of course I mention this with "Little Professor"'s dad posting right above me which, has my akward meter pegged* but, in the spirit of the "old stuff" story, I felt that was pertinent.
* If you don't know why B.G. & D.B. have history, you weren't paying attention in '85.
@ fred
My memory is suspect, so I went on ebay and saw this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-AXO-Sport-Motocross-Pants-Size-28-Navy-Blue-VTG-AXO-Kidney-Belt-Back-Brace-/150801270999?pt=Apparel_Merchandise&hash=item231c74c8d7&vxp=mtr
@Blackjack & Fred - how about GoldBelt kidney belt? Had one forever. Still have my dad's brand new Emgo MX "dungaries"... Sportin' style
First race season was 1978 on a Honda XR75 that was quickly swapped for a Yamaha YZ80 after my dad realized that four-stroke era was about 25 years away!
Gear: Arai open face helmet, Scott goggles with clip-on mask, Sidi leather boots, some bad-fitting Hallman pants, a Gold Belt kidney belt, and I'm pretty sure my hockey shoulder pads under my Hallman jersey. Gloves were Hallman as well I think. All decent stuff for the era, especially the boots. I think we had some connection to the Canadian Sidi distributor at that time.
yes, i did the rubberband start in my first MX race on a three-wheeler. heck, i also did a flag start ice racing the three-wheeler, as well: the starter would stand there holding the flag touching the ground, and when he raised it up off the ground quickly, it was on!!