Racer X - Motocross & Supercross NewsRacer X

  • Subscribe Now
  • Latest
  • Features
  • Breaking News

Racer X - Motocross & Supercross NewsRacer X

  • One Click Sign-In

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    OR

    Sign in with your username and password

    • Sign In
  • Features
    • 10 Things
    • 30 Greatest AMA Motocrossers
    • 3 on 3
    • 250 Words
    • 450 Words
    • Between the Motos
    • Breakdown
    • Deals of the Week
    • GNCC Report
    • Great Battles
    • How to Watch
    • Injury Report
    • Insight
    • In the Mag, On the Web
    • Lockdown Diaries
    • Longform
    • MXGP Race Reports
    • My Favorite Loretta Lynn's Moto
    • Next
    • Observations
    • On This Day in Moto
    • Open Mic
    • Privateer Profile
    • Race Day Feed
    • Racerhead
    • Racer X Awards
    • Racer X Redux
    • Rapid Reaxtion
    • RX Exhaust
    • Saturday Night Live
    • Staging Area
    • The Conversation
    • The List
    • The Moment
    • Things We Learned at the Ranch
    • Unphiltered
    • Wake-Up Call
    • Where Are They Now
    • 50 Years of Pro Motocross
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Photo Galleries
    • The Weege Show
    • Racer X Films
    • Video
    • SX Preview Shows
    • Factory Tech Tip
    • MX Preview Shows
    • Behind The Bars
    • Racer X Rapid News
  • Races
    • Series Schedules
    • TV Schedules
    • Results
    • Champions
    • Teams
    • 2022 Numbers
  • Results
    • Points Standings
    • Race Results
    • Riders
    • The Vault
    • Loretta Lynn's Vault
  • Shop
  • About Us
  • The Mag
    • Digital Magazine Bookstand
    • Customer Care
    • Current Issue
    • Newsletter
    • Store Locator
    • Subscribe
    • Free Stickers
    • Sell Racer X
  • Table of Contents
  • Subscribe Now
  • Latest
  • Features
  • Breaking News
Results Archive
MXGP of
Sardegna
Articles
MXGP Results
  1. Calvin Vlaanderen
  2. Jorge Prado
  3. Glenn Coldenhoff
Full Results
MX2 Results
  1. Tom Vialle
  2. Jago Geerts
  3. Thibault Benistant
Full Results
GNCC
The John Penton
Articles
Overall Results
  1. Josh Strang
  2. Ricky Russell
  3. Jordan Ashburn
Full Results
XC2 Pro Results
  1. Cody J Barnes
  2. Ryder Lafferty
  3. Liam Draper
Full Results
Upcoming
Motocross
Fox Raceway 1
Sat May 28
Articles
Upcoming
Australian SX
Gillman
Sun May 29
Articles
Upcoming
MXGP of
Spain
Sun May 29
Articles
Upcoming
GNCC
Mason-Dixon
Sat Jun 4
Articles
Upcoming
Motocross
Hangtown
Sat Jun 4
Articles
Upcoming
MXGP of
Monster Energy France
Sun Jun 5
Articles
Full Schedule
50 Years of Pro Motocross: 1977
Davey Coombs

Davey Coombs

50 Years of Pro Motocross 1977

April 14, 2022 7:30pm
by: Davey Coombs
  • Home
  • 50 Years of Pro Motocross
  • 1977 American AMA Motocross Full Year Recap
St. Petersburg, FL Sunshine Speedway Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship

As we reach Day 45 in our MAVTV+ 50-Day Countdown to the start of the 2022 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, we reach 1977 and a year when all three AMA National Motocross Championships went down to their very last rounds. As a matter of fact, one division ended with two men tied for the points lead, while another was a winner-take-all finale that was decided by a 10-cent part on a throttle cable. And the third class also went down to the very last moto.

The irony is that one rider stood out in all three of these championship battles, winning at least one race in the three classes: 125, 250, and 500. And yet that same rider somehow didn’t win any of the three outdoors titles! Bob Hannah did, however, manage to win his first of three-straight AMA Supercross titles, keeping the moment of his breakout season of ’76 going all season long. He won the first three rounds in a row, and six of the first eight, and was never really challenged.

By 1977 we are starting to see the effects of supercross on AMA Pro Motocross. At the time a uniquely American form of “stadium motocross,” the technical, sprinting aspects of supercross were beginning to show in how U.S. riders rode. At the sharp end of that spear was “Hurricane” Hannah, who rode with total confidence, albeit sometimes wild. Hannah started out his ’77 campaign the way he had the previous year, moving to Florida in the winter to train and compete in the Florida Winter-AMA Series, joined by his two teammates, Broc Glover and Rick Burgett. Hannah dominated the 250s, Glover the 125s, and Burgett the 500. All three were riding production models.

The 1977 Anaheim Supercross
The 1977 Anaheim Supercross
Bob Hannah on the cover of Cycle News.
Bob Hannah on the cover of Cycle News.
Bob Hannah
Bob Hannah Dick Miller Archives
Broc Glover
Broc Glover Jim Gianatsis

Here’s some old ’77 Winter-AMA footage from St. Pete:

When the newly-entitled AMA/Mr. PIBB Pro Motocross tour started Hannah was diverse and strong enough to win in all three classes, but it seemed from the beginning that his primary class for the nationals—the 125 division, where Yamaha wanted him to defend his title and wear that coveted #1 plate that he had taken from Marty Smith—was the class he wanted to be in. So Yamaha allowed him to race in all three, so long as he rode the 125 class in the one national that had more than one class, the Hangtown opener. Hannah broke down in both motos, netting him just 24th overall in a race won by Suzuki’s Danny Laporte. It was the worst outdoor national of Hannah’s career.

In a hole from the start, Hannah tried to dig out, taking wins here but never really catching up to the two combatants for the title, LaPorte and his teammate Glover, who also had started badly with a mechanical at Hangtown, though he did manage eighth overall.

The six-round 125 series was short and sweet, and it all came down to the last moto at Cycle-Rama in Texas. There Hannah was winning in the late going, way out front with Glover second and LaPorte third. That would have still given LaPorte the title. But on orders from Yamaha Racing Director Kenny Clark, Hannah’s mechanic Keith McCarty wrote “Let Brock Bye,” the single most controversial pit board in motocross history. Hannah did as he was told, Glover scooted by for the win, and he and LaPorte ended up tied in points at 240 apiece. The tie-breaker tipped the title to Glover, the first of six that the “Golden Boy” would win.

More on the "Let Brock Bye" story:

Recommended Reading

  • On This Day in Moto: August 14 On This Day in Moto: August 14 August 14 - 4:50pm
  • 5 Minutes with: Keith McCarty 5 Minutes with: Keith McCarty August 20 - 4:30pm
  • The List: Let Brock Bye The List: Let Brock Bye August 20 - 2:50pm
The famous
The famous "Let Brock Bye" message. Jim Gianatsis

In the 250 class Hannah was out of it from the start, as he had missed the Hangtown opener to race in the 125 class. His nemesis Marty Smith of Team Honda took the win, with his new teammate Jim Pomeroy, just back from Europe after four mostly fruitless years there with Bultaco, ended up second, and two-times running and defending 250 National Champion Tony DiStefano third, and Harley-Davidson factory rider Marty Tripes fourth.

Jim Pomeroy
Jim Pomeroy

Can-Am’s Jimmy Ellis won the second round at Hillside Park outside of Nashville, Tennessee, with Hannah joining the class to finish third, and then win the next round in Omaha, Nebraska. But Hannah would never catch up to the 250 class frontrunners, Tony D. and Marty Smith. The latter would win Southwick, but then Tony D. would win at Lake Sugar Tree in Virginia and RedBud. That set up a last-round showdown between the two at High Point Raceway in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, which was making its debut on the AMA Pro Motocross schedule. DiStefano would win there as well to claim that title. And check this out: Each of the first seven finishers of the 250 class that day in May ’77—DiStefano, Smith, Ellis, Jimmy Weinert, Kent Howerton, Danny Laporte, and Chuck Sun—would all end up in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

High Point Raceway
High Point Raceway
High Point Raceway in 1977.
High Point Raceway in 1977.

Check out the ’77 Unadilla 500 National:

The third and final class of the ’77 AMA Pro Motocross circuit was the five-round 500 class, and this one turned into one of the all-time great duels between (you guessed it) Hannah and Smith. But not until after Texas’ own Steve Stackable won the series opener at Lake Whitney Cycle Ranch in Texas aboard a Maico. The second round in Missouri would go to Smith, as would the third round at Unadilla. Then Hannah heated up at Metrolina in North Carolina to give him his 125/250/500 hat trick, just as Smith had an off-day with 7-7 moto scores. Hannah then swept the next-to-last round at Burnt Hickory Motocross outside Dallas, Georgia.

Marty Smith on the cover of Cycle News.
Marty Smith on the cover of Cycle News.
Bob Hannah
Bob Hannah
Bob Hannah
Bob Hannah

Here’s a cool slideshow by the late David Lack of the ’77 Burnt Hickory 500 National:

After an early crash with another rider Smith went DNF-2, which meant the 500 class would also all come down to the final round, with Hannah ahead by three points.

It would be over before it really started at Sunshine Raceway in St. Petersburg, Florida. Four laps into the first moto Hannah’s bike came to a stop while he was leading after a clip came off and released the slide from the throttle cable, meaning the bike could not be powered. That was all Smith needed to get his third (and final) AMA Motocross Championship.

Two other moments of note from 1977: Over in Europe, “Bad” Brad Lackey finally won his first 500cc Grand Prix overall in Great Britain. And back here in the states, at the end of the season, Belgium’s Roger De Coster won his fourth straight Trans-AMA title. It would be the last for De Coster, or any other European rider, as interested was waning in the once grand tour.

1977 125 Class Points Finish

Motocross

125MX Standings - 1977

PositionRider Hometown Points
1Broc Glover Broc Glover El Cajon, CA United States240
2Danny Laporte Danny Laporte Yucca Valley, CA United States240
3Bob Hannah Bob Hannah Whittier, CA United States227
4Warren Reid Warren Reid Westminster, CA United States169
5Steve Wise Steve Wise Mcallen, TX United States158
Full Standings

1977 250 Class Points Finish

Motocross

250MX Standings - 1977

PositionRider Hometown Points
1Tony DiStefano Tony DiStefano Bristol, PA United States295
2Marty Smith Marty Smith San Diego, CA United States261
3Jim Pomeroy Jim Pomeroy Yakima, WA United States241
4Kent Howerton Kent Howerton San Antonio, TX United States187
5Tommy Croft Tommy Croft San Diego, CA United States172
Full Standings

1977 500 Class Points Finish

Motocross

500MX Standings - 1977

PositionRider Hometown Points
1Marty Smith Marty Smith San Diego, CA United States223
2Bob Hannah Bob Hannah Whittier, CA United States199
3Steve Stackable Steve Stackable Austin, TX United States191
4Tommy Croft Tommy Croft San Diego, CA United States175
5Kent Howerton Kent Howerton San Antonio, TX United States157
Full Standings
Broc Glover, the 1977 125 Class champion.
Broc Glover, the 1977 125 Class champion.
Tony DiStefano, the 1977 250 Class champion.
Tony DiStefano, the 1977 250 Class champion.
Marty Smith, the 1977 500 Class champion.
Marty Smith, the 1977 500 Class champion.

  • Injury Report: Atlanta Injury Report: Atlanta 3:30pm
  • Feature: Original Win/Sin Feature: Original Win/Sin 9:00am
Presented by:
  • Website
Read Now
July 2022 Issue Now Available
Get Racer X on your iPhone
Check out all the exclusive content this month on any device!
Read Now
The July 2022 Digital Issue Availalbe Now

Motocross & Supercross News - Racer X

122 Vista Del Rio Drive, Morgantown, WV 26508 | 304-284-0084 | Contact Us
©1999 - 2022 Filter Publications LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
designed at: Website DesignImpulse Studios