Legends
LEGENDS
Our choices for the 25 best American racers, 1962-1987
DAIN GINGERELLI
WHERE THERE IS RACING, there are winners and losers; that much is obvious. But while stopwatches and record books tell us who are—or were—the winners, those same instruments don’t point out the best winners.
To remedy that situation, we’ve reviewed the list of American racers whose exploits on motorcycles have brightened the pages of CYCLE WORLD during the past two-and-a-half decades, and come up with the 25 who we think were the best. And the criteria we used were simple: These were the racers who believed they couldn't be beaten, who never, ever, gave up. Whether or not each of the following 25 ever won a major championship doesn’t matter; the quality of their racing and the impact they had on the sport tell us everything we need to know. In that light, they all are champions.
1. STEVE BAKER: A match for the King
Baker started as a professional in the early 1970s, riding Yamaha 250 and 350 Twins for Yamaha of Canada importer Fred Deeley. Underweight, bespectacled, braces on his teeth, Baker personified his nickname, “Stevie”-until the green flag dropped.
By 1976, Baker had matured into a muscular young man and a top roadracer. It was Baker, and nobody else at the time, who was capable of competing head-to-head with Kenny Roberts on a road course. The following year, Baker and tuner Bob Work conquered the world in the Formula 750 series, becoming the first American to win a roadrace world title. The' flood of U.S. talent into Europe hasn’t stopped since.
2. DICK BURLESON: Eight-time AMA enduro champion
It’s hard to say the name Husqvarna without thinking of Dick Burleson. Because it was this husky little rider from Tennessee who helped make the Swedish brand a legend in American enduro competition.
Burleson’s accomplishments in the backwoods are truly legendary, qualifying him as the Daniel Boone of motorcycling. Beyond winning a truckload of enduro national championships and ISDT gold medals, though, Burleson also had an uncanny knack for always doing the right thing on the trail. And if anyone ever finds out what made Burleson tick as an enduro timekeeper, every enduro-clock manufacturer in the world is likely to be put out of business.
25TH ANNIVERSARY
3. JOHN DESOTO: The original Iron Man of Motocross
There have been few riders stronger than John DeSoto, a stocky Hawaiian who developed his stamina from surfing as much as from training. And it was his strength, coupled with his natural riding talent, that propelled him to the top of American motocross in the late Sixties and early Seventies.
DeSoto’s presence in the TransAMA races actually sparked the emergence of America as a powerhouse in motocross. By training hard and riding even harder, DeSoto set the example for younger, perhaps even more talented U.S. riders in later years. There are no national or world championships listed next to DeSoto’s name, but Yankee MX riders today who have beaten the Europeans owe a fair share of their success to the iron man from Hawaii.
4. BOB HANNAH: The Hurricane
Even if Hannah lacked his phenomenal riding talent, he probably would have won a record number of motocross races anyway. Because the only satisfaction he got from racing was winning. In his early days, he did everything short of firing cruise missiles at his competitors to assure his finishing first.
But today, recognizing Bob Hannah for his racing talents alone is like remembering Thomas Edison only for the light bulb. Hannah likes to talk, and when the racing stops, he is just getting started. It’s safe to assume that he has provided more provocative post-race comments than any other racer in motocross history. And if Hannah decides to compete in the Grand Prix championship next year, let’s hope he gives us at least one more year of first-class racingnot to mention those superlative
5. BRAD LACKEY: World Championship through tenacity
Brad Lackey must have ripped the Q-section out of every dictionary he ever owned, because “quit” isn’t in his vocabulary. It took this outspoken Northern Californian nearly a decade to chase down his sole world championship, wearing out his welcome with several manufacturers along the way. But when it was all over, he had proven his point: He had what it took to become America’s very first 500cc MX world champ— although at times, it seemed like he was the only one who believed he could do it.
Soon afterward. Lackey joined several million other Americans in the unemployment line, having burned his final bridge-Suzuki-on his way to the championship. And so Lackey retired-although not by choice-as champion. But he had made his point-and had never given up.
6. MERT LAWWILL: No.1 racer/movie star
It’s disputable whether Lawwill etched his name in motorcycle lore as 1969 AMA Grand National champ, or as co-star in Bruce Brown’s legendary movie, “On Any Sunday.”
Lawwill was the perfect person for the role, too. Brown depicted him as the hard-luck hero who maintained a professional outlook toward motorcycle racing. And who could forget the slow-motion scene in that movie which showed Lawwill at the height of concentration seconds before the green flag is waved in a flat-track race? With Brown’s help, Lawwill proved that there are, indeed, people under those shiny helmets and scuffed leathers. In this case, a picture was worth much more than a thousand words.
10. GARY NIXON: The unstoppable racer
After his 1 3-year roller-coaster ride in racing, 01' Number 9 must hate amusement parks. He was on top in 1967 and ’68 when he took back-to-back Grand National championships, then crashed—literally—to the bottom of the heap a couple of times (the worst, in 1974. should have taken his life).
Nixon rebounded a third and final time in 1976 when he rode Erv Kanemoto's Kawasaki 750 Triple in the Formula 750 world roadracing championship. Only a political decision by the FIM prevented him from winning the championship. He returned to race in the AMA. but the spark was gone. Today, Nixon spectates at various races, strutting through the pits with that familiar racer's walk, a result of too many broken bones. Watching him glare at a racebike. though, you wonder if he wants to saddle up one more time.
7. DICK MANN: History's most versatile racer
The jury is still out on whether Mann was a great racer because of raw talent, sheer determination or pure guts-or all of the above. In addition to his two Grand National titles, “
11. BRUCE PENHALL: Speedways poster-boy champion
If good looks could win races, Penhall would be undefeated-and still racing. But he didn't rely on his Southern California-beachboy style to win back-to-back World Speedway Finals in 1981 and '82. He did it with talent that took years of dedication to develop.
Fact is, as a young speedway star in California’s bull-ring tracks during the 1970s, Penhall was constantly beaten by six-time National Champion Mike Bast. And after a season of whippings by Bast in 1977, Penhall threatened to quit. Luckily, he rescinded that wish and went to England to ride in the British League. The rest is history. Today, Penhall flashes his good looks on the TV screen, commentating for the ESPN sports network. You can be sure he’ll win a lot of fans there, too.
to complete the grand-slam of AMA racing, winning in all five forms of GN competition (roadrace, mile, half-mile, short-track and TT).
But Mann wasn’t in the sport just for the winning; he got just as much of a thrill from competing. After years in Class C competition, he did a stint on BSA’s factory motocross squad, and even was part of the U.S. team in the ISDT at the Isle of Man in 1975, earning a bronze medal.
Today, at age 53, he's still at it, promoting and riding in vintage races all across the country. Why? Because he likes to compete. And competition is what makes champions.
8. BART MARKEL: Black Bart
They called him Black Bart, and he was tough as a grizzly bear. You didn't compete in an AMA flat-track race during the early 1960s without figuring on rubbing elbows-at speed-with this Michigan wolverine. Black Bart Markel was the definitive charger on the track-not because he loved to win, but because he absolutely hated io lose.
It was that same distaste for defeat that led Markel to surpass Joe Leon-
ard as the AMA’s all-time National winner: His win on the Columbus half-mile in 1971 gave him 28 career wins. Since then, only twp riders have won more Nationals: Jay Springsteen (40) and Kenny Roberts (38). Not bad company for a guy who would just as soon put your face in the dirt than lose to you.
9. FRED NIX: Master of the Mile
Fred Nix never won any national championships, but in his brief career as an AMA Class C Expert, he won 11 races. Furthermore, the gritty racer from Oklahoma won all but a TT, putting him one win shy of sharing company with Dick Mann, Kenny Roberts and Bubba Shobert as the only riders to complete the grandslam of GN racing.
Nix’s forte was the mile. Get this Harley-Davidson rider on the wideopen oval, and you were in for a real treat-provided you sat in the cheapseat bleachers rather than on the saddle of a flat-track racebike. Sadly, Nix’s career, and life, were cut short in a traffic accident in 1969. He was a true American hero, and is missed by all who saw him race.
12. JOHN PENTON: Stubborn businessman, hardnosed competitor
There’s a lot to be said about John Penton. As a rider, he knew the
woods well enough to win a pile of enduros; as a businessman, he had a keen sense for what the market demanded. And in the late Sixties, offroad riders were looking for a nimble, reliable enduro bike-which Penton provided, putting his own name on the tank.
Mixing business with pleasure, Penton built an enduro/ÍSDT dynasty, forming his off-road team around a core of family, friends and employees. The team won a boatload of ISDT medals, in the process making the name Penton a legend. While the Penton motorcycle is no longer with us, Big John still is.
13. JIM POMEROY: First American
For years, most people figured that Europeans would always dominate Grand Prix motocross. It took a young man from Yakima, Washington, to change that way of thinking. In April, 1973, Jim Pomeroy won the Spanish Grand Prix on a Bultaco, becoming the first American ever to win a world championship motocross.
Pomeroy’s persistence paid off for future Yanks in Europe; Brad Lackey and Danny LaPorte in particular went on to win world titles, and the U.S. Trophée and Motocross des Nations teams have dominated the annual meetings since 1981. Today the red, white and blue is an accepted flag in MX racing, both here and abroad. And we owe it, in large part, to Pomeroy, who, one spring day 14 years ago. set the stage for the Eighties.
14. REGGIE PRIDMORE: Polite champion
If ever there were a gentleman roadracer, it was Reggie Pridmore. Win or lose, the expatriate Englishman always exuded an air of class that set him apart from the rest.
But Pridmore was also a very fast racer. He won the AM As first three Superbike Championships (197678), first riding a BMW (on which he popularized the current practice of “hanging off,’’ a tactic he adopted to overcome the restricted lean angle caused by the Beemer’s projecting cylinders) for the teutonic team of Butler & Smith, then a Kawasaki for Racecrafters. Lacking factory backing at the time. Superbike racing relied heavily on the personalities of the riders. And Pridmore’s personality added a lot of class to Superbike competition that otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
15. CAL RAYBORN: Putting Americans on the winning road
Cal Rayborn will long be remembered for his legendary performance in the 1972 Transatlantic Match Series. Riding a not-very-eompetitive Harley-Davidson XR750 roadracer with cast-iron cylinders, he led a contingent of Americans in Transatlantic races against the British team. When the smoke cleared, Rayborn had proved once and for all that Americans do know how to race on surfaces other than clay, tying with Britain’s Ray Pickrell for top individual scoring honors.
Rayborn’s pavement prowess didn’t surprise the American team members, though. Twice winner of the Daytona 200. he was labeled the best by many, including his mentor. H-D race boss Dick O’Brien. Rayborn later lost his life in a crash in New Zealand—and America lost a truly great human being, both on and off the track.
16. ROGER REIMAN: A racer forever
Will somebody please tell that it’s not 1961 (the year ii he won the first of three 200s, a record shared onh Kenny Roberts)? Every year, shows up at The Beach and ei antique Harley-Davidson XI the Vintage Race, and in the the Twins.
When-or rather, //-Reii nally hangs up his leathers anc ?arks his XR, you can bet that it be because there aren’t any spai )arts available for it anymore, not luse this former GN Champion is ;d of racing.
17. KENNY ROBERTS: The King
Forget his wins. Don’t even think about his championships. Kenny Roberts was a champion in every race he entered just because . . . because he was Kenny Roberts. Never has one man dominated the sport the way KR did. His mere presence on the track would have crowds buzzing with excitement and start his competitors thinking about which of them was going to finish in second place.
With the USGP slated for Laguna Seca next April 10, speculation has it that King Kenny will polish up his old helmet and leathers for a onetime-only comeback. If he does, the money spent for admission to that race will be well worth it, no matter how much it might be.
18. BERNIE SCHREIBER: A world champion by trial, not error
In a way. Bernie Schreiber could be considered a fluke among world champions; Americans just aren't supposed to win at international trials. It would be like having the na-
tional surfing champion come from Pittsburgh.
But all that didn’t matter to Schreiber. He used raw ability to fight the odds in 1980, and not only won events, but won the trials world championship as well —the only American ever to do so. In the process, Schreiber earned the respect of the Europeans while remaining a virtual unknown in his own country. He did, however, prove that Americans can go slow on two wheels-and still win.
19. GARY SCOTT: The ultimate privateer
There's never been a more stubborn rider than Gary Scott. After winning the GN title for Harley-Davidson in 1975, Scott struck out on his own for 1976 following a dispute with his Milwaukee employer on how the team should be run.
And for the next nine seasons, Scott’s racing career was peppered with controversy. To thwart the everescalating cost of racing, he took ad-
vantage of the claiming rule and bought Kenny Roberts’ factory-built TZ750 roadracer in 1976; and he always was one of the first to speak out for higher purses and improved track safety. To say that Scott epitomized the privateer is an understatement. Every hard-hat worker in America who enjoys a 16-ounce can of Budweiser after work can indentify with Gary Scott.
20. MALCOLM SMITH: The man who kept the fun in racing
Movie fans will remember good of Malcolm Smith for his ear-to-ear grin in “On Any Sunday.” But his fellow competitors will remember him by the name on his shoulders, because the backside of his jersey was all that most off-road racers ever saw of Smith.
Without doubt. Smith is one of the most versatile motorcycle racers ever to kick-start a dirt bike. Desert, enduro, IS DT, cross-country, motocross, hillcIimb-Malcolm did it all. But no matter what he was doing, he always seemed to have more fun doing it than anyone else. Today, Smith is a canny businessman who owns a huge apparel and aftermarket company. But you’ll never get him to sell that ear-to-ear grin.
21. MARTY SMITH: Teenage millionaire
When Honda signed 18-year-old Marty Smith to ride its 125cc motocrossers in 1974, the sport changed overnight. Suddenly, a plethora of MX taïent from Southern California was exposed, and dozens of would-be Marty Smiths dove head-first into the motocross arena. The enticement: six-digit salaries, and a chance to be just like motoçross’s first teenage idol.
Smith earned every cent he got from Honda, too. In addition to three national titles, he won the first 125cc USGP at Lexington, Ohio, soundly trouncing the Europeans at their own game. His big-bucks factory contract helped him beat those European stars to the bank, too.
22. FREDDIE SPENCER: Speaking softly, but currying a big stick
Who can ever forget the 1983 Grand Prix season, when Fast Fred die Spencer and King Kenny Roberts traded wins-six apiece-to dominate the competition? When the dust set tled, Spencer was on top. forcing KR to abdicate his throne as roadracing's king.
But it's hard to guess exactly how history will treat Spencer. The books will certainly tell about that thrilling season, and about his double champi onship in 1985 and his Daytona tri ple the same year. But Fast Freddie might also be remembered as the champion who evaded the public and the press. and who wouldn't race if the odds weren't in his favor. If so~ that would be unfair to this soft-spo ken racer from Louisiana. After all, you can't measure a champion by where he didn `i race or what he did'i `I say. but only by what he did do. And what Spencer did was win.
23. JAY SPRINGSTEEN: If only...
Too bad the word "if" doesn't count in racing. Because if it did, there's no telling how many Camel Pro Series wins Jay Springsteen would have. If he had remained healthy, he most certainly would have more than his current 40, which already is tops on the all-time list.
But despite Springsteen's mysteri ous on-again, off-again illness, which caused him to retire from so many races, "the Springer" is still one of the sport's greats, a man who raced with raw talent and a fierce deter mination to win. If ever there's been an American hero on two wheels, it was Jay Springsteen, a man who de serves an "if" or two for his misfortunes.
24. TERRY VANCE AND BYRON HINES: Pro pro stockers
You caift mention Pro Stock drag racer Terry Vance without throwing in Byron Hines. They go together like Batman and Robins the Lone Ranger and Tonto.
Individually. Hines makes fast bikes and Vance makes them go fast. Collectively, they have added a fleW dimension to drag racing: Profes sionalism. V&H took their big-name sponsors on the road with them, and beyond winning countless Pro Stock championships. injected a previously unseen business savvy into the sport. Thanks to Vance & Hines-the rac ers-professional drag racing is no longer a sport for starving shadetree mechanics,
25. DON VESCO: The fastest man on two wheels
Who in his right mind would want to travel almost 470 feet per second aboard a motorcycle? Don Vesco would-and in fact did, when he set the Land Speed Record of 318 mph while strapped inside his twin-Kawa saki-powered streamliner in 1978. Vesco is, without question, the fast est man on two wheels.
But owning those kinds of records doesn't thrill Vesco as much as the sheer thrill of speed. It's customary to see him on anwhing built for speed at Bonneville; he's ridden everything from 50cc tiddlers to his 25-foot long, eight-cylinder Lightning Bolt at the Salt Flats. And every time this seasoned vet makes a pass through Bonneville's measured mile, he re turns with a big grin on his face-and very often a Land Speed Record to go with it.
