Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

-. ",. light brown E I II • I II ..:I c(") ~ ...... The AMA's token Mexican/Italian has th£ tough job of - keeping up with & solving the problems in th£ fas(growing sport ofprofessional motocross. By Jim Russell .. As the sole FIM representative in the United States, the AMA the past few years has been under constant pressure from many people demanding untobefore-heard-of National and International motocross races. Wisely, they appointed John Lancione (better known as Light Brown to the riders, and Nelson to his wife) as the National AMA Motocross Referee and man to figure out what the hell this motocross noise .- that was interfering with important things, l~ke flat tracking was all about. This responsibility for John, and the rapid expansion and professionalization of U.S. motocross has definitely not been a simple or easy task. John's the man in the middle; the guy who makes certain the" riders are paid for their efforts, the spectators are satisfied as well as protecte,d with safety precautions. It's not easy! Promoters of a National get irritated when told their track is not acceptable" and changes must be made, riders get irritated when there's no purse money and spec tators get irritated when the practice and race are delayed three hours, in addition to the length of each moto being halved. AMA used their heads in picking Light Brown. He loves motocross, has raced himself and'tries torJOwhat he t/links is best for the riders, promoters, AMA and spectators. He's no dummy, and above all, he has a personality and sense of humor that has gained him respect from all who have come in contact with him. Even witlr the rapid growth of National motocross. John still makes it fun, which is really wlla t it's all about for anyone who's inlo moto rcycles. National road racing had its Ugrowing pains" -- so did car racing when it first started out. That's where National U.S. motocross is now; but the problems are being solved. Most of the riders are now flying to the races each weekend; some even bring their wives. Each rider has a mechanic and the factories are pouring lots of coins into National motocross. The AMA is also "coming through," making certain that the National races are as professional as possible. National motocross is getting better each year, and Light Brown deserves a lot of credit in mqhing certain that what's best for National motocross is what's done. Catching Light Brown for an interview is not easy. He has his own job and family responsibilities, in addition to the AMA job. Laching an adequate office or phone budget, this interview ",a. conducrea while riding in a speeding car (driven by a neurotic female) through the mountains of Utah after a National as John sped back to his motel room to quickly prepare and submit the necessary and ever-increasing pcperwork that is now such a part of the organized and computerized AMA. (It is a shame parts of this interview had to be censored.) Talking with Light Brown is a joy for anyone interested or involved with motocross. John has many times threatened to quit, but he hasn't and he's managed to keep his sense of humor somehow, through all the headtlches of being the first U.S. National AMA Motocross Referee. He knows all sides of the "Motocross Story, " has given his heart to it and is most willing to share the aches and pains, and even more important, the "fun" of motocross in America. S h 0 uld there ever be a National Motocross Hall of Fame, Edison Dye should, of course, be the first initu.ted since he is "Grandfather" (originator) of motocross in America. Following him is a group comprised of Gary Bailey, John DeSoto, and others like Dan Gurney and the American Motocross Team effort -- early efforts that were not very successful, but provided A mericans with the hope that some .dtly lightning would strike and there would" be Americans successfully competing in International races. Light Brown should be in there too. So don't quit, Light Brown. At least, stick around" until a U.S. rider wins the World Title -- it's ge tting closer each year. The AM:4 might even give you a 5-year pin. CN: How in the world did you get tagged with "Light Brown"? LB: When I was in high school, I was the darkest kid in school that wasn't black. I could eat on both sides of the lunchroom, got along well with both groups, and that's where the name came m. Pretty simple! CN: We all must have our own reasons, but how did you get into motorcycling, and particularly MX? LB: When I got out of the Marine Corps, I fIrst worked for the Dallas, Texas School System wearing a suit and tie, and saying "No, sir - yes, sir:. I got so tired of that crap, I fmally went down on my birthday and said "Hey, bye, I quit!" I ftgUred I could make money somewhere, so I messed around with real estate a little, and then had an electronics company doing a little manufacturing, design and maintenance. Still have it, but about all it does is furnish me with spare parts at cost when my TV breaks. Also started an auto parts jobber service, and I still have it, but it only grossed $24.00 last year. Just recently, though, I bought one-quarter sJock in a non-profit Texas corporation whose only asset is an airplane - ironically, I'm the only stockholder that knows howto fly. eN: Seems everyone would like to quit the straight and rou tine life and go on their own if they could. LB: Everybody can do it for a while. And if you're lucky and not completely stupid, you can do it for a pretty good while. CN: Let's get back to MX. LB: Well, in 1968, I had a motorcycle shop and wen t to one of the first MX races they ever had in this country. I thought it was kind of neat, but didn't think it was going to stick around too long - another one of my predictions not worth a damn! Anyway, we sold street and dirt bikes, and we had a 360 we couldn't sell, so I decided it would be kind of neat to race one - help sell bikes. You kl)ow, I really liked it - grab a handful of throttle and just go. I started racing to death, amd come to find out I wasn't bad, not among the local guys. I won a couple of races, went to some AMA club events - they sent points in, kept score, and at the end of the year I'd won the Open class in District 19 which was Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas top weenie - even had twice as many points as the guy in second place. Got this nifty little medal in a plain brown wrapper from the" AMA - which was just another organization at that time and could have cared less about MX. Over the winter that year, all the other guys started getting really fast. I started stepping off pretty regular just trying to keep up, so I fIgured I would retire, which I did - undefeated! It was fun, and that's what it's all about, isn't it? I really enjoyed those days and going to-races with friends. We ran pie plates for number plates. What the hell, we didn't have brakes, the handlebar was broken - well, it didn't make a damn. We got some of the biggest prize money ever won in a sportsmans' race. It was $20-$25, but hell - I put· a hole in my leg with a foot peg and it cost me $40 to have it fIXed because insurance was unheard of at tho~nts. One day, this guy came in our shop with stars in his eyes as big as his head and said, "I'd sure like to buy that scooter for my son:' He did. I then became interested in the accesiory man ufacturing business. In May of 1971, we produced our first product, a set of handlebars which was so expensive nobody ever bought them. We modified our g~e plan a little bit since then and have sold quite a few. CN: What else do you manufacture? LB: Trick little Chinese tiedowns. A lot of the guys hate them but they're sO c heap, and we unconditionally guarantee them [oreverything but a knife figh t. Some foot pegs that lower the center of gravity. They're handy and just bolt on, generally to the lowest part of the bike, so it really helps you comer doesn't do much for acceleration though! We also manufacture the Universal Leak-Proof Fork Seals which have been generaJJy widely accep ted around the country and in Europe and Australia, and a few other places like tha,t. One slight holdback is the extreme cost. A lot of people just can't understand that. The real reason we explain when asked face-to-faceisnot because we're trying to make a lot of money - hell, we'd just like to give them away - but we explain that they're made out of whale womb, and whales are getting pretty damn scarce in Dallas. The whales we do fmd in Dallas, when we do find them, know exactly what we want - they fight. Cons ""quently, the recovery costs of the whale womb is pretty high, SO rather than cut the quality of our seal, we pass the cost on to the buyer. CN: How did you become National MX Referee? LB: Well, about three years ago, I started on the MX Series, going around trying to sell my expensive handlebars. I met Dave Welch of the AMA who had just had AMA-MX laid on him, with instructions to make some sense out of National and International MX. Now, Dave is one of the sharpest guys I ever met - we hit it off pretty well, and I ended up pulling the string on the rubber band starter we used before we figured out starting gates were a lot neater - which only took us (AMA) a year by the way. I got paid $15-$25 a week for that, which covered expenses for about 3 hours on Sunday night, so the rest of the week I had to sell handlebars. I pulled the string for about a year, and then the AMA came up short a referee at St. Louis, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dave asked me if I wanted to handle them and by that point I really thought MX was what was happening - there wasn't anything else. I had to agree with Jim Weinert, "Watching a road race is like watching paint dry:' " Anyway, I agreed to cover these two events, Dave laid the whole package on my shoulders and I started "dropping the ball" right away_ Probably everything that could go wrong at these two races did, highlighted by the fact that we didn't have a checkered flag. In St. Louis, we used those little triangle pennants - banners on the race track. We got a bunch of them and nailed them to a stick - It made about an eight-inch square checkered flag and we just waved the stick at the guys - that was our "National" checkered flag. Well, I vowed after St. Louis that would never happen again - you'd have to be an idiot to do that! I made arrangements for the AMA starter in Dallas to be at the race track in Tulsa the following weekend bright and early at 6:00 a.m. with his proper-sized flags and everything. Well, at the motel Sunday morning, about 5:00, he called me and said he'd left his car in a parking garage the night before and didn't know where the keys were. So there I was, no f!ags again. I knew from St. Louis that a

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