Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(I 11II • ~ = c.o r--- (j') ...-l CO N $0< IIJ ..0 S IIJ ..... c, IIJ en Major Tom in orbit. m e. I have to push myself to get in shape. T hey wouldn 't push m e like a lot of parents would - say something like 'you better go get in shap e' and get down on their so n . My dad feels if I don't w ant to ra ce bikes, it's o ka y. I could quit r igh t now and he . wouldn't say anyth ing." " 1 wouldn't ever w ant to quit. Righ t no w I w ouldn ' t wan t to do a nything else to mak e a livin g." T oo much r ipe fruit t u rns in to spoilage, an d t her e ar e b asketfu ls of overgrown kumquats litt er ed alI across t he natio n. Motocross, without a single doub t, is a real drain on the pocketbook. How d o some o f these kids get go ing ? Do p aren t s overdo the bit o n . "s upport and good life ?" "Oh, yeah. You see that everywhere, yo u see that in the CMC races. I'm glad that my par ent s never sp oi led me. I th in k it wa s 'good' to ' be spoiled, my self, you get everyt h ing hand ed to you at the ti me. But no w, when you get a little bit older, yo u can realize that sp oilin ' a ki d, I feel, really hurt s him bad. Yo u kno w, in u nderstanding th e val ue o f things, ho w to get out an d wo rk for your own money, understanding that noth ing ain't go ing to be ha n de d to y o u in t h is world. Your. p arent s ain't going to be t her e alI t h e time. It's t he p ar ents ' fa ult a lot of the time, too." Sitting in a t in can " I re me mber when I was a litt le kid and m y dad took m e to so me midget car ra ces . . . and y o u know, it seems lik e whenever yo u go to a race you w ant to see a crash. That's the environment." St ad ium ra cin g. The sp ectato r 's del ight and the racer's nightm are. The Am erican public. Truly sp ace o ddities. Death. T apes an d p en marks can be erased, bu t should a 16-y ear -old 's life be rubbed out so ea sily? Alt ho ugh it is a good ch an ce for a kid to get n ot iced , Tom m y feels negatively aga in st the less ex p erienced r iders o n t he artificial tu rf. The High School Sup erbowl Championships of 1975 was it s (un)pro vin g ground. "J ust because so many kids crashed last year. There were so many crashes I cou ld n ' t believe it, they were just blowing it. They were just trying to impress everybody." "I rode the Super Series and alI those indoor races; It promotes the sport so much that it 's good to r ace in 'em . But, they 're a lo t more dangerous and ar e really, really short . . . fro m a rider 's view, not too many like to race th ose indoor races." T o m my b elieves that true " hard core" MX is to be found out in t he hills where the true test of endurance and skill comes into interp lay; fro m the very start to th e finish for 4 5 lo ng minutes. " Peopl e can get an idea of mo t o cro ss fro m going to t hose (Sup erbo wl, etc.) races, bu t . . . " Ob serv e t he highly controlled fin esse wit h wh ich Rex Stat en, Marty Smith, To ny D., Heik ki Mikko la, Zd enek Velky, and Ro ger D. landed on their head s - all on one night o f Superbowl IV. That's the idea the rider get s from t he m. Life support system Tom my's life outside the MX track is very much lik e any o ther American, be lieve it o r no t , fo lk s. Do es T o mmy Cro ft lik e to go to co n certs? You bet! " Oh yeah. You be tter believe it . I like Peter Fra mp to n , David Bowie, J ethro Tull, Hendrix." Keeping in sh ap e is a n important factor in racing and Tommy finds t h e happy medium for that. "Some of them do (t ra in , train , t rain), but I like to live, too, you know? I don't like to abuse my body. Sometimes when I'm totalIy trying t o get in shape, I feel I've totally abu sed my body. I d o n ' t think that you need to abuse your body to st ay in shape. You've just gotta eat a good diet, treat it good, stay in shape. Nobody realIy goe s o ut and b us ts their ass. It 's all in the individual." Racquetball .an d running five miles on a varied sch ed ule are Tommy's favorite wa y s to stay "trim and stay on y o ur bi k e. Racq uetbalI r ealIy give s y ou a good work-o ut, you wouldn't believe it.': Tommy an d Marty often go waterskiing in Mission Bay, as well as dicing with each other on their "private" practice track. Both ride two or more 50 minute motos, then return home with blisters. "Tommy came in with bloddy hands just the other day," remarked Al o f KSI, "he had worn through his gloves riding." Observation Jimm y We inert started calling Tommy " T amah awk ," and the name stuck. Tommy gave the crowd at Carlsbad a good look at his rear wheel, as we lI as givin g most of the riders a back seat view. His U.S.G .P. performance put a smile on his bosses' faces. After riding third throughout the fin al moto, it appeared that Tommy would reel in his teammate Pierre for se co nd spot. " I wish his front wheel wouldn't have busted up, " shrieked a 14-year-old T o m my Croft fan. So did Tommy . Others will remember the 1975 Superbowl when the gate starter failed to let the 500 Support class riders lo o se a nd Croft was the first to jump the gate. No p en alty was given to him , since t h e fireworks didn' t go o ff at t h e right time. "That was a kind-of a dumb thing, t he fir eworks were just to make it look neat. " Destinatio n The Tommy Croft Story thus far has been short, but ' dr awn out, in fact, it's just at the end of the introduction chapter. There are so many personalities to be discovered, and Tommy Croft is worth discovering. His destination? Most lik ely Victoria Station - but he's going a little farther - Victory Circle. Look. This is Major Tom to Ground Control I' m stepping th rough t he doo r and I'm floa ting in a m ost peculiar way And th e stars look very different today . . . 33 ..

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