Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

rear disc brake up on the countershaft to decrease the unsprung weight on the back wheel. Broe Glover: Oh yeah? I was going to patent that.. .no .. not really. There's other stuff. Just now they're really starting to get into tire compounds. They are. It's smoother power. And I think the muffier bearings should be chromed instead of anodized. What about red and yellow tires1 . Broe Glover: I think pin striping would be better. Marty Smith: I know Honda will come out with red tires. Who would have thought they'd have come out with a red motor?! It's a good motor, though. Except it needs primary· kick . Marty Smith: Yeah. That was our own decision, though. They wanted to take off weight, and they said they could take off eight pounds but the only way was to take off primary-kick . And we decided to go against having the primary-kick, but now we want it back. Too many lay-downs this year. Every time I crash I always get stuck on my head because I don't want to let . go of the handlebars and lose control of the clutch. the fans are still gonna take care of you and ask for autographs an' stuff. . . _ . I feel really lucky . If I don't do well at a race, I still get a lot of people come up and ask for my autograph. I'll be sitting there , and I'll say , 'What do you guys want my autograph for? I didn't do worth a damn today!' And they'll say, 'Well, so what? We still want your autograph ' because you're Marty Smith.' I can't see that , but I still appreciate it .. I really appareciate it! That's what I think. Fans are the most important thing. Everyone knows that people want to talk to you because they see you r picture in the magazines , and your name and stuff. They just want to talk to you . And if you shine 'em on , or if you don't give 'em a nickel's worth of attention, they're gonna remember that for a long time. . They're going to say , 'Did you talk to Marty Smith or Tony D or Broc Glover?' And they're going to say, 'O h Broe Glover The AMA allows a rider 16 years of age to buy a professional motocross license. Do you feel that turning pro at high school age interferes with a rider's educationt How important is a high school education to a ridert Marty Smith: I think they should have made Broc ride high school motocross until he was eighteen. Broe Glover: (laughing) Yeah, then maybe I could have won the high school championship. All three of us had National Championship titles before we were eighteen. How old were you Tony? Eighteen? How about you Marty? Seventeen? Same with me . Well , that just eliminated all of us. Tony DiStefano : I think that sixteen is OK. They had it at eighteen, but sixteen is old enough. Marty Smith: You 're old enough to realize what you 're doing when you 're sixteen yea rs old. Broe Glover: Yeah, see, I'm staying in school. So are JeffJennings and Mark Barnett. Most of the other riders dropped out to continue on with the racing. But hey , if I don't make it in racing, I have to go on to college or something. You don't go anywhere nowadways unless you're a hero or. .. Marty Smith: You don't go anywhere when you go to college, either. Broe Glover: It's a lot better if you have a college degree than if you have a high school diploma. Marty Smith: It isn't! You'd be surprised. Talk to somebody who has a college degree. Broe Glover: What kind of college degree? Majoring in arts, man? Come on! Marty Smith: No , I'm serious! Talk to somebody who's graduated from college, and they'd tell you they ain't no more than .. . . Broe Glover: Bull) How are you supposed to become a doctor or a lawyer? I ain't talking about a hamburger. flipper! I'm talking about something nicel Marty Smith: Aw , I know, but I still think that . .. Tony DiStefano: I think you should get Y01,lr high school diploma . I didn't get a chance to'do it . Marty Smith: You haven't got a high school diploma? " Tony DiStefano: No, I quit. Marty Smith: What a dummy. Tony DiStefano: I had a choice to make . Things were a little different, being from the East. Like , from the West it would be a little easier to get going, get picked up by a factory, because they 're all right there. If I'd had a ride when I was sixteen, I would have been able to go on the circuit and still finish school because then I could fly back and forth . But sixteen's plenty old enough. They don't need it an y younger, either. Marty Smith: So you don't have anything to show for going to school for eleven years , do you? Tony DiStefano: No , I only went ten. At the time, it was a tough decision. And I want to make it up when I get some time. You should have a high school diploma . When I first started out, they 'd say, 'Motorcycles and no school, man? You've got five million things against you!' Now things are a little better, the way the sport and motorcycles in general have become more accep· ted. I feel good about what I did, but I was fortunatel As nationally known athletes, you have an image to maintain. How imp ortant is it to you1 What do you do to present a good imager Marty Smith: You mean how do 1 want to keep my image up? Broe Glover: Marty shaved his beard, that's how! 10 Marty Smith: To me , probably the same as these other two squids sitting next to me , fans are the most important thing. If you don't have fans .:you're just no t going to make it! If you have fans , and you never win a race , I •• I J • • • \ ' Tony DiStefano Marty Smith yeah , we went over and tried to talk to him , but he wouldn't talk to us. We're not good enough. We're not on his level.' That's the worst thing that could happen to a rider! A rider is just a person just like everybody else .. they 're no different .. they just have a little bit more skill in the sport they 're doin'. Anybody else could develop the same kind of skill if they work at it hard enough. If you're going to make motocross your life, 'you've gotta keep a good image up . Broe Glover: That's a very important thing. That's how w,:, get paid.' Those fans are the guys who go down the local bike shop and pay retail. They don't get their stuff free. Those are the guys who make our bread and butter. If you're not nice to those people, you're nothing! Tony DiStefano: I think at first I didn't realize how important it was to present an image. I figured thatj ust had to race and that was it. If you'd win a race, that you' d be automatically ill, or somethin' , But I found out differently. It 's important, though, even though it takes time away from your schedule and from what you want to do . Like this afternoon, Marty and I each did a thing (signing autographs, etc.) at a bank. We could have been doing other stuff, and it was a little bit distracting from the racing, too. You try to keep your concentration on what you're doing, you know. But it's super important, and it helps the whole sport, too . What about you, Broc! Broe Glover: If magazines keep writing like they have been, I ain't gonna have no fans! Tony DiStefano: You've got fans either way, man! Broe Glover: I guess after I've had a year on the circuit, I could answer this question better. I'm starting to get a few guys, I guess you could call them fans . They're im portant to me because right now I don't have too many. Remember that picture of the pit board that says 'Let Brock bye' where my name's spelled wrong and bye's spelled wrongl What can I say? Marty Smith: Who wrote that? Keith? (Keith McCarty, Bob Hannah's mechanic) Maybe it 's the mechanics who should be requ ired to ' have high school educations! Marty Smith: Yeah, but he was trying to spell it out for Hannah. Maybe Hannah doesn't have a high school educationl Have you considered what you'll do ' when your motocross riding days have endedt Are you making in vestments that will benefit you when the n'ding's over1 Broe Glover: Sure. All of us are trying to set up something like that. Marty Smith: I've got money invested in real estate. Broe Glover: Yeah, everyone's trying to get into that though, I'm sure. MartySmith: I've got a little over a quarter of a million dollars in real estate right now .. . in duplexes. Broe Glover: It 's all in payments, but he 's got it coming! Marty Smith: I might keep doing that for as long as I can. Tony . DiStefano: You're foolish if you don't do something like that. You can get hurt anytime . You only have so much time anyway. Myself, I own some real estate...just bought some. And I'm involved in the motorcycle industry. I have my line of Tony D riding gear connected with Full House. I get royalties on that. It 's really a thing for the future. That time could come very quickly, I think. . Marty Smith: Each year I've been in professional motocross , the year seems to go bya little quicker. You're gettin ' old, Marty. Marty Smith: I know itl There it ended. The tape cassette reached the end of its hour, and the recorder clicked off, letting the three National Champs' thoughts return to the race at hand. They all did well that weekend at St . Peters, Missouri. Marty scored third overall in the 500cc International class; Tony D put in his best ride of the '77 Trans·AMA series to date, a fifth overall; and Broc took a 4-2 third in the 250cc National/Support race. With the immediate race over, their attentions were directed onward to other matters. Broc Glover had to get back to school. Tony DiStefano made a run to Chicago for an appearance in a Suzuki dealers show . Marty Smith went home to put a custom -made set of Fox AirShox on his dune buggy. The next r ace .. Dallas .. was a week away. And they wanted to make the most of the short but sweet time lapse in between. On another Sunday in another time, they 'd strap on shoulder pads and helmets and join the mad forty rider rush into another narrow first turn. They'd sit, still covered with dirt and sweat, to sign autographs because they know it's all im port a nt . But now, as Marty put it, the year was goin' by a little quicker. And there were other places to be and much to do before it all ends. •

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