Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126317
E(Sup erbowl ~ ----~----I !, t" O"l ~ ) Six years of Superbowl Are memories made of this? By Sebastian Melmoth and Richard Drudge "There a re n o po tholes on the highroad to hell." - St. Roncebius of T yre T ime flies when you're having fun. When that first "Su per bowl of Motocross " bugalooed out of the darkness of a coo l Jul y night into the national semi -consciousness in 1972 , few of th e m otocross cognoscenti of th e time cou ld take it serious ly. [ mean , wh at was it? A gleam in promoter Mike Goodwin's calculatingly friendl y eye? Sure . A ca tch in th e hysteria -wracked throat of an no uncer Larry Huffman? Most certainly. But what , in the name of Blessed Serge Grandier" , was it ? No on e was sure that first time, not even its crea tor. In 1972 , motocross seemed to be a spo rt wit h a future. Sales of off-road bik es we re soa ring and motocross ra cing associa tio ns wer e el bo wing eac h other unmercifully for a share of the tak e . Land closures, EPA regulations and $250 0 dirt bik es wer e a thing of 'the unimagin ed future , and it see med as though it was only a m atter of time before motocross weuld be recognized as a major sport by th e American publi c . There was j ust on e problem , or so it see m ed . o ne obs tacle o n th e big bucks high roa d to public acceptance a nd fina ncia l g lory. Motocross was a pain in th e ass to watch . Pict ure it if yo u ca n . T he re he is. J oh n Bloa tbu tt , pe rennial Ameri can sports fan, wit h ticket s to so m any sporting events he 's listed as a prized resource in th e annual co r po ra te report of T icketro n . John Bloatbutt , who has gotten d ru nk, su n b urned and occa sionally bell igerent in every stadi u m a nd spo rts palace within a five hundred m ile radius of La Habra . John Bloatburt . whose sai nt is Roone Arledge. and whose sex life fo r the past few years has consisted mainly of watching wom en's gym nas tic events on television . 34 "A relat ively o bscure French racer who was recommended f or canonization aft er his disapperan ce during th e French Grand Prix of 1956. W hile running in 14th pla ce, Grandier's throttle st uck as he approached th e top of a down hill kn own as La ch ute merd e. Bike and rider vanished into a lour-hanging cloud and we ~e neper seen again. Picture J ohn , his interest suddenly piqued by th e sna rl a nd speed of mot oc ro ss, his arm twisted by a l-t -year-old son with CZ sticke rs for eyes, arriving at Saddleback Park fo r his fir st big-time motocross spec tacu la r . Picture John parking the fami ly stationwago n on a rutted h ill with a 20 degree slo pe and lugging beer coo ler, foldin g ch ai r , and FooFoo th e famil y Pekingese across a ha lf'-mile of terrain th at positively proves that severa l of th e larger battles of World War I wer e fought in Californ ia , wh ile she p he rd ing the two you ngest Bloatbu tt s a nd expla in ing to his wife that this was a ll John , Jr .' s idea . Picture J ohn losin g his hea ring , FooFoo a nd, nearly, o ne of th e you nger Bloatbutts to a cr azed pro to type of Sh aun Cassi dy o n a lfl -h ors ep ower m in ibike . Picture J ohn fin a lly settling his ent o urage down win d of a wid e , silty tu rn (" Well, a t least there 's a breeze , ' wh ines M rs. Bloat bu tt. "See dear ," wh eezes John , " I told you it woul d n't be so bad.") j ust as th e ra ce begins. Pictu re th e disgust of the ambu lance attendant who has to wip e a quarter ยท inch of d ust enc r usted vomit off J o h n'S fan' before he can gh'e hi m mou th to- mouth resu sci tat ion for the m ino r coronary he's having . And. most to t he point , picture J ohn's reactio n the next ti me J oh n , J r . su ggests a ttend ing a mot ocross. "We h ad to destroy Cu Chi in order to save it." - U.S. Arm y Major, 1974. . Enter Mike Goodw in , ers twhile rock pro m oter and ma n with a vision . Like th e na rrat or in the tuna co m merci a ls, Goodwin realized th a t wh a t th e m asse s wanted was not motocross with good taste , but motocross that tast ed good . It was Goodwin 's ge n ius to re de fine th e co ncepts of motocross, rearran gin g its prioriti es to su it th e values of the large non participant public whi ch would ha ve to be lured thro ug h the turnstiles if m ot ocross (a nd Good win) were to be fina nciall y successfu l. The sta nda rds would beco me d ifferent , if obvious. A good tra ck wou ld re q ui re I ) spectacula r j u m ps , 2) the guarantee of t hri lls a nd spi lls a n d 3) to tal specta tor overview of every part of the co ur se . A good site for a trac k would have I ) reasonably co m fort able sea ti ng , 2) tota l a ccess contro l, 3) huge parking facil it ies and 4) profitable concessionary arrangements . Simple motocross racing would not be enoug h . A good format would feature I ) th e 'c ha llenge' concept of racing ("Amen'ca Versus Th e World ") and 2) other 'featured' events (" Do n't mis s Super Ted Destru cto's Leap Into Death") . Tradi tional concepts , such as tracks whi ch wer e suffici ent ly wide to a llow pa ssing a t most parts of the cou rse and ru les which required roughly equa l skill levels among th e riders as a condition of ent ra nce , would be considered passe'. And it came to pa ss . . , 1972: I n the beginning .. . With a few exce ptions, most of th e names to be conjured with in m ot ocross in 1972 a re no longer a mo ng the racing , The in augural Superbowl was hyped as a confronta tion betw een established European sta rs a nd th e upst a rt Am erican hotshoes who had onl y rec en tl y learned th e differen ce between motocross a nd TT racing . . O f th e big name Eu ro peans who were variously p romised or rumored to sho w, o nly T eam Sweden , (T o rsten H all m a n . H ak an Andersson . . T orlief Ha nse n and Arne Lindfors) ac tually appea red. The ot hers - Roger DeCoster , J oel Ro bert , Sylva in C e boers. Ad o lf W eil , etc. - failed to cat ch th eir pl anes. The Am er icans who could be m ost ex pec te d to give ' th em a run for th e mo ney were m ostl y Southern Cal ifornia favori tes - rid ers like Tom Rapp , Ti m H a rt , G ary Jones, John DeSot o , Brad- Lackey and Bob Grossi . Oh , a nd a l fi-vear-old kid fro m Santee in his first m aj or professional race , Marty T ripes. . H ansen ran awa y with th e fir st mo to , leading a parade of front runners whi ch co ns iste d of Arne Kring , Team Yamaha (jones, W einert. Tripes). Lindfors , Andersson and Hallman . Hansen used his expe rience to good advantage , quickly lapping ba ck and then middle-packers on his works Husky. building a lead which be came insu rm ou ntab le . T he only interest in th e last stages of th e moto was th e late c ha rge of Marty T ri pes . Settling down from a n ea rly race siege of nerv ou sn ess wh ich led to bobbles and mistak es. T ri pes began to cha rge from mid pa ck , quickly passing rid er s like Kring and Hallman despite the ir desperate effo rts to block him in th e narrow turns, T rip es was in sec o nd place when