Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

....... ....... American Honda gave Tamm 20 CRs for '84 . Twenty -two more are on t he way . PRoFiLE: Bob TAMM ANd TEAM TAMM PATRON SAiNT of ThE pRivATEER MXER By Kit Palmer finished u p fro n t a nd di dn 't m a ke much of a de n t against the fa ctory tea ms . " T h e year did n't work o ut rea l we ll because th e ri d ers were n OI o f th e A~ qua lity t,l,lat we need to m ak e th is th in g wo rk. At th e sta r t o f 1983, th ey d ro pped Br id g efo rd a nd Reb ell o a nd adde d Mike Tripes a nd C hris H o wa rd. " We had a cha nce to ge l Wa rr en Reid It sou nds si m ple, bu t to field a because Wa rren a nd I a re very good seri o us motocross tea m takes a lot o f fri ends, hut Tea m Ta rn m wa sn 't read y tim e a nd m oney to m ak e things work., ' fo r so me bo dy of hi s ca liber. We just But th e main key to success is en t hu co u ld n ' t d o it . We were not prepared sias m - a nd th at is wh at T ea m to handl e Rei d , so we sta rte d with Tam rn has pl enty of. wha t we fe lt was an OK Pro team , so met h ing to ge t o u r feet wet." It a ll s ta rted in th e ea r lv ' 70s w he n Eve n with th e rider cha nges for th e Bob 's brother G o rd y u ~ed to race sta rt o f 1983, thin g s s ti ll wer en't rosy motocro ss in Mississippi. Du rin g th eir fo r the team . T hev ran int o a few su m m er vacation s. Bob. Juli e a nd proble ms o n th e ~oa d wh en their Gordv wo u ld co rne o u t to Ca li fo rn ia motorhome a nd tr a iler broke down a a nd race, m o stl y a t Saddle bac k Pa rk . few times, so Bob d ecided to sell In 1981 Gordyq uit racin g. so all they them . T he m o ve p rompted m an y had left to do was specta te. T hen, o ne people 10 th ink that th at was th e end day , w hile a ttend ing a Supercross in of the " u p a nd comi ng" T eam T a mm . Mich iga n , Bo b got fed u p with wat chBUI Bo b su rp r ised eve ryo n e when ing. " I was tired of sitting in the they s howed up at th e races wi th a sta nds, a nd if I'm goi ng to spend th e money to co me, I'm going 10 bedow n co uple o f n ew box va ns a nd a new o n th e flo o r o n th e stadium wi th th e team . Wh en C hris H ei sser , Tom Ca rso n , Dan Con wav , Mike Shoema ker r id ers." So the Ta mms decided to and J eff Hick s joined th e team , thin gs form th eir o wn motocross learn a nd get in o n the act io n . began to click. T hey raced S upercross During th e month of Augus t, 1982, eve nts a t Anah eim a nd Seat tle with th in g s ga l s ta rted . " T o m m y Brid geso me prom ising resu lts . At th at poi Ill , fo rd was th e fir st r ide r we ever had. I th e tea m lo aded u p th e va ns a n d set happen ed to be o u t r id ing wi t h his o u t fo r th e Na ti on al s. Wh en Tea m fath er o ne da v a nd I not iced T omm v Ta m m returned 10 Ca liforn ia for th e was a n exce l lent rider in th e d esert , i S uperbo w l of Motocro ss a t th e Rose though t this kid co u ld j ust tear up Bowl, Bob want ed it kn own they th e wo rl d . So, th at' s how we sta rted . were for real , so he bought a few more T hen we found o ut a t Sadd le back va ns a nd had " T ea m Tamm " pain ted th at h e was no good o n a m o to cro ss o n th e side of th e vans . Bob feel s th ey tra ck. H e co u ld ri' t co m pete a t all!" wer e, for th e fir st tim e, recognized by Bob and Julie were ver y determined th e o the r teams as a ser io us rnotoa nd rhev raced a t Sa dd le bac k for a cro ss effort. " We pull ed into th e Rose co u p le 'o f m onth s a nd eve n t u a l ly Bowl with five vans, a ll painted, full y eq ui p pe d and each rider had hi s o w n pi ck ed up IWO m ore rider s a nd th e team g re w to three. They had pick ed mech ani c. All th e riders, excep t Hi ck s up Dall as Reb ell o a nd Jim Browdy. (beca use o f a co n tract with Sin isa lo) th en Dean Ca tes a n d Br ian Fr y wer e dressed a li ke, Every bo dy , even th e added . T hose riders ca rr ied Tea m d oubter s, saw th e team pull OUI a n d .- . ::ra nltn ' thro ugh 1982, wh icb ' ,w'a "t': •' .roa k a lap afoLl lid Ib'c tra'ck 'aild rh ~':.' a ll th ough I, ' H rn rn , m a yb e th ese g uys a ll tha t g rea t o f a year. Th ey rarel y Last yea r there was a new motocross team on the motocross scene that, given current trends, just might change the motorcycle racing industry around. Parked a longside the red, w hite a n d blue Tea m H onda va ns a n d the b ri ght ye llo w truck s o f the Suzuki a n d Ya m ah a facto ry tea m s in th e pits a t '. 2'2 ' m an y m aj or motocross events last season. we re six white box van s th at had " T ea m T arnm " in bi g blu e letrer s pa int ed o n the si de. It is n ' t th e n ew van s th at are so specia l. b UI the p eop le wh o m ake u p th e team. Tea m T a mm is a new priva teer m ot ocro ss rea m a nd thei r aim is to be num ber o ne in ma ny as pe cts . They don ' t wa n t to be j us t a nother " flash in the p a n " m o to cr o ss tea m th at rises to sta rdo m on ly to fade a wa y in to the history boo ks after a few sea so ns. Alt hough th ey ha ve o nly been seri ous ly co m petin g o n the n a tio na l circ u it fo r o n ly o ne year, rhey have a lrea dy p ro ven the m selves as a serious threat to factory riders o n the tra ck, a nd they wi ll proba bly co nt in ue th a t trend fo r vea rs to co m e. Who ~r wha t is Tea m Tam m? Wha t a re th eir futu re pl ans and ho w m igh t th ey ma ke many priva teer team s as stro ng, if not stronger, th an th e fact ory lea rns? Aft er th e end o f a lon g 1983 racing year, w e talked with th e " n ucleus" o f th e team, Bob Ta rn rn , a nd found o u t what th ey a re a ll a bo u t. H e, a lo ng w ith hi s wife Juli e, crea ted a nd o w n th e team which sta rte d o n ly two yea rs ago . In hi s words, "Tea m T arnrn is d efinite ly a pri vat eer m otocross team that is tr ying to privatel y fund itself. We want to take ride rs who a re Ex pert P ro po ssibi lities a nd g ive th em th e cha nc e to tra vel th e nat ional circu it a nd race w ith th e o ther factory ri ders. T ha t's · .p t£ ll.y ~U Ch·ldJ.at :ream T amm is a ll , a bo u t. a re for real. " From th at po i III o n, th in gs too k o ff fo r th e team. Their next goa l was th e C ontin ent al M or orsport C l u b 's Trans-Cal Se r ies held in Ca l ifo rn ia, Th e ser ies co ns is ted of seven events, five o u tdoor races co m bi ne d w ith two Su perrross races. Tea m Ta m m was very successfu l a t just a bout a ll th e races. especia lly a lone o f th e races wh en both H e i ss er a nd Hi ck s wa lked awav w ith Pro \'ic tories. At th e en d o f t he se ries, Hick s was the big w inn er by ca p t u ring th e G rand N at ional C ha m p io ns hip (to p r ide r i n th e co m bi ned o u tdoor a nd indo or ra ces) a nd fi n is hi ng th ird in the T ra ns-C a l S upercross s ta n di rigs (co m bine d two stadi u m rac es) behind Yamah a fa ctory sta rs Ron Lechi en a nd Bro c G lover. Alth ough th e Iactor y teams were not in fu ll force thro ugh out th e T ran s-Cal Seri es, C MC's GN C title was a ver y bi g win for T eam Ta m m . " We worked real hard th is seaso n . Th er e were tim es th at we hardlv ever went to bed. It was seven dav s a'wee k for th e en tire year. We had a 'vaca tio n br eak between so me ca ncell ed races a n d Slu ff. wh er e we stayed a t m y house. And from th e lime we got th ere unt il th e tim e we left , we slep t next to none. We s till didn 't tak e a da y o ff.' Aft er th e Sa n Dieg o Su pe rcross, th e season Ii n a llv ca m e to a n en d . BUI th at d idn 't mean a vacat io n fo r Bob a nd J ul ie. Du r in g the o ff season , they wo rk j us t as ha rd , if n o t harder , th an rhey di d o n th e road. T hey had to d ecide w hich r ide rs would sta v w ith th e team a n d whi ch wo uld not ; get th ei r new ap pa re l line o ff th e grou nd; take ca re of p iles o f paper work and run their o ther bu sin ess. T eam Ta rnrn headquarter s a re 10ca red in Corona, Ca li fo rn ia, a nd sha re residen ce with Se lvy Racing, th e AT\' di vi si on Tea m T amm will a lso be d eve loping in th e n ear future. Bob a n d Juli e a lso o w n a nd m anage th eir o w n $4 milli on bu siness wh ere th ey sell front-end body parts for for eign ca rs. Wilhout that business, finan cing T eam Tamm wo u ld be verv diffi cu lt, if n o t impossible. Last year. T eam T amm spen t up 10 $500,000, oversh ooting th eir budget b y $200 ,000. Most o f their spend ing wer e on th e six full y eq u ip ped box vans and 23 C R Hondas. " All la st vea r was fund ed stri ct ly hy m e. 1 spen t every cen t th at I co u ld spa re. My oth er bu siness h elps, '.' .arid inytela Li,M.h ip. ,,'ilh,iQy' ua n ker is o ne wh ere I ca n ca ll from a n yw here

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