Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bob Tam m is the " nucleus" of Team Tamm . "One of our many major goals is to be. possibly by 1986. the Honda of the future ." 24 i n th e world a nd get so me thi ng. I bo ug h t "t he Hondas through Orange Co u nty H onda a n d I paid for every single o n e, a nd a lso I bought every sing le part we needed." T o h el p with the major expenses, Bob s ta rt ed their T eam Tamm motocro ss a p pa rel busin ess. His main con cern is not a profit but survival. J ust a bo ut every d ime they make fro m the a ppa rel wi ll go directly to fu nd their raci n g efforts . , -ext yea r sho ul d n ' t be so expensive fo r Tea m T amm. T hey a lready ha ve a ll the va ns, to o ls a nd pa rts th ey need for the nex t season. Eve n the m otorcycl es are no lo nger a probl em. In sid e T ea m T a rn rns large ga ra ge is o ne wa ll li ned with o ver 20 C Rs gi ven to th e by A merica n H onda. A tota l of 12 H o ndas wi ll be handed over to T eam Ta m rn, w hich wi ll co m p r ise ~ onda 's en tire 1984 Supp o r t tea m . It will be up to Bob which rid er wi ll m a ke th e tea m and th ose who won ' t. Fo r 198'1, the rider s have heady bee n selected . C hr is H eisser a nd A.J. Whi ti n g w ill in vade th e 125s, .leff Hicks a nd Brian M versco ug h wi II co m pe te i n th e ~5 0s w h ile J o h n Wh elchel ud Al a n King w i ll head the bigbore efforr. ne ques tion arose, why we re ex-facto r : r iders d o ing o n a p riva teer tea m des ig ned for the " u p a nd co m i ng " rid ers w ho a re seeki ng a facto ry rid e? Mversco ugh a nd King wer e facto r iders, but now they a re o n Tea m Tam m . " W e a re try in g to sh ow eve rybod y tha i we ha ve co m e up to r a t le -el o f ca l ibe r w here we ca n no w ta ke a r ide r o f th a t sta tus . We -v: n t to ho w them a nd ever y bo dy else that we ca n suppl y them with '_ a t th ey eed to be a winner and th t is ... ha t o ne of o ur goals is. To "rin g peo p le a lo ng ." Tea m T a rn rn has m any goa ls a nd o bvio uslv the m ain o ne is to wi n. " I' d be a li a r ;0 say we didn ' t wa n t to wi n Na tio nal s. We feel we ca n with the q ua li ty o f r id ers we have thi s yea r. A S u p ercro ss wi ll definitel y be a lo t roug h er. We are not bett in g tha t we n '\ d o it. b u t we fee l th a t we a re g oing to fi n ish i n th e top 10 co n sislent: y wi th '" wast two o r three o f ou r ri d ers .' ·~·,: t , Iyer sco ug h a nd Kin g uotch ex n: tio na l wiu s wh ile co mpetin g o n facto r v tea m s. "0. e lo ur man y maj or goa ls is to be. ssibly by 1986 , the H onda o f the future - provid ing we stay with H onda , a n d r ig ht no w we don ' t see w hy we sho u ld n't. T hey have been m ort: than ge nerous to us . But we feel H on da , Ya m aha a n d a ll of th em are goi ng to back o ut a nd we wi ll be th e H onel a o f th e fu tu re. I th ink th ere is go ing to be a Wr an gl er Ra cin g team a nd a Coca Col a Raci n g tea m wh il e we a re go ing to be Tea m Ta m m ridin g H ondas, bu t H onda w ill be o ne of o ur m aj o r sponsors. We hope that, as th e fac to ries d ro p o ut, with the cu tbacks a nd th e add i tion o f th e pro du ct ion rule th at is co rn ing into effec t. we w i ll fill that gap wh en th e fact ories p u ll ou t. We dori 't want rac- . in g to sto p a n d racin g will never stop a nd th e factories w ill never sto p bein g in volved , but as far as spe nd ing th e kind o f budget that th ey a re , we lo o k for a defin ite cu t back ther e. It 's a lo t chea pe r to su b-co n tract a race team o u t to us, th an it is to hav e th eir ow n race team . T he factori es ha ve real ized that th ey hav e sta rte d someth ing by pay ing their r ide rs $50-$300,000 a yea r , a nd now w it h Bob H a nn ah wa n ti ng, whatever th e ru m o r was, a m illion do llars to ride a Honda , th ey rea lized th ey went a litt le to o hi gh a n d put o u t wa y too m uch mon ey." T h is vea r, Yam aha has d ecided to ra ce o n ly sligh tly m odifi ed p roduction bi kes a nd a couple oth er factories wi ll probably fol lowsuit in th e nea r future. For T eam T amm th is tr end co u ld n' t hav e co me a t a better tim e. " I think if th ey d o put the prod uction bike ru le in effect, it will , of co u rse, benefit us. \\'e want to sec th e product ion bike rule co m e into effect. but we a lso want to mak e sure th at the co n tro ls that a re going to govern it are in effect at the same time. Th er e is nobody at the AMA who could check a bi ke to see if i t was stock or not. T h ev don't know . T hat 's th e th in g I stress to th em , that w h en ihev are rea dy to d o it . th ey bett er em ploy so me peo p le wh o ca n ph ysica lly check the bikes to m ak e s ur e they a re prod uc tion ." From the rid er 's poi nt o f view, rid ing for T eam Ta m m isn ' t tha i much d ifferent fro m rid ing o n a factory team. In fact , a t th e races, T ea m Ta m m works j us t a bo u t th e sa me wa y as th e facto ri es, if not better. T he . ride rs hav e the sa m e co n ven ie nces lik e having their own box van a nd George Quay (left) joined Team Tamm last year and became Jeff Hicks' mechanic . Recently. Quay was named vice president of the team . m ech an ic. All th e rider has to do is wo rr y abo ut racin g. H owever . th ere are a co u p le o f aspects the fa cto ri es h a ve to o ffer w h ich w ill keep ride rs strivi ng for th e big tea ms . Asi d e from t he mecha nics, th ere a re no sala r ies at T ea m Tarn rn . " O u r rider s are a ll top n ot ch. a nd I fee l that th ey arc a ll hi gh en o ug h ca li ber, th at with th e purse m on ey. th ey ca n a ll m ake a good liv i ng as long as th ey stay h ealth y." Second, th e rider s do not flv to th e races, unless th ey pay for th e a irl ine ticke ts o u t o f th eir ow n po ck et s. Other than that , the rid er s enjoy th e sa me treatment. as if th ev ro de for th e Iacrori es, As long as th ey do th eir p art, suc h as tra ining. practi cin g and doing the best th ey ca n o u t o n th e tr ack , Bob will pi ck up the ta b for j us t a bo u t a nything th ey need . " I tak e ca re o f a ll th e a rra ngmen t for every th i ng. Hote l ro o m s for th e m ech anics, etc., etc. We even hav e a health cI ub here in Coro na for w hoever is o u t h er e to stay . Everybody has a m embership th ere a nd they a ll ca n go to th e h ealth cl u b a n ytim e of the day . T hey a ll ha ve th eir own m embers hip cards w hich I tak e care o f. I pa y for ever yt h ing. The o n ly th ing tha t th ey ha ve to wo rr y a bo u t is th eir riding a nd th eir tra in in g, a nd if th ey ca n get th a t down , th en th ey ca n keep th eir m ental a tt itude wh ere th ey need to ha ve it. T hat is rea l ly im portant to th em , th ey d on 't want th e headach es of peopl e ca ll in g up a nd saying ' We want you to be th ere a nd be here and we wi ll p ay th is much a nd this much .' T he riders don 't know what to ask in a lo t o f cases a nd they rea lly don't ca re." Roo m a nd board is n 't a problem eit he r for the ride rs. Mo st of the ride rs liv e at Bo b 's ho u se. " It 's kin d o f a fa mil y type o f affair a nd everyo ne tra vel s together a nd lives toget he r. We a ll kn o w eac h o ther an d we a re i n a real rela xed atmos p here. Hicks attri but es suc cess o f lat e to this . H e is re lax ed a n d he ca n do a ll t he th in g s he ca n do . I ha ve five peop le wh o liv e wi t h u s a t m v house, so tha t Tea m Tamm ca n co nserve m on ey. \\'1' hav e a hirch in set o f bunk bed s in two o f the ro oms a n d th e o th er roo m has a qu een size bed in it. We hav e to co nserve mane, ' too . T here is no founta in tha t we ca n turn o n in th e m orn in g a n d a ll th ese dollar bill s co rne - , -, 'run n i ng our.' Bob isn 't th e o n ly per son w ho runs th e team. H e has quite a few em p loyees th at he says each o ne p lays a very im porta nt ro le a t what th ey do . "T here is a lo t o f h ea rt a n d so u l here, a lot o f sweat a nd bl ood tha t no bo d y ever sees. I see it, th ough . 1 see eve rybo dy w ho get s her e betw een six a n d eig h t in th e m orn in g and who d oesn't lea ve h ere until si x or eig h t a t ni gh t. " Of co urse there is Jul ie. Ju lie is co ns ide red by everyo ne as th e team 's " Mo m ." But. business-wi se, she takes ca re o f th e fin an ces, P R work a nd advertising th eir new line o f MX a p pare l. T hen th ere is G eorg e Quay. Bob met G eorg e in Flo r ida and hi red him to work th e clothin g line. But as thing s got a litt le m ore hecti c, Qua y took o n more responsibilities, like man aging a nd assist in g th e rider s in their training a nd helpin g in m aking a rra ngeme n ts for travel a nd race prepara tio ns. On th e roa d , Qua y becam e Hick s' m ech an ic, a nd a t th e end o f th e 1983 seaso n , Bo b a ppo in te d George as vice p resid ent o f Tea m Ta rnm. In th e fut u re, Bo b sees tha t motocross racing wi ll take on a big cha ng e and he pla ns o n bei ng pa rt o f tha t ch ange. " T he re is no doubt tha t by 1986 there will have to be two or th ree more teams j ust like Team Tam m . Pa rt of th e su ccess or motocross. u nfort una tely . is res ti ng in o ur ha nds. We a re not the savi ors, b ut on the other ha nd , we h ave th e cha nce to show the ot her major sponsors th at a re ava i lable in this co u nt ry that . w it h th e righ t m anagement a n d the ri g ht peo p le. yo u ca n p u t together a strong priva teer effort. And if we ca n do so me wi n ni ng th is yea r a nd stay co ns is te nt. I defini tel y bel ieve we wi ll see so me maj o r sponsors ge tti ng involved ." W hat it boils do wn to is th at p ro fession alism, determinati on a nd tea m work is w ha t Tea m Tam m is a ll a bo u t. " No bod y ever co mp lai ns or bit ch es her e. If we tell them we need th em h er e o n S u nday m ornin g a t 5 a .m. , I g ua ra ntee every si ng le per son will be her e. Th ey won ' t co m p la i n because th ey kn o w we a ll hav e th e same goa l i;l mind - to m ak e th is race team th e best possib le privateer ra ce team th ere ever was . \\'e are the best a nd we will work as hard as we have to keep it the best." •

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