Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

· (11:( ~ ~ 'Af~i!¥ ...."...'J~ .. " II Rick Johnson: Astyle of his own By Paul Carruthers In 1982, on the floor of San Diego's. Jack. Murphy Stadium, Rick Johnson turned one of his patented bad starts into a come-frombehind second place finish, trailing only his EI Cajon, California, neighbor Broe Glover. It was his bestever supercross finish and in· the winner's circle he was asked 6 by announcer Larry Huffman if ne thought he would be the next Bob Hannah. Tl;le 18-year-old softly replied that he just wanted to be the first Rick johnson. Four years later, johnson totally dominated the American motocross scene. Sure, johnson won the 250cc National Championship in 1984, but it was nothing c~mpared to 1986. This year johnson went out and won both the Supercross and 250cc National Championships while finishing second in the 500cc title chase. It was a career wrapped up in a sing1eseason. The now fast-starting johnson won six supercross events while' finishing no worse than third; he won every moto except two in the 250cc series and he finished in the top three of. every 500cc moto. Maybe the most amazing thing about 1986 was that johnson beat everybody who is 'anybody on the National circuit. The Baileys. Wards, Lechiens, Glovers and O'Maras were all tossed together with johnson in every class. And he beat them all. But there is more to johnson than just racing. If you're trying to find him in the pits at a motocross, just look for the guy that's a little different. If everyone else has short hair, he'll be the one with long hair. If they all have long hair, johnson will be the one with the flattop. Oh, then there's the funny clothes. If you see long baggy shorts with a picture of Elroy on the leg (you know, George jetson's son), or a suit with rockets attacking planets painted from neck tO'ankle, or anything out of the ordinary -johnson can't be . far away. The same' Huffman that compared him to Bob Hannah recently described him as, "Rick Johnson, the man who dresses like a Mexican black velvet painting." Johnson couldn't find clothes he liked until he hooked up with a company called Life's A Beach, but he's made up for lost time and now has his own line of clothes within the company - Too Hip. "In 1984 I met the guys from Life's A Beach at the Gainesville (Florida) National," johnson said while driving home from his practice supercross track in jamul, California. "They had these shorts that had.really weird prints and s.tuff on them; they were really wild for their time. So I talk~ to the guys and they gave me a couple of pairs of shorts. I told them I would wear them around the pits and, if I could, wear them over my leathers. I talked to Kenny Clark and he said if I won the first moto then he would let me wear them the second moto. So I won the first moto and wore t'hem in the second moto." " Since then, Life's A Beach has become serious and now johnson is sponsored by the company - but there is no money involved. "I guess they've always sponsored me since the beginning," johnson said. "It's never been any money or anything like that. I've never asked for it and they've never offered. It's just more of a friendship kind of thing. I wanted to help them grow because they are good guys. "I feel it's more important to help someone out if you can than always be constantly greedy for a dollar. It would make me feel good if those guys became millionaires one day and I knew I had a part in it. We decided to go after the motocross market, so I thought I would start a company called Too Hip. They had the trademark for it and I had it on the back of my pants so it was real convenient. I own one half and they own the other half. They take care of business and I do the promoting. I don't think it will make me a million dollars, but it's a lot of fun." Fun. For Rick johnson fun is why' he does what he does. He started racing because it was fun, he wears Life's A Beach clothing because it's fun, he got a flattop because it's fun to be a little different. He wins races Supercross and 250cc National Champion Rick Johnson poses poolside with a few of his 1986 trophies at his EI Cajon. California residence; Johnson won six supercross events and every 250cc ove.rall except one.

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