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/127655
ing the photogra p her Wa lt Mahony, drove some stakes into the forlorn site of the abandoned d ump after striking a strange deal with a lo cal prop ert y owner. Rockwood was, even the n, a mo torcyclist. Born in Minnesota, he came to the Pacific Coa st for the cli mate. Eve n then he was always flagging off motorcycle race s, sometimes even p articipating in sportsma n police eve nts. A lot of his time on the Los An geles force was spen t on a Harley-Davidson freeway cruiser. Despite this, he was no Walter Mitty - he never entertain ed visions of em ula ting t he ka m ika z e s of Ascot, whose exploits his voice celebrat ed so we ll. But · his oldest son, Tommy, did . And this led to Rockwood liv ing the b ittersweet experience of d escribing hi s son winning the race that meant most to both of them - Ascot's Eight -Mile National. Tommy was a qu iet boy, a shy boy, and until tu mbling into the drug culture during hi s se nior yea r of high school, w as apparently a stra ig ht-A st u d en t and scholar. Even his problems didn't interrupt his life-long push - approved by his father, who set great store in his son 's career - to be a professional flat tracker and Ascot champion. Speed in g up throu gh th e ra n ks, the younger Rockw ood earned his stellar victory in th e Eight-Mile National of 1971. Afterwar d , h e tumb led headlong in to an addiction that he bravely, but futilely, foug ht until it destroyed him in the late '70s. Many o f the m ost masterly r aces Rockwood eve r called involved his son. And wha t made th em so was Roxy ' s coolness and d etachment, h is way. of someho w judg ing To m my as just another cont estant instead of permitt ing · paren tal pride to fo rc e him in to favoritism . Ascot's 1971 Na tional was a wil d go-round that saw the lead change 14 times , and To m my set a record in w in ning it. Bu t w he n fa the r congratula ted so n afterward, their winner's circle interview sou n ded str a ined . Tom my 's p roblems ha d tainted the relations hip. If you won der why it is that Roxy Rockwood re mains so admired, yet left n o announcin g hei rs or im ita tors, th e explanation is that Rockwood's manner of announcing is too difficult to d o. To em ulate him, an announcer needs to: be so colossa l a fan that racing cons u mes hi m; ha v e a memory like a whip; be committed to hunting d own an d passing along eve ry up-to-the-minute p iece of racing news; and ultimately, d eliver the sights h is eyes capture in to words that audiences can still quote decades afterwards . In this er a of all show and little subs tan ce, when an announcer at, say, the Superbowl of Motocross can r oa r and sc rea m u ni nter r u p te dly t h rough four ho urs wor th o f h eats, semis, cons ies an d main even t, and still not get off one memorable line, Rockwood seems all the more mis sed. "When 's the last time you he ard a Harley sound like tha t?" he demanded of h is audience in d e light, the shock Ascot evening in 1977 w hen Garth Brow w en t on a tear. "Farew ell to the BSA Gold Sta rs !" h e cr ied in 1969, on the evenin g when the old engine formula at · last expi red. Rockwood could lift your spirits or br eak your heart. Now the Gold Stars are gone, the XR Harley-Davidsons tha t race in Southern California have mufflers, Ascot is no lo nger able to do its fan dance fr o m landfill to fantasylan d, and Rockwood's best lines have vanished into some Valhalla where worthy words d isappear. a Sad !