Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED Marty Moates motes, because I had bu sted my ankle up on a fence post during the race and it was really hurting." .50, as he sa t in th e sh ad e and prepared for the second rnoto, Moat es, the C ind erella pri vate er, w as one m oto away from claiming the most important motocross race in Ame rica n history· a race th a t a t the time every American rid er lus te d a fte r. So, fo r the second time, Moat es went to the gate ready to go to w ar wi t h not o n ly 39 o f th e w orld ' s best rid er s, bu t with th e pothole-, wh oo p- and rid ge-infested , hardbaked Carlsbad circuit. "At the s tart of the second mot o, I got th e holeshot aga in, and Lackey pa ssed m e," Moates describe s vividly, "bu t I pa ssed him back, and wa s very excited to be out front. It wa s on e of thos e days th at a rid er has once in his lifetime; it wa s like I had screws in my tires and I w as just flowing s o well. The crowd went crazy, and it was a wonderful feeling . I'll never forget the feeling of passing beneath the chec kered flag." And so it was. Th e journeyman privateer who had never won an AMA Nationa l or finished better than 10th in the AMA 500cc ati onal Championship point standings rolled off the Carlsbad circuit and into complete bedlam. After "TIr.. year bc[or.e. , Irad quit Irig/l sclrool and was lOuring AIII c rica in a tnlck witl. Marty Trip es, and I... r.. I was in Spain, Irying /0 Jil,'l,r(' 1Il11 llOw 10 eal." r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... a ,.... l- a.> .0 E a.> u a.> o 16 seven lo ng yea rs of trying, the Yanks had finally wo n on their own turf. However, the win was mu ch more important than that. For the first time, the Americans had flexed their collective mu scle a nd sho w n the Eu ro peans - w ho as a gro up had scoffed at them as a secondrat e motocr oss pow er for yea rs - that they had th e right stu ff to be a world motocross power . Moates' win wa s the sho t heard around the world. Whil e the win was a huge thrill for Moates , th e happ ie s t moment of the entire beautiful sa ga w as ye t to come . Marty Moates' fa th er, Marty Sr ., who had been fighting complications from seve r e injuri es he su stained during World War II, had been un able to atte nd th e U.S. GP . But th at d oesn't mean he wasn't keenly aware of wh at had happened down at Carlsbad. "A few davs after the race, I went to vi sit m y fa the r in th e hospital," says Moates. "He was a par apl egic who had been in and ou t of hospitals most of my lifetime. He was a master sergeant in the army d u ri n g World Wa r II a nd was un der a tru ck tha t blew up during a battle. Bec ause of that, h e h ad to g o th rou gh so many o perations - bu t he never complained . When I went to visi t him afte r Carlsbad , he was d ying, but he was so proud to see me an d was telling all of the nu rses and doctors that I was th e gu y who w on the United St ates G rand Prix. H e p a ssed a way thr ee months later , but I'll always rem ember that as the happiest day of my life." Inspired by h is in.cr ed i b le win, Moates a nd th e LOP synd icate headed north to Sonom a, California, to contend the fifth round of the AMA 500cc Nationals. Eager to ca pitali ze o n th e Ca rlsbad magic, Moates instead found that bad luck returned to haunt him at Sears Point. In fact, th e race - and the events that followed - would lead to a U SA slow, downward spiral for Moates' racing career. "The following week at Sears Point, I was leading the fir st mot o when the frame cracked and I had to pull in ," laments Moates. "We co uldn' t get th e fram e fixed in time for the second moto, and that really bummed me out beca use I sho uld' ve won th at d av, Soon th er eafter, my knee bega n act ing up bad, and I went in after th e Na tio nals to have recons tructive kn ee surgery. I switched to Su zu ki fo r the next season, bu t I could never ge t a han d le on the bikes. It was very d isappointing to me beca use I had been so comfo rtab le o n the Yamahas . "Then, in 1982," he continues, "I go t o n a plane a nd flew to Europe to give the Wor ld Championship circui t ano ther tr y. Sinisa lo was hel pin g m e, and I hoo ked up w i th' a co m p a ny ca lled Motocross Marketing. Honda was helpin g th em, and they tol d Ga r y Sernics a nd m y self that th ey would give us bikes and pa rts under the condi tion that Roger DeCoster wou ld vouch for us. So I called Roger back in California - it had to be abo ut 3 in the morning - and he was reall y cool abou t it and vou ched for me . [ was so embar rassed abou t d oing that, but Motocross Marketing ca m e '" grew lip in tI,C San Diego ayea, so I was vc,)' exciled 10 race ti,e V.S. GP." thro ugh for us. I was doin g we ll wit h those guys an d won three or four major int erna tio nal races, including the big p reseason warmup race in Beau ca ire, France. While racing in one of the earlyseason GPs, I kept see ing th is big rock on one of the uphills. Somehow, I ended up hitting it, and it broke my foot. I kep t radng th e best that I cou ld in the next three or four GPs. Th en, at th e Swedish Gra nd Prix, they had a huge jump th at r we nt ou t and clea red pretty easily. I was actually surp rised that no one else coul d jump it. So the tra ck officials we n t ou t a nd m ade it bigger, and I ju m ped it again . I ended up casi ng it in th e race, and that just destroyed my foo t. I wa s done for the year and flew back hom e." Back home in America , Moa tes and read a ll o f th e ma gazines. From decided to try his luck at Carlsbad one more tim e, but cou ld n' t get anything what I ca n see , I think that Jerem y go ing o n th e ci rc u i t that had once McGrath has don e incredible things for the sport. Even when things d idn't go bro ug ht him so mu ch glory. Soon thereth at well thi s yea r, he stayed true and after, Moates decided the time had come didn 't co m pl a i n when he lost. He' s tu call it a da y, careerwi se - that is, until in credible a nd ha s m ore d ignity than he receiv ed a long -d istance ph on e call a ny race r in his to ry; he 's never negafrom Australia . Soon therea fter, a series tive!" of events took place that would chang e Interestingly, Moates, the U.S. GP's the course of Marly Moa tes' life. biggest her o, may have a lso proved to "At the 1982 U:S. GP, I crashed hard be its worst ene my . After proving that in p ra ctice a nd busted myse lf up. We th e o nce-omnipoten t Eu ropea ns were had just ha d o u r firs t d au ghter , a nd I decided it was time to call it qu its," .sa ys capable of bei ng beaten , the "us vs . them" men tality of the Carlsbad specta Moates. "So I wen t in to th e rest aurant business, w he re I wo rke d s ix da vs a tor base see med to vanish - and wit h it, week for a bout three o r fou r mo n'ths. the int rigue of the event itself. "We (Americans) always felt that we Out of nowhere I received a ca ll from w ere b etter bu t Australia, offeri ng could never do anym e a r id e to ra ce '" was worri ed between dow n the re. So I thin g in th e m o v ed the re and Mo tocros s and Tromores, becaus e Iliad d id p ret ty well and phee des N atio ns Ims/('d my anlll.. (III a that ca ta p u lted u s fi n is hed third in to i n te r na tio na l ence lJUst during tI,e race their Mr . Mot ocross Se r ie s . The n e xt prominence," says and it was ,·..ally IlIIyting." M oate s . "1 g uess yea r was even beta fte r I won , Chuck ter , and I won lik e 47 races in a row. I think Jeff Leisk was Sun won, a nd Danny C ha nd ler won , and the excitem ent of the Carlsbad U.s. my only competition at the time . GP died down and didn't have the same " In 1984, I d ecid ed to r etire for good," Moa tes recalls, "and I came back hoopla ." to Californ ia to sell my house here but While th e bright s po ts in Marty ended up stayi ng . It was a good move Moates' injury-rid d led career we re few beca use I en ded up ru nni ng into Mark a nd far between, the incredi bly deterSimo, who was a tru ck driver an d pa rts mi ned racer has no regrets. In fact, he is washer d uring my d ays at LOP. Mar k ve ry p lea se d wit h wha t h e acco m a nd his brother, Bria n, were the g uys plished in the spo rt and where it has led who st ar ted Life 's a Beac h surfwea r. him tod ay. After a power struggle within the com "You alwa ys ask yourself, 'What if...?' But I had a g reat career, and the pa ny in 1989, they went off to start a spo rt' s been great to me," Moates says. company called No Fear, and I beca me an investor and a part of their compa ny. "It's the relationships you have and the I'm now a par! of the managem ent comway you trea t yo ur fans , fellow racers and mecha nics that ex tends itself into m ittee an d a shareholder, and mana ge and ma inta in all tr ademark issues. It your life outside of the sport. I could've keeps me bus y and I'm doing some thing made more mo ney. and money is great, a ll of the time. We are a half-bi llion-dolbut it' s the relati on ships, the memories Iar company, an d we'll never ge t rid of a nd th e ca ma raderie tha t m eans th e ou r motocross roo ts." most to me" Today, Moates is the happy father of Final ly, does he still look back on that two you ng daug hte rs a n d s ti ll finds fa tefu l afternoo n that forever changed time to stay involved wit h the sport he the balance of p ower i n worldwide loves. m ot ocross a nd which m ad e him a n "I co u ld n' t be happier with eve ryAm erican racing folk her o who left his thing," he says, "a nd I still get to go ridindelible mark on the sp ort ? ing all of the tim e and still like to rac e "O h, yea h - C a r ls ba d w a s a grea t wh en I can. I don't go to a lot of races; I wa y to ca p off a great career," sa ys p rimarily attend th e local supercross Moates em p ha tically. "I drive by that races , bu t I follow the sport very closely track all of the time and just smile." '" f "I'

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