Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED Mike Bell 12 title'. I e nded up losing thecharnpi onship by three points (399 to 396), and throu gh a dea l I had m a d e with my m e ch an ic , Dave Os te rman, I h ad to d rive the tru ck all the way home fro m St. Petersb urg, Florida ." Far and away the da rkes t moment of Bell's 79 season - if not his entire caree r - wa s the first mot o of the 500cc Ll.S. GP of Motocross at Carlsbad. The California s un h ad turned th e ve n ue - w hic h teemed with 30,000 people - in to a 100degree cru cible that was mor e aki n to a Cleve la nd blast furnace than any th ing rese mbli ng a seasi de mot ocross facility. "I bl ew up th ere, " Bell r ec alls . "I rem ember being on the line, and we had a false start. Wh en we wen t back to restage, I reme m ber wa tching an air show that was going on - it was d rea m-like. It was over 100 degrees and I was incredibly hot. The gate d ropped and we took off, and I got a grea t start and pulled ou t to a 40 -se co n d lea d b y the h alfw ay point. I was jus t dyin g and couldn't ge t enough air. Riding up the big uphill, it felt as if I was sta nding beh ind a hot exhaus t fan. I was lead ing and trying to com p ose m yself . I wasn' t riding over my head , bu t when I went by the finishline ar ea, I thou ght to myself, 'I can't go anymore: I don't remember m y last lap. The first thin g I rem ember is the medics putting me in ice and carry ing me away. That week I we nt to see my doctor, and he said to me: 'You 're lucky you didn't kill yourself. When yo u get heat exhaustion that bad, you can black ou t at an y time. You cou ld have been go ing d ownhill a t 60 miles p er hour and bla cked out: Th at was sca ry to he ar and, ultimat el y, I was ve ry d isa ppointed with what ha ppened . O n a bri ghter note, I w on a moto at Carlsb ad in 1982, th e yea r Danny Cha nd ler wo n, and was real proud of tha t. "I was third in su pe rcross poi n ts in 1979 a nd had so me ve ry good races," con tinues Bell in regard to his cam paign across the cou ntry . "After the season, I d idn ' t ta ke .any tim e off. Rem ember, ther e was no European su percross seaso n back the n. I trained and tested the entire time. Bob H annah go t hurt that sa me year in a water-ski accide nt and I was going to carry the torch for Yam aha , so Keith McCarty s tep ped in and help ed us a lot with testing." Heading in to the AMA Su p ercross Series season opener at Seattle, Bell was read y for war. Ar med to the teeth (courte s y o f Ya ma ha an d its techn ical resources) and in outsta nd ing p hysical condit ion, the lanky Californian was the man to beat fro m the momen t the ga te dropped in the Kin gd ome on Februa ry 9,1980. "We went to Sea ttle and wo n bot h nig hts," says Bell. "As the season prog ressed, I was really disa p pointed I di d n' t wi n Daytona. Ma rk Barnett an d I were clea rly the fas tes t guys tha t year and we were both very competitive wi th on e a no ther . I w on th e New Orleans Supe rc ross, whi ch w a s a b ig d e al becau se it was televised , and Bru ce Jenner (for mer Oly m pic d ecathlon go ldmed al winner) was one of the com mentat ors, so that was a big deal. I cras hed in the main eve n t and cha rge d back to pass Chuck Sun in the very last turn. I won in Pontiac and ultimately won and clinched the 1980 Supercross title in Philad elphia. I also wo n the last race of the seaso n in October at San Diego, and th at one w as real sweet because Mike Goodwin ga ve me 75 free sea ts for m y famil y and friends, because I had done a lot of wo rk in media promotion for him that year:' On th e outdoor front of America's tw o-front motocross / supercross war, Bell aga in finished up second overall. This time it was to Team Suzuki's Kent Howerto n. "I didn't win a National in 1980 because all my energies were in su percross ," says Bell. "I didn't want to ride the 250 ou tdoors; I wanted to ride th e 500 . However, Yamaha's stra tegy was to keep me on the 250 all yea r:' Altho ug h Yamaha had been on top of th e w orld du ri n g the Han na h, Bell, Glover and Burgett era of the late 1970s, th e team st r ugg led wi th a poo rly d esign ed motorcycle in 1981. Cons tantly at odds with the mea n-spirited and illhandling bik e, Bell co nt inued on and staye d cons istent, and he kept his chin up and, desp ite not wi nni ng a Na tional or supercross, placed second in bo th the AMA 50(Jcc Nationals and 250cc Supercross Series . "1981 was a difficult year, and I d on' t really know why . I was just as d ed icated but just wasn 't ready to battl e the bike. We were going ba ck a nd fo r th wi th wa ter-cooled a nd air-cooled engines an d co ns ta n tly tryin g to reinvent -th e whee l. I d id n' t win a National or su percross during the regular season, an d my b e st resu lt th at yea r was a t th e Buc ha nan (Michigan) Tra ns -U.SA race, where I w ent 2-2 to w in the overa ll. I liked riding the Trans-USA, becau se the series was n' t that lon g an d it was a lways coo l t o ra ce th e Euro pea ns. Andre Malh e rbe was so fast a nd I always enjoyed racing against him:' Determined to ro ll his Yama ha back in to th e N ati on al Champ ions hip wi nner's circle, Bell train ed relentlessly for th e 1982 season. How ever, it all w ent w rong a t a CMC Go lden Sta te Win ter Series race in January w hen his gangly legs got the bett er of him - again - and he experienced another knee in ju ry . But, li ke h e a lways d id , Bell p u t h is head d own and got back into fight ing trim, returning to the circu it jus t before th e .Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Su percross in mid-July. As he soon found ou t, - the clapped -out ballya rd still had some magic left in it for the old pro. "I started the seaso n off hurt in 1982. I had to have a knee surgery and missed a lot of races, including a cha nce at the 500cc Nati on al Ch ampionship. I came to the LA Coliseum race that su mmer and felt like I didn't have a chance. I go t a great star t and Barne tt go t taken out in the first tum . Then all tha t was left was Broc Glo ver, and I knew I could beat him, so I p as s ed h im th r ou gh t he w hoo ps . T he n e xt 18 lap s we re t h e lon gest of m y life, bu t it was so easy, and I just co ncen tra ted . It was a cool win for me because it had bee n a long tim e: ' Jus t p rior to the start of the '98 'season, Mik e Bell cou ld h ea r the d ru m ban g slowly on his career. Battered and bruised, the war-weary gladiator was beginning to think ahea d to life ou tside th e sport. How ever , on April 16, Bell pr oved that he still had the "right stuff' wh en he bea t rookie sensa tion, tea mma te Ron Lec h ie n to win t he Da llas Su percross . Bell wasn't fooled by th e result and was keenl y awa re that the cu rta in on his career was about to be d ropped. "I was tired of being inju red," ad mits Bell. "You have to remem ber that back in 1978, I go t hurt righ t away in m y career. And throu gh my career, I en ded up havin g nin e knee su rgeries , and that became reall y fru strating for me. I had the speed , ability and desire and I'd ge t my momentum and - boom! I'd be hurt again. By then I kn ew m y ca reer was winding down. It wa s too bad becau se I was starting to ride rea l well outdoors Today, Mike Bell is a sales representative fo r Oakley. and had a number of great supercross races. 1 won the Dallas Supercross and tha t was my last big wi n. I had a grea t star t there and was racing Ron Lechien for the lead . Ron was so yo ung and was doubling things that I wasn' t even thi nk ing of - I just wo re him down. It was d efinitelya sign that it was time to thin k abou t re tirement. "You know when you wi n, like I did in 1979 and 1980, I knew I was the best guy. I'd look down the line and know 1 co uld bea t everyone there. But lat er - Ward, O' Mara, Lechien - they we re all former mini guys. Man, Lech ien had 'Too Tall 2' w ritten on hi s pan ts my last year," Bell lau ghs. "I always en joyed the 'Too Tall' nickname . It was coo l, and th ere was certa in ly no ge tting arou nd it. I'd always have people saying, 'O h, yo u look too ta ll on the bike. It look s li ke you 're riding an 80, ha, haha.:" On May 29, 1983, on the Ap palachian foo thill-based Moun t Morr is, Pen ns ylva nia, track, Bell's ca reer ca me to a n ab ru pt en d follo wi ng a se rio us crash during practice. "In May of 1983, in p ra ct ice , 1 crashed an d b ro k e m y fe m u r, 'a n d I knew that was it," says Bell. "My doctor was a cool guy, and w hen I went to see hi m, he said, 'You know, yo u should think abo u t d oi n g some th ing else or we' ll be pushing you ou t of he re in a wheelchair: " Now a man witho u t a sport, Bell began the process of starting a new life that didn't require him to live out of a suitcase. Bell tu rn ed to mo untain- bike racing, where h e eventually won the prestigious Mammoth Moun tain Downhill Kamikaze . Then, in January of 1985, the pho ne rang, and it was for Mike. "Jim [an nard a t Oakl ey call ed me a nd as ked, 'Mike, do you wan t to come wo rk with me?' Jim was always su per nice to me," Bell says. "Back when I was racing, he wa n ted to sponsor me, but I remember him once saying : ' I ca n o n ly afford Mark Barnett, Johnny O'Mara and a couple of other you ng guys. We have money, but n o t enoug h to pay you: He needed somebody to go to the races for him to rep resen t his product and 1 remember saying to him, 'Jim, I' ve never had a job!' I was really afraid at first of going to the races and not racing, so I went to the Seattle Supercross and just loved it. I went back to Jim and sai d, 'Sign me up.'" As fate would ha ve it, the rela tio nship en ded up being a mat ch mad e in heaven. "This will be my 14th year at Oakley, and I'm now an ou tside sales representative for the Sou thern California region . 1 love it and it fits my person ality, as I' m still goa l-orie nted . Sales is very competitive, and there's a lot of competition to be successful. What's goo d is that Oakley kee ps me in to everything . I'm now into a nu mber of differen t sports that 1 never wo u ld ha ve been if I didn't work for Oakley . I cou ld n' t as k for a better job. I also work with Jim Hale at AXO and he' s also been grea t to me. What's al so ve ry cool is that Johnny O'Mara now has my former rider-representative job. When I heard that his hat was in the ri ng for th e job , I told Jim we had to have him. Th ey cou ld n' t hav e a bett er guy for that job:' Today, Mi ke Bell resid es where he always ha s - in Sou the rn Californ ia. A happy fat her of two, Bell, wit h his wife, Linda , stays busy keeping track of their athletic and mobil e child re n. "I have a w ife named Linda, a so n nam ed Trevor who is 9 yea rs old, and a daugh ter named Brooke, who is 6," Bell says. "We' re also halfway to number three. Trevor has a Kawasa ki KX60 and Brook e has a Yama ha PW50. Both have a ton of talen t on the ir motorcycles and a lso do a lot of BMX ra cing. A lot of w hat we d o involves w heels . Tr evor also likes basketba ll and soccer, and I support him in whatever he wan ts to do - although if you ask him, he'll tell you t h at h e wan ts to b e a pro fes s ion al motocross racer." Does Bell still love and thin k abo u t the sport of motocross tod ay? "Absol utely. 1 r eally d o love th e sport. Of all I've done, or a ttem p ted to do , motocross is still my spo rt. I love it and it's fun to have a pla ce in its history. I'm prou d of everything I'v e done in th spo rt. "However, I feel the sport's changed in attitude," he says . "The ride rs are dif feren t. They' re high ly skilled bike han dlers, but I don't see the same total d edi catio n of champions suc h as O' Ma ra, Barnett , Sta nto n and Wa rd y - so man of those guys just wo rke d their bu tts off. It was their job and ther e was nothing else . It's more of a lifestyl e now tha n a way of life:' Every generation of motocross fan. has their heroes . For th e kids tha grew up in th e 1970s, Mike Bell wi ll always be remembered as the tall a nd stylish stad ium specia list wh o cou ld also ge t the job done ou tdoors. How ever, if y o u ask Bell ' s yo u ng son, Tre v o r, fo r his opinio n o n wh o h thinks ru les th e roost, yo u' ll ge t a sur p ris ing answ er . "Not too lon g ago ," says Bell, "Oa k ley hosted a basketball game for a num ber of America n mot ocr oss s ta rs an industry people, While we were ther walkin g aro u n d a nd che ck ing thing ou t, my so n Trevor said to me excitedly ' Da d, th at lo ok s like Je ff Emig ov e there: So Jeff wa lks ov er my way, see me, and says, 'Hey, Mike, how ar e you ? Trevor then says to me , 'Oh, wow, yo know Jeff Em ig.' 1 laughed and s ai back to him, 'N'I' Trev - Jeff Emig know me/" 4.

• Cover