Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

3D YEARS AGO•• _ t' s a shame to think that the majority of young American motoc ross racers probably don't know who Edison Dye is. Go to any track and tell the local fast guy that he owes his favorite sport to a man named Edison, and you're likely to get a quizzical glance as he wo nde rs what motocross has t o do wi th the guy w ho invented the light bulb. Even so, there is a parallel t hat co uld be drawn from the stories of Dye and Thomas Edison, in that both brought their respective worlds out of the dark ages . Prior to 1966, the American motorcycle racing scene was dominated by the big. inch four stoke tw ins from Harley-Davidson and the invading British marques, such as Triumph , BSA and Matchless . The rea l professio nals raced nat track and road races for the AMA Gra nd National Champio nship, wh ile hundreds of others got their kicks racing in the desert, in enduros and in "Euro pean-style scrambles, " which bore litt le resemblance to what was actually happe ning across the pond . Th e entrepreneurial Dye had established a solid business in Europe, cond ucting motorcycle tours aboard BMWs for wealthy Americans. His success afforded him the leisure time to catch a few of the motocross Grands Prix, with whic h he immediately fell in love. Dye marveled at the abilities of early motocross heroes, such as Paul Frederichs, Bengt Aberg, Roger DeCo ster, Torsten Hallman and Joel Robert. He was also impressed with their equipment, which was based around very lightweight , two-stroke singles limited to SOOcc and 250cc in the World Championship-calibe r classes that bore their respective names, especially the Swedish -bu ilt Husqvarna brand that Hallman had ridden successfully. Aftermarket parts supplier and Dye aficionado Tom White picks up the story. "H usqvarna had not been to America, and Edison smelled a tremendous business opportunity, so he approached Husqvarna about selling him some motorcycles, " White says. "H usqvarna wasn't completely sold on the idea, but they didn't have anything else going in America, so they agreed to sell some bikes to him with the agreement that if he was successful, then he would become the American importer for I 04 It. N I It. RV ? R ?()()A rvrl r: Ed is o n Dye v isit s t he Hu s ky facto ry in 196 8 a nd s hows oH th e Sportsma n m o d e l he h a d the Swed ish company b u ild. the Americans were already starting to take a liking to motocross. The Inter-Am Series was born, and motocross caught on like wildfire . 'The word was getting out," Wh ite says. 'That first year, Edison so ld 100 Husqvarnas. In 1967 , he sold 300 ." The Inter-Am grew in success until 197 1, w hen , according to White, the AMA deci ded tha t this mo toc ross th ing was getting pretty big, and the sanctioning body more or less went around to the various Inte r-Am track owners and stole them away fro m Dye. Even more unfortunately, the relationship between Dye and the AMA would really take a turn for the worse in 1974, when Dye backed out of his promotion of an AMA race in St. Lo uis on the day of the race, earning him a permanent ba n from AMA-sanctioned motoc ross . With that, the man responsible fo r the American motocross movement went into seclu sion for nearly 2S years. It wasn 't until 1999 that the legend of Edison Dye was rediscove red by White. "It really wasn't me." White says. "The inspiratio n came when Rick Doughty put togeth e r that first Vintage Iron World Ch am pionships, and he had that champio ns' dinner the night before. Rick d id such a great job of bringing all the legendary names together for tha t night. And when it was [Swedish motocrosser] Lars Larsson's turn at the podium , he to ld the story of how he and Be ngt Abe rg went and found Edison at his ho use in San Diego, and what a tearful, happy reuni on it was . I was looking for someone to honor at ou r upcoming White Broth e rs World Vet Championsh ips, and the light bulb just went on : 'W hy not Edison?' Fortunately, I was able to contact him." them. At first, he only bought two bikes ." Dye brought the machi nes to Southern Californ ia, where he immediately sought the audience of a you ng man dest ined to become an o ff-road legend - Malcolm Smith . A service man at K&N Motorcycles in Riverside, Smith was already no stranger to the advantages of the lightweight twostroke design, and he had a deal to ride Brit ish-built Greeves motorcycles in the desert. " Ediso n literally we nt and knocked on the garage door of K&N Motorcycles, loo king for Malcolm," W hite relates. "He told Malcolm, 'I have a motorcycle that I would like you to try out and te ll me what Malcol m Smi th prese nts Dye you thin k.' Malco lm was with th e Mo tocros s Lif etim e Ach ievement Aw a rd. Roger pretty muc h unfazed , and DeC o ste r looks on. he said, 'We ll, I have to tell yo u, I already ride Greeves motorcycles, and they are very sturdy.' But Ed iso n persisted , a nd he t old Malcolm tha t if he would try the Husqvarna and he liked it, then Dye would se nd him to the Int e rnatio nal Six Day Trials [ISDT] . Of course, that got Malcolm's attention." Smith did try out the Husqvarna, and the rest, as they say, is hisFro m that point forward , White instituttory - at least as far as his off-road legend is ed the Edison Dye Lifetime Achievement concerned . But Dye 's true love was Award to honor significant contributions to motocross, and so it was that in the fall of t he sport. Past honorees include DeCoster, 1966 he brought over none other than forRick Jo hnso n, Dye , Hallman and On Any mer 2s0cc World Motocross Champion Sunday filmmaker Bruce Brown . Hallman to race the Americans in a show" No single person has ever been more case motocross series, promoted by Dye. respo nsible fo r the growth of a single "Torsten helped with the course laymotorsport in t his country," White says. ou ts," White says. "The first one was held "He was the one who made it so that you in Pepperell, Massachusetts. When the could go into a dealers hip and buy a raceseries was over, Torsten had beaten the ready bike . Ask Roger DeCo st e r or Americans in 21 straigh t rnotos.' Malco lm Smith or anyone, and they'll tell For '67, Dye was even more ambitious, you that what Edison Dye did for bringing ove r most of the top Europeans, motocross was unbelievable." including Hallman , reigning 500cc champ Dye is still alive in 2004 , spending his Aberg, reigning 2s0cc titleholder Robert, days in a nursing facility in Lemon Grove, DeCoster and more. Needless to say, the Europeans were once again dominant , but Californ ia. eN Alr:IAIC January 29, 1974 Our test rider popp ed a wheelie on the new 1974 Yamaha yz 125 for the cover of Issue # 3. We reckoned that the new yz was just a "breathed-on" MXI25 with a pretty tank and paint, but it was a competitive MXer - and for just $819... The Pro Bowl of motocross , held at Orange Cou nty Inte rnational Raceway, hosted its seco nd week of racing with such names as DeSoto, Payne, Pessey, McDougal, Staten and more on the bill. At the end of the night, it was Bru ce McDougal winning the 250cc class, while Dave Pessey won the 125s and Billy Payne the s O event ... Baymare hosted Occ an AMA Trans-Am Qualifier in muddy conditions, and Ron Self (Mai) took the win in the 250cc class over Gary Jones (C-A), who finished second on a 12s! ~~~0l.I.;J ... 1 ~ 20 YEARS AGO. •• February I, 1984 A slew of motocrossers raced across the cover of Issue #3 , including Johnny O'Mara (21 ) and Goat Breker ( I), in honor of the Golden State and WinterAMA warm -up MX events. Jeff Wa rd (Kaw)easily topped the I25cc Pro class at the Huron Golden State event , and Breke r did likewise in the sOO class. cc The 2s 0cc event was all O'Mara, over Rick Johnson (Yam) and David Bailey (Hon). In Florida Winter-AMA, Ke nn y Keylon (Yam) won the 250 and SOOcc Pro classes, while the 12scc event we nt to Tom Rice (Kaw)... We interviewed drag racer Elmer Trett, who became the first rider ever to break the 200-mph barrier at a sanctioned event, going 201.34 mph on the Indianapolis Raceway Park quarter-mile. ~.:J .. ~I ID YEARS AGO••. January 2G, 1994 fll\ITlI"'I ~ Team Honda's Jere my McGra th won the Orlando Supercros s, round one of the Camel Supercross Series, and for that he was placed on the cover of Issue #3. It was the first time McGrath wore the number-one plate, and it didn't seem to slow him down . Mike laRocco (Ka w), who'd won the Orlando Supercross tw ice, came in second, while Jeff Stant o n (Hon) rode strong for third. Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk topped the 12scc main over Jim my Button (Suz) and Tim Fe rry (Hon)... Team Honda announced a new motocross/supercross sponsor at the opener in I-BOO-CO LLECT. All of the riders were prominently sporting the collect-callingnumbe r on their clothes... Rya n Hughes (Kaw)won three out of four motes to top the 125 and 2s0cc Pro classes at Perris Raceway .

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