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/128644
TIME REMEMBEREID Fonne,. National and Supel'Cl"Oss Champion Bl"Oc Glove,. Even at just 14 years of age, Broc Glover knew something was up. While visiting a friend's house, Glover happened to peek into his friend's clothes dryer and couldn't believe what he saw: wad s and wads of cash tumbling with a load of blue jeans. B Y E RIC J O HNSO N he ye ar was 19 74 , and Broc Glover w as j ust another local motocross teenager from San Diego. Times w ere t o ug h, though . Gl o ver's p ar ents were rec entl y di vorce d and money was scarc e, but when Glov er met "J ack" things would start looking up . J ack was a somewhat eccentric but big -hearted, midd le -aged ma n who ow ned the clothes dryer with all of th e m oney in it. Jack wa s not a big fan of motocross, but he enjoyed rid ing his new, state-ofthe -art Honda Elsinore in the loca l hills. After being convinced to let Glover race his Honda 125cc El si - T 42 JANUARY 3. 2001 • cue • e n e vv With tuner Jim Felt loo king on, Broc Glover shows his number for the following year soon after winning the '7 7 125cc National Moto cross crown. Until T ra vis Pastrana's title this year, Glover was the youngest rider to win a National Championship. nore in a few lo cal m otocr osse s, Jack bega n sup po rting Broc's racing endeav or s. Strangely enough, Glov er was not desti ned to be a motocross star. If not for a few fortuitous incidents (not to o mention a few ben ev ol ent friends) , he very well co uld hav e ended up pl aying sh ortstop for the San Diego Padres or corne rbac k fo r th e San Diego Chargers, but he instead turn ed out to be a m otocross star. s "I played a lot of baseball and football while growing up ," says Glover, who now lives in Del Mar, Cal ifornia. "I wanted to be a professional baseball pl ayer and went to all the dev elopmental c am ps. I wasn 't reall y into dirt bikes th at mu ch . My dad wa s m echan ic all y incl ined and owned a heatin g and air condit ion ing bu siness. He had a co uple of gu ys wo rk ing for him th at rod e dirt bikes. One guy had a Sachs 80 , and the ot her guy had a Husq var na. My dad had also gone to high school in Or egon with a guy nam ed Don Gra ves, who worked in management for Kawasak i. So combining all that together, it spu rned my father's interest in d irt bikes. Don happened to get a few K aw asak i s for us - b ik es which were similar to today's dual-sport bikes - for my two older brothers and me. We used to go to th e desert frequently , and we also rode where we lived in EI Caj on because we could literally ride from our front yard . Right around that time, we went to watch a race at Dehesa Raceway . Ed ison Dye was involved with th e even t , and ma ny European stars , such as Joel Robert, Bengt Aberg and Amie Kring, were there competing [Note : Dye is cred ited with bringi ng motocross to America ] . Not lo ng after watching that race , On Any Sunday came out and any k id w ho watched th at movie at the time was really influenced by it. After watching th at race and movie, I thoug ht motocross was the coolest sport I had ever seen ." A l th ou g h Glove r h a d fa r -off dreams of racing motocross, he was still very involved in h is baseball, which, in a ro undabout way , steered him toward the sport th at wo uld m ak e him fam ous . "My ol der broth er Marc began racin g aro und 1972 or '73. He worke d his way through th e novice and intermediate classes and was pr ett y close to becomi ng a loc al ex pert. Becau se of the d iv orc e, my broth er had to pu t motocross o n the bac k burn er and qui t racing . Ju st before the divorce was finalized , my father , brother and I went to a local race. My broth er was raci ng in the mom ing amateur/expert program . At the race, an employee o f m y parents' compa ny was there wa tch ing with his son, who had a Yamaha MXl00 with him. Weari ng bo rrowe d gear and boots two sizes too small, I sign ed up to race in t he afternoon novice program , a nd th is w as unbeknownst to my mom. who would not have wanted her 13-year-old baby boy racin g loud and dange rous dirt bik es. Through the gra pevine at my parents' work , it didn't take long for m y m om to find out about my secret racing endeavors. Because of m y deceit, as I recall , m y mother halted my one- race career for ano ther five o r six m on th s. Lucky fo r m e, I st ill ha d m y Kawasak i 100 Gre en Streak [th e bike is officiall y called a G3 1M Cen turian] , and I now rod e with m ore enthusiasm th an ever. " Det erm ined to fi nd a permanent way into motocross, Glov er kept hounding h is mothe r until , finally , she relented and let her son c om pe te. "There was a track near us called South Bay Speedway. It was down by the Mexican border. Th e track was an old dirt oval, whi ch ran night m otocross in the infield . Some how I managed to convince my mom to let me race there and I did very well right off the bat . Next thi ng I knew I was leading the po ints in the l00cc Novice class . UnfortunateIy , the series ran into baseb all season and , at one poi nt, one of m y motocross races conflict ed with a baseball prac-