Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ti ce. I went to the coach well in adv ance and told him about it and he, m ore or less, told m e I needed to decide be tween baseb all and motocross . I didn 't think it was going to be a problem , but I showed up for a game we had a few day s later and the coach said to me, 'We talk ed about it as a team and deci ded tha t since yo u missed practice to race, you can't be in th e sta ring lineup .' For the first time in my life , I watched the first pitch from the bench. I had never sat out a game - Pop Warner, Little Leag ue , anything . Thi s was an impac t ing m oment. so when for ced to ma k e t he decisio n , motocross got the nod . I reaso ne d that it was an individual sport , and that UJ :I: >I d idn 't ne ed t o re ly on u, o a ny t e amm at es - so I an d after the rac e, I co uld . Th at Saturday , I we nt to Jack 's house and prepped t he bike int o showroom co ndition. Wh en I was done, he got on it and st art ed riding it aro und in th e hills and g etting it all dust y. When he retu rn ed , I said , ' Wha t are yo u doing?' He was a real prankster, and tho ught that wa s th e funni est th ing in the world . I would fin d out later th at Jack had a record , and wa s c urren tl y supplemen ting his ~ w th ough t. li= " I even tuall y po in ted out of th e entry- leve l o b 10 0 c c No v ice c lass. :I: a. Th ey moved m e int o the 12 5cc c l as s. T ha t wa s m y on ly cho ice , an d sin ce I had no fin an c ial re sou rces to bu y a new mo t or c y cl e , I bega n my 19 70 r ac i ng Ka wa s a k i 100 i n the 12 5 c c c l as s a gai ns t Honda Elsin ore 125s , Yamaha YZs and Suzu k i T M s . That was like going to a gu nfight with a wa ter pisto l. I rode m y butt off o n tha t bik e and d id qu i t e wel l. I fr e que ntly troph ied in that class ." G lo ver c o n t i n ued to m a k e so me t h in g of a nam e for himself loc ally but, j ust like today , ge tting to th e next level in motocross co uld take a su b st an t i a l am ount o f fi na nc ia l an d logi sti cal supp ort. W ith b oth of his pa rents attending to th e i r o w n bu s in es s affa irs, Gl o v er 's ra c ing en de avors w er e pret ty mu ch a h i t - and -mi s s a f fai r , d on e m or e f or recr eat ion th an an yth ing leadi ng toward a profes s i on a l c ar ee r. T h i s i s about the t im e J ack an d his Honda Elsin or e entered the pic t ur e. " O n e da y I saw m y broth er M arc - wh o wa s 18 ye ar s o ld and on his own at the ti m e - rid ing o ut in t he t rails w ith a brand- new 125cc E lsino re. I rode up to him and sa id . 'W hose bike is that ?!' I was shocked to see him o n one because there was such a big wai ti ng li st at t ha t time for th ose bikes. I said to him, 'I know yo u do n't have any m oney , what are you doing on it?' He said to m e, 'So me guy named J ack let m e ride it and he 's go ing to let m e race it this we ekend.' T her e w as an A M A D istri ct 38 race com ing up in T ec at e , Mexic o . I th ought about it for a min ute, and in m y 14 yea r -old nai vet e, sa id to m y br oth er, 'I wo nder if he wo uld let m e race it in t he Novic e race, after yo u' ve fin ished rac ing in t he m orn ing .' So we went over to see th is g uy, Ja c k , who lived in an area of EI Caj o n we c all ed H ippy Ho ll ow . I asked h im if I c ould race hi s m ot or c ycle, and he told m e th at if I cl ean ed it befor e § Number J18: With a new DGIYamaha d eal freshly signed, but still without a team bike, Glover rolled out his personal Honda Els inore 125 and beat many top ri de rs at this 1975 Saddleback Park CMC race. Fo llowing the competi tion, the decision was made to keep Glov er on Honda s. income by selling am phetamines to tr uck drivers. Bu t he w as reall y a good guy with a great hea rt. In a peculiar way, he was very protective of me , an d if he would have ever c aught m e drinking or doi ng drugs, he wo uld have killed me. " So we go to this race in Tecate and m y br other did n' t do well. In m y class , I ended up d ici ng w ith th e current hots hot in th e cl ass. I was 14 and he was 24 and h e j u st b a r el y b eat m e. J ac k w as so sto ked watch ing me rac e his bike on the track that he said to me , 'If you k eep maintain ing th e bike and stay out of any trouble, yo u ca n keep raci ng m y bik e.' c "T he next ra ce we went to wa s in Poway and I won it. J ack spo nso red m e for the next ye ar and a half. At one point in 1974, we drove all the way to T win Fall s, Idah o , for th e Evel K nievel m ot ocross tha t ran in con jun c ti on with h is ill -fa ted Sn ak e Riv er j u m p . Jack really h el p ed me bec a use , at the t im e , I h ad n o money an d ha d no t seen much of m y dad in al most two yea rs . Jack later hel ped a g uy named Ron T urner who was the loca l Pro . Jack wo uld t ake Ron and me u p t o S a dd l eb a c k to race aga inst t he local Sou thern Cali fo rn ia hotshots." Ra ci n g had now begun to ge t co stly for J a ck. W ith Ja c k ' s Elsinore, Gl o v er ra c ed wh e r ev e r and whene v er he co uld. W he n e v e r so m eth i n g b r o k e or a s pa re p a r t wa s n eed ed , J ack was th er e w ith hi s w all et i n hand to mak e it hap pen . A s far as Glover w as c onc erne d , he was racing and ne ve r qu est ioned wh er e the money was coming from - that w as unt i l Br o c lo oked i n t o J ack 's clot hes dryer that afternoon . "I still rem ember how nai ve I was then ," reflects Glov er with a laugh. "I recall seeing some little white p ills hidden in a lampshade in Jack's hou se. I also re member a fr equ ent visito r , wh o I simply knew as ' K enn y fro m Wash ington .' He wa s at J ack 's house one afternoon an d I not iced h e was doing so me la undr y . Som eh o w I no tice d th at , whil e h e was do ing th e la u ndry , the r e we re all these $20 bill s m ixed in with the blu e jeans. It w as ne w co un t erfeit mon ey a nd he w as trying t o mak e it l oo k u sed . O n e d a y Ja ck's ste p son went out to buy so me p art s a t L em on Grove Honda. Th e sho p took notice of t he ba d bills and br ou ght it to the atten t i on o f th e proper authorit ies. Dick Lechien [Ron Lechi en ' s f ath er] w a s p art owner of th e sho p . This was a sho p that my fa t he r still fr e q uented, stemmi ng back from his fr iendship develo ped duri ng m y older br other's raci ng days. D ick made a po int of inform ing m y fa t her that t he g en t lema n who was spo nsoring Broc 's raci ng had pa ssed them some bad m oney. Knowing of m y broth er 's prior rela tionsh ip with J ack , m y fath er quizzed him about the sit uat ion . Du ring th is co nv ersation, m y brothe r ask ed, 'By the way, have yo u seen Broc ride lately? If yo u aren't doing any thi ng some da y, you m ight want to go and watch him race .''' It was n 't long after that t hat the feds caught up to J ack and his fu nny money. ':50 out of the b lue one day I get a call fro m m y dad . Having on ly seen him a co up le of t im es that year, I was tak en aback when he said to me, 'A re yo u going t o race t his weekend?' I told him yes, so m y dad shows up at my race at Sad d leb ack , and th e bik e I wa s racin g tha t da y wa s all beat u p bec au se I had been racin g it ev er y sing le week en d fo r m ore th an a y ear. It also d idn 't help th at Ron [Tu rn er] had been tak ing parts off it while I as at sch oo l d urin g t he da y and rep la cing them w it h t he ue I e n e vv S • JANUARY 3 , 2 0 01 43

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