CN
III ARCHIVES
BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU
T
here aren't a whole lot of leg-
ends and mysteries surround-
ing the career of former factory
motocross racer Billy Grossi,
unless you count his nickname,
"Sugar Bear," a rather unusual
moniker for someone involved in
the tough-guy world that was the
70s motocross scene. There's
certainly no mystery as to how
Grossi got involved in the sport.
"My brother, Bob, who's six
years older than me, used to race
in Northern California with Brad
[Lackey] and everybody," Grossi
says. "My dad also was involved in
racing, so it was just kind of in the
family. I had no choice but to race."
Cutting his teeth at places such
P102
BILLY GROSSI: ODE TO
SUGAR BEAR
knew it, I had a mechanic. I started
pulling off some pretty good motos.
I got second behind Gary Jones a
couple of times in some Nationals."
It all came together.
But after having a solid year with
Kawasaki, Grossi was unexpect-
edly sent packing after the com-
pany elected to retain only Jimmy
Weinert for the 1974 season. Grossi
found a home at Honda, along with
a slew of other young lions.
"That's when they had [Rex]
Staten, and me, and [Marty]
Smith, and [Bruce] McDougal, and
[Chuck] Bower and Tommy Croft. It
was a big, young team. They made
us work out together, play basket-
ball together. It was fun."
Grossi began his year with
Honda in a big way, winning the
AMA 250cc National MX opener at
as Hangtown, White Rock
[Sacramento], Watsonville,
Placerville and Carnegie,
Grossi raced for the fun of
it, never really thinking that
it could someday earn him
a living.
"I just kind of grew into it,"
he says. "When I turned 16, I went
on the road with my brother. I had a
sponsorship through a local dealer,
and Husky helped me out a little bit.
I hit the road and just went for it."
Grossi's desire to pin
it, win it, or die trying,
eventually got the atten-
tion of the manufactur-
ers. He landed his first
real factory ride with
Kawasaki in 1973.
"It wasn't like a factory
ride nowadays," Grossi
says. "I had bikes and
parts. At the first of the
year I was actually driving
a truck for them, and
then it got so that the bet-
ter I did—winning some of
the motos in the support
classes—[that] before I
(Right) Billy Grossi, aka "Sugar
Bear," was major fixture in the
motocross scene in the 1970s.
(Below) Grossi came close
to winning the 500cc MX
Championship in 1975 while a
factory Suzuki rider.
