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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1365688
CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE T he nickname of "Michigan Mafia" is best known as referring to the large group of AMA Grand National dirt trackers who came out of the Flint area, starting with Bart Markel and continuing on with rid- ers such as Jay Springsteen, Scott Parker, Rex Beauchamp, Corky Keener and, more recently, Bryan Smith and Nick Cummings. And Mike Hartwig was well on his way to becoming a part of that group of Flint-area dirt trackers. Hartwig was from Hadley, Michi- gan, just east of Flint, and he was doing well in flat-track races of the area. The godfather, Markel, even rode with Hartwig a few times when Mike was just coming up through the ranks, and Markel's mechanic, Ed Warren, would later become Hartwig's mechanic when he turned pro. But by the early 1970s, Hartwig was showing equal, if not more, ability in the burgeoning sport of motocross. The young rider was at a crossroads. By 1973, things had come to a head. Hartwig won the novice pro short-track races at Daytona in 1973, but he'd also scored a fourth in what was then called the Daytona Moto-Cross, the predecessor of the Daytona Supercross. By May of 1973, Hartwig's deci- sion to go moto was confirmed as a good one when he earned his first AMA National Motocross victory in the 500cc class in Opelousas, P122 "It was the biggest international race I was ever a part of," Hart recalled. "Bengt Aberg had broken his arm, and Husky gave me a prototype 360 to use. The configu- ration of the bike was completely different from what I was used to. I blew a shock out in the first moto. In the second moto, I broke a rear wheel. I had to finish for our team to be counted in the points, so I stopped so they could change my bike's rear wheel. It paid off, because we finished fourth in spite of all the problems." Louisiana, over Peter Lamppu and Pierre Karsmakers. Four other top- five finishes that year gave Hartwig a National ranking of eighth in the final standings of the AMA 500cc Motocross Championship. When his bikes kept running, Hartwig was usually near the front. Hartwig was chosen to join Jim Pomeroy, John DeSoto and Brad Lackey on the 1973 Motocross des Nations team. Lackey didn't show due to contract issues, but the short three-rider team still managed a solid result. "It was the biggest international Louisiana, over Peter Lamppu and Mike Hartwig: Don of the Michigan MX Mafia Mike Hartwig's short professional motocross career might have been a lot longer had he not asked to be let out of his factory Yamaha contract midseason in 1974.