FACE MASK
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 20 MAY 17, 2022 P121
had known only motocross for so
long, employers thought he did
not have other skills, so when his
racing days were over, my father
went to work as a security guard
at the Smer Toy factory. You can
certainly imagine how great a
change this was for him. He had
traveled the world, competing
against the best riders. His name
and photos were in all of the
motorcycle magazines. Crowds
cheered for Jaroslav Falta, beau-
tiful trophy girls gave him kisses
and champagne. And then one
day, it was all over, and he was
working the graveyard shift at a
factory where they made plastic
toys. It was a sudden and huge
difference in lifestyle, routine and
life purpose. My father would
experience depression and
some hard times over the next
10 years. Somehow, he was still
able to provide a comfortable life
for all of us.
But I can tell you that the
events of 1974 hurt him deeply.
The story has been told many
times; what the Russian (at that
time Soviet Union) motocross
team could not do on the track,
they succeeded in doing off it.
Jaroslav Falta may have been the
fastest motocross racer in the
world in 1974 and that is some-
thing I say not because I am
biased toward my father. He de-
feated the best American riders
on their own soil that year. In the
Super Bowl, he beat all of them
again—and Roger DeCoster, too.
It should be noted that event was
his first (and only) attempt to ride
stadium motocross. There are
photos of him, beaming on the
victory podium in Los Angeles;
there is nothing in this world
more beautiful than a genuine
smile on a humble man's face.
Sadly, it would be just a few
weeks later in Wohlen, Swit-
zerland where my father would
experience both the best and
worst days of his motocross
career. On that day, he won the
250cc World Championship
on the racetrack, only to lose it
to a bullying Russian team and
backstage FIM politics. His only
chance to reclaim what was
rightfully his would come later
at the FIM conference when
the Wohlen issue was debated.
Sadly, his own countrymen failed
him that day, as well.
My father was heartbroken. He
had won it, fair and square, but
was ordered by our government
not to talk about it. It was no idle
threat; they had the power to
keep him from ever racing again,
so he had to make up stories
about what happened. It was
easiest to simply change the
subject every time the incident at
Wohlen would come up.
In 1975, Dad was determined
to win that championship. He
was victorious at the Austrian
Grand Prix early in the season
and was contending for the title
when he became very ill with a
blood disorder. It very nearly took
his life. My father was a strong
man and while he defeated the
disease, he would miss the rest
of that season. He would return
to racing and would win again but
by the late 1970s, CZ motorcy-
Falta was a hero in his native Czechoslovakia.
