speedway racer who is still rac-
ing after 49 years on the circuit.
Ron Pierce started out racing
flat track and later became a
factory-backed road racer with
Yamaha in 1969. In 1979 he led
a Yoshimura Suzuki 1-2-3 sweep
in the 100-mile Superbike race
at Daytona, and then finished
second in the Daytona 200 the
following day.
Ed Scheidler was recognized
for his days as a factory race
tuner for Yamaha motocross
stars Tim Hart, Pierre Kars
-
makers, Broc Glover and many
others. Yamaha later made him
Supervisor of Racing, helping to
develop the company's YZ mo
-
tocross line and most famously,
the first YZ-F four-stroke. He
retired in 2002 after 30 years
with the company.
The evening's grand finale
was Brad Lackey given the Dick
Hammer Award, the 'Blazer's
most prestigious award which is
chosen by its board members.
The award embolizes the "Drive,
Determination and Desire" to
win, like Dick Hammer did. Lack
-
ey decided in the early '70s that
he wanted to be World Moto-
cross Champion in the premier
class. He finally accomplished
that goal a decade later when he
won the 1982 500cc Motocross
World Championship, which
was also a first for an Ameri
-
can. Along the way, he rode for
several different factory teams,
including CZ, Husqvarna, Kawa
-
saki, Honda and finally Suzuki,
on which he won the title. He
retired from professional racing
after winning the title. Though
he did race one time in 1983
at the Carlsbad U.S. GP, just so
he could wear the number-one
plate at least once. He rode a
nearly stock Yamaha YZ490 to
two top-five moto finishes.
Lackey, the award's first mo-
tocross recipient in its 23-year
history, accepted the special
perpetual trophy while several
members of his family, including
his wife Lori, looked on.
Mitch Friedman
VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P41
Many motorcycle fans gathered at the
Carson Center near Los Angeles to
attend the 78th Trailblazer's Banquet.
