VOLUME ISSUE DECEMBER , P113
Orleans, Louisiana.
Truth might not always be
stranger than fiction, but the
story of the 1976 battle for the
AMA's 500cc National Champi
-
onship was as good as it gets.
In this novella, it is Semics and
Kawasaki, versus Howerton and
Husqvarna and any imaginative
writer pens this thrilling conclu-
sion: it is Semics who wins the
battle, exacting revenge on his old
team for wrongly firing him. On
the final page, as the new champ
pops the champagne, his former
mechanic rages and spears his
17mm wrench into a giant berm.
Motocross racing, however,
isn't a Hallmark movie. "I was
really nervous," recalled Semics,
"and I couldn't concentrate.
Kent came by and passed me. I
stayed right with him but couldn't
get around him."
Semics would come back
strong to win the second moto.
He would also win the overall on
the day, but the points that How
-
erton earned over Semics in the
first moto proved to be enough
to secure the title.
After the race, Semics was
visiting with Crippa, who revealed
to him that Howerton's Husky
was barely able to even finish
the moto. The countershaft on
his motorcycle had split like a
burnt hot dog and the thin circlip
holding the sprocket in place
lay somewhere in the red dirt of
the New Orleans racetrack. How
many more bumps, upshifts or
downshifts would it have taken
for the sprocket to jump off that
shaft entirely, sidelining How-
erton, who would then watch for-
lornly as Semics roosted away to
win the National Championship?
"It [the title] wasn't important
to me because of what had hap-
pened with Husky," Semics says.
"I just wanted a championship."
Even though Gary's win that day
would be his last major victory in
AMA racing, he would go on to
race for many more years, remain-
ing a threat to win on any given
day and on any brand of motor-
cycle. Riding for Team Can-Am,
Semics led and nearly won the
1978 Superbowl of Motocross.
In 1979, he finished third in the
500cc class on a Honda. He would
later ride for Team LOP on Yama-
has, have a go on his own private
Suzuki, take another stint with
Honda in the Grand Prix wars and
earn a final factory ride with Team
Maico, that was on the verge of
bankruptcy at the same time. Mai
-
co had pitched a promising deal
for Semics and buddy Billy Grossi,
bringing both riders to Europe in
1983. But the dream blew up when
the factory shut down. Fragile
race bikes, promised money that
never showed made for a deal that
wasn't worth a pint of sauerkraut,
and both riders packed up and
headed for home.
Semics' never lost his love for
the sport and he continued his
involvement, racing and quali
-
fying for the Steel City 500cc
National in 1990, nearly 20 years
after his first AMA race. Along
with coaching Jeremy McGrath
and holding his MX schools, he
produced a series of MX training
videos. A great rider whose tree
has branched out to influence
many champions—made pos
-
sible by a gift of identity theft!
Many thanks, Dale Burton.
CN
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(Left) Semics
might never have
won a major AMA
MX title, but he
could win on any
given day and did
so quite often.
(Right) Do you
remember who
Jeremy McGrath's
trainer was? Yes,
Gary Semics.
