Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Big-Block Broc Wi$tlr,5jill.it",:!'"rt "l enioyed the 500s, there's no doubt about it," Glovec now 45, says. "lt was a fun class to ride." Yeah, fun. Like playing with matches while standing in a pool of gasoline would be fun, Like being tied to a rodeo bull for 45 minutes - twice a day - would be fun- Like uying to catch a 500-pound safe that was drqpped out a seventh-floor window would be fun. Like being towed behind a Top Fuel dragster while wearing roller blades would be fun. You get the picture. Perhaps the most violent machines of any era in motocross, the factory 500s ofthe late'70s and the'80s, we.e not so much ridden as they were guided around a motocross track. They packed diabolical horsepower; they represented the pinnacle of two-stroke might at a time when the class was still considered to be the pinna- cle of the spon, and they commanded the undivided attention of those who dared to master them. Of the few who did, Glover is perhaps the best of the best. He is the onl), rider in histor/ ever to win three AMA 500cc National Motocross Championship titles. "You could get away with murder on a 125," Glover, who won three straight Al'4A l25cc National Motocross Championship crowns for Team Yamaha in 1976,'77 and '79, says. "The 500s were bikes that you had to ride with utmost respect because if you did something dumb on them or made a mistake, it would cost you, lt would result in a pretty big ciash whereas with a 125, ifyou did the same thing, you would usually be able to save it. Any of the motorcycles today are l0 times more forgiying than a S00." And as if riding a works 500 wasn't enough, Gloyer's stint aboard the machines came at a time when both Honda and Kawasaki were seriously starting to ramp up the technology of their 500s, Vvhile Glover's works Yamahas were on par with the competition when he won his first 500 title in l98l and again 1983, almost nobody would argue that he was at a distinct perform- ance disadvantage to the trick Honda RC50Os ridden by rival David Bailey in 1984 and'85. "Naw that f2490 | had was every bit as good as that tuctory Honda 500 - probably better;" Glover jokes. "Yeah, right. To say the least, there was a possible disad\,antage there when Yamaha chose to ride production bikes before the production rule came into effect. The last couple of years that I rode the 500s, we were on [production-based] YZs while the other guys were oo full-factory 500s. I think the 500 title I won in '85 a8ainst David Bailey was one of the more diflicult titles to win, and it was certainly very rewarding because we were clearly at a disadvan- tage with our machinery at that point-" Glover remembers that his 500s were often as tem- peramental as they were fast. "Stuff always happened on those things," Glover says, "l broke a shock at Binghamton in '83, and actually two things happened in that moto," Glover says. "Our work bike did have a power valve that year, but it didn't work very well. When the power valve would shut, the bike would get more compression and would detonate really badly- About haliaray through the season, my mechanic, Jon R., figured out that if we opened the power valve up all the way it wouldn't detonate when the throttle was off, and it would carburet better. So he iust put a brack- et in there to hold the power valve wide open." Naturally. it made Glover's bi8-bore Brahma even more rideable, right? "Oh, of cource," Glover hams again, "but that was what my throftle hand was for. I remember that at Binghamton the bracket he made for the power valve broke, and the power valve slammed closed and left me with an exhaust-port height that was adequate for a trail bike. I had a big lead, and I was riding the thing wide open because it was making about 20 horsepower, and then the shock broke. I was riding a very mild motor with a very bouncy shock, and I was still able to hold on to the win. Those are the mces that you can laugh about after the race but not during the race." Glover sap that the 500cc races that really stand out in his mind - more than the 500 Nationals - were the U.S. GPs at Carlsbad, arguably the 500 race to win on the Arnerican racing schedule each year- "l should have won it about three or four times, but I ended up winning it in '84 when David Bailey was prob-. ably a little bit faster," Glover recalls. "He should have won it that day- Then we turn around the following year, and I was more on top of my game but ended up having a couple of screw-ups, and ended up losing the race to David." Glover's memory is pretty accurate. ln fact, Bailey might have won in '84, but a broken rear wheel in moto two spoiled his chances, Glover was the fast qualifier in '85, but the crash- es in both motos and a subsequent DQ in moto two for allegedly riding backward on the track to restart his motorcycle, conspired to rob him ofa second U.S. GP win. "That's why they run the races, I guess," Glover adds. An equaily odd Glover-5o0 memory is the fact that after he did win his first 500cc title in 1981, Yanuha opted not to put him back on a big bike for'82. "They put Mike Bell on the 500 in '82, ard to this day I'm kind of dumblounded by that," Glowr says. "They put Bell on the 500, and Rick lohnson and mysell in the 250 class- I didn't get to defend my championship in tfie 500 class. I won it in '81, and then went back in '83 and won it again, so there's kind of a weird void there." Eren so, the "Golden Boy" does have one golden memory of his stint as a 500cc ridel and h comes from his first year in the class in 1981. "The head guy who was designing that 500cc bike - and who now is the head of Yamaha Racirg in lapan - I remember him being very very concerned that I \Mas iumping right from the l25cc class to the soocc class," Glover recalls. "During preseason testing I was just kind of getting used to them and setting up my suspension, and I wasn't concerned about how fast I was going on test days. I iust wanted to make sure that the engine and everythinS was working to my likint, Mike Bell was my teammate at the time, and he was going two or three seconds a lap faster than I was. I remember over a week or two period of time, the Japanese engineer kept asking me, 'Are you sure you should ride 500cc bike? Are you sure? Are ylu sure?' Then w6 went to the first two races, and I ended up winning both motos in both racbs. After that fourth straight moto win and a nice points lead, I came in and asked him, 'Do you still think I should not ride the 500 class?' He iust looked at me and didnt say a word," As Glover recalls, "Nobody really ever iumped from the l25cc class straight to the 500cc class. Those [Open- class bikes] were 500ccs of scary two-stroke, and I was iust a skinny 19- or 20-year-old kid, but I truly enioyed them. I thought they were great-" And Broc Glover was a great 500 rider, there's no doub,t about it." Cf,l 70 FEBRUARY I,2006 . CYCLE NEWS Bv Scorr RoussrAu ,t I T t, n 7-;-' )) /f,, \kr I \ E tc L._r \ J +r .a 4- i

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