Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1547330
I f someone decided to make a list of "Good Guys Who Raced Motocross," the name "Mike Bell" would be right there near the top. The late Team Yamaha rider was as friendly as he was fast. No- body should have had a beef with "Too Tall," as he was known in the MX world, so it is understandable why he was more than just a little confused when Team Kawasaki's "Jammin" Jim Weinert walked up to Bell, minutes before the moto gate would drop, looked him straight in the eye and in his best Dirty Harry voice, told him, "Just so you know—payback is a real bitch!" What, Bell wondered, had he done? He had no recollection of jamming the Jammer, on or off the track, so why should he be on the defensive, looking over his shoulder during the moto, wondering how or when Weinert was going to exact his revenge? What he didn't realize until much later was that the "when" had just happened and the "how" was right there under his nose. Before the race had even started, Mike Bell had been "jammed." Weinert was motocross's ver- sion of Muhammad Ali. He was clever, witty and good-humored, and while perhaps not "The Greatest," Weinert had a long, strong career, which included two 500cc National Championships and a Supercross title. One of the Jammer's greatest rides was also a milestone moment in the history of motorcycle racing. Motocross racing is an out- door sport and Mother Nature opened up her big bag of tricks for the Trans-AMA race at Rio Bravo, Texas, way back on No- vember 4, 1973. "Rainy, sunny, sloppy, humid, hot, slippery" were some of the weather words used by the Cycle News staffer Pete Szilagyi to describe the day. "Yellow gooey" and "sandy mud" would give racers and their mo- torcycles Texas-sized fits all day. Weinert and his Kawasaki grabbed the first-moto holeshot. Big deal. American riders were frequently getting good starts. But only good finishes count, and in the history of the Inter-AM/Trans AMA series, no U.S. rider had man- aged to keep an early lead all the way to the checkered flag. Weinert, however, was giving no quarter to the visiting European riders, like Maico's Adolf Weil. "Weil seemed to be setting up to pass Weinert on several occasions," wrote CN, "but CNIIARCHIVES P136 BY KENT TAYLOR THE JAMMER'S FINEST HOUR Jimmy Weinert conquered Europe's best and Texas's worst mud to score a historic Trans-AMA victory. In 1973, on a wet, muddy day in Texas, Jimmy Weinert made history by becoming the first American to seal an overall victory in the Trans-AMA Championship.