Cycle News

CN III FRIENDLY FIRE P110 BY STEVE BAUER I f you were around motocross during the late '70s and early '80s, you probably read the title of this column and thought to yourself, "Of course Broc Glover gets recognized in his home town, he's Broc Glover! Everybody knows who Broc is, especially in his home town." Although that may have been the case back when he was racing, I doubt it is like that in 2015. Con- sidering that Broc is a six-time AMA National Motocross Cham- pion and one of the true icons of our sport, that just does not sit well with me. Apparently, it also does not sit well with the folks who run the Legends and Heroes of Super- cross Tour, because they are do- ing all they can to make sure that the riders who blazed a trail and helped create the sport we all enjoy today are recognized and not forgotten. Since 2006, their traveling road show and moto- cross museum honors a different rider at each stop of the 17-week Supercross Series. Going into the San Diego round last Satur- day night, the tour had previous- ly honored Jeff Ward, Tim Ferry, Scott Burnworth, Billy Grossi, Mike Bell and Mike Chamberlain thus far this year. Each of these men has contributed signifi- cantly to the rich history of the sport and I applaud Alex Morros and everyone else behind the scenes for putting this together. It's a ton of work to set up, break down and transport their amaz- ing display each week, not to mention, very costly. I'm usually jammed up some- where in the press box or the pits at about the time they are doing their presentation at the podium on the stadium floor, so I rarely get a chance to watch as these titans of the sport (many of whom were not only heroes of mine, but guys I battled with every weekend) are recognized. When I heard who was going to be honored at the San Diego round, I wanted to make sure I did not miss his moment in the spotlight. Broc Glover and I go back to 1974-'75, when he was a fresh-faced, 14-year-old blonde kid that came out of nowhere on a Honda CR125, showing up at Carlsbad Raceway and Saddleback Park CMC races wearing an old red, white and blue vented Honda jersey with his name, BROC, in white block letters on the left front of it. He was blazing fast, got great starts—it helped that he weighed about 110 pounds, max! He was a couple years younger than I was and from somewhere down near San Diego, that's about all I knew of this BROC guy. I was riding for DG Perfor- mance Specialties at the time and had been there for close to a year. Gary Harlow knew talent when he saw it, and it wasn't long before Broc showed up at the track wearing a yellow DG jersey, on a yellow and blue CR125 with a custom-molded fiberglass gas tank. His bike was tricker than mine and I was so jealous I couldn't stand it! I know I was not the only one who felt that way. DG was a powerhouse team at the time, with me, Broc, David Taylor, Dave Williams, Gary Denton and Dave Eropkin able to win at any time and all of us fighting for a factory ride. By the end of 1975, Broc was consistently beating all of us and everyone else, too, and he was only 15 years old! In 1974, they had a high school motocross race during intermission at the Superbowl of Motocross, held at the LA Coliseum. It was basically a CMC 125 pro race and Marty Smith had won, as usual. They had it again in 1975 and I don't remember Broc racing at that one, which is probably why I GOLDEN BOY GLOVER RECOGNIZED IN HIS HOMETOWN

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