Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 54 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 21, 2017 P97 racing. He turned pro when he was 18. "In 1968, I was the high-point novice short-track racer in the nation," Cranke says with pride. "I raced against Mert Lawwill and Dick Mann and I actually won a lot of the races as a novice. Bugsy's [Mann] always been my hero, so when I started racing and got to race against him, well, that was heaven." Cranke was well on his way to becoming a full- time professional flat tracker, but there was one glitch—money. "After my novice year I would have had to move up to a 500cc, a big bike you know," Cranke says. "It was just too much of an expense for me. My whole thing was I just loved to ride motorcy- cles, so I started doing hare scrambles and hare and hounds because you got to ride a lot. I won a lot of events doing that and then motocross came around, so I started riding motocross." Cranke was up against a lot of talented MX rid- ers in northern California, including a guy by the name of Brad Lackey, a future world champion. Cranke more than held his own. He won some big motocross events, including Hopetown, one of the premier events in early American motocross. Perhaps the most important motocross win Cranke had was beating Lars Larsson in the sup- port race at a Trans-Am event in Gilroy, California. It was that victory that prompted Penton to sign Cranke as a support rider. Riding for Penton led to him to being offered the job as West Coast service manager for the company. Cranke had always dreamed of riding the ISDT and in the summer of 1972, he told his boss Fred Moxley about it. Fred told Carl that there was a qualifier coming up in Oregon and he could race one of his salesman's bikes. Cranke ended up finishing second overall in the ISDT qualifier to leading off-road racer Dick Burleson. Moxley was pushing to have Cranke be part of Penton's ISDT team, but John Penton told Mox- ley, "All the west coast riders can do is ride in the desert." "John didn't realize I was a Northern California guy and we rode mudders, rocks everything." Penton invited Cranke to race another quali- fier in Ohio. In a wet, muddy mess of a race, Cranke finished second overall and the deal was sealed—Cranke was going to be part of the '72 Team USA Trophy team. He earned gold that year in Czechoslovakia. It was the start of a long and fruitful stint in ISDT events for Cranke. Looking back at his ISDT career Cranke says his ride in one incredibly rocky and challenging course in Camerino, Italy, in 1974 was his per- sonal best. That year the American Trophy and Silver Vase Teams finished fourth. Cranke wrapped up his pro and ISDT career after the 1981 season. Today Cranke lives in the Pacific Northwest, not far away from the location of the Washougal Motocross National, an area he calls "God's Country." He still enjoys dual-sport riding with his youngest son. Cranke is also a member of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame for his illustrious off-road career. He looks back on that time as a golden age of the sport, where America was beginning to par- ticipate and do well on the world stage in what is now called the ISDE. "I grew up in the absolute best time possible," Cranke says. "There'll never be another era like that where people could just have fun. Now you look at supercross and stuff, and yeah, I was an athlete and took care of myself, but it's so much different now. There's so much training that it's not nearly as much fun. "I also feel so fortunate to have grown up and been part of John Penton and his company. I still stay in touch with Jackie [Jack Penton] and all those guys, the ones who are still with us." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives