VOL. 55 ISSUE 24 JUNE 19, 2018 P91
J
im West and his girlfriend
Susan Ard had miles and miles
to drive, so they had hours
and hours to talk about almost
everything as they traveled across
the AMA's motocross map in 1975.
They could've shared stories about
photography (an interest they both
shared), South Pasadena High
School (where they met) or maybe
laughed one more time about the
alligator that had wandered into the
pits at a race a few months earlier
in New Orleans ("every race had
a story" Susan remembers). They
might also have talked about their
other shared interests, like cave
exploration, Civil War battlefields,
ghost towns and a crazy new
arcade game called "Pacman" ("we
were obsessed with that game!").
So many conversations taking
place so many years ago…so how
is it that in 2018, 43 years later, she
remembers this particular one?
She wondered, then and now…why
did Jim want to talk about this?
She remembers, Susan says to-
day "because it was something that
we had never talked about before.
Not ever."
By November 30, 1975, the
day Jim West died, fans of motor-
cycle racing were becoming well
aware of the harsh reality that a
rider could be killed while racing a
motorcycle. Over the previous 18
months, three of the world's finest
had lost their lives while compet-
ing. Daytona 200 winner Jarno
Saarinen was killed in a road racing
crash in Monza, Italy in May of
1973, the same multi-cycle acci-
dent that claimed the life of Italian
veteran Renzo Pasolini, who had
also raced in America for Harley-
Davidson. Just a few months later,
U.S. road racing star Cal Rayborn,
another Daytona 200 winner, would
be killed in a freak crash in New
Zealand.
But that was road racing, at
1970's speeds of 160 mph. Jim
West raced motocross, a sport
Anyone who was
around in the early
days of motocross
knows who Jim West
was—he was known
as one of the top up-
and-coming racers
of the mid-1970s.
Unfortunately, he's also
known as being the first
major player in the
sport of motocross to
lose his life in an AMA
Pro MX race. We look
back at the short but
full life of Jim West.
West
BY KENT TAYLOR
PHOTOGRAPHY CYCLE NEWS ARCHIVES,
DICK MILLER ARCHIVES, SCOTT HEIDRINK
AND STEVE FRENCH
