The true Golden Years of the sport....every rider had a distinct image. All you need is a quick glimpse of each rider here to know who you are looking at. Barnett with his open face helmet Oakleys with beak and Jofa mouth protector. Wardy with his all white Sinisalo Jet gear including WHITE BOOTS (unheard of then) and Jofa mouth protector with Oakleys. Magoo with his flat brim visor way too high and Scott Face Protector (He was the original flat brimmer). Bailey decked out in his smooth JT gear. Riders dont stand out like this anymore. Everybody looks the same.
totally. and... Don't forget the Hurricane with His lightning bolts , DG stickers,& Duck bill visor, & Johnny O with His gaitors & oakleys. The bikes were better looking, Less cluttered, & not over done with goofy graphics, and they sounded 1 million percent better than the 4 stroke crap that came later. The riding gear went from cool to stupid just like the bikes.
I was there, at the Rose Bowl. What a huge place, plenty of space to run part of the track into the stands ! I went because of a good friend, he was a European Motocross guy, I was clueless about all of it. What a blast !!!
It's amazing to watch these guys I grew up with compared to today. The tracks, the commentary and they appear to be going in slow motion. God I'm old...
I remember that race i was there with my neighbors fun day at the Rose Bowl, i remember the Suzuki had an all new power valve, went and bought one when bikes were $1,500 out the door, not when bikes are almost $15,000 lol
I I remember being at that race I remember my friend Robbie Tam who was the son of the owner of the team team Tamm anyways he gave me that jersey that night 224 Ronnie lechiens jersey awesome times the 80s were
Great that u provide these gems......I ordered a supercross race from minicycle magazine back then, had it on "beta " ....if u believe that. That would be a beta vcr... lol it was beta vs VHS back then
I was at that race. It was an amazing one off type of deal that had a pretty substantial payday for back then. The only thing that kinda sucked was the Rose Bowl seats. But it was worth every minute. It still blows my mind how that double was a serious obstacle that took out a lot of guys. Just goes to show the advancements of the equipment through the years.
Notice how many fans were in the stands back then. The bikes got very advanced before the 1986 production rule (forced by the FIM actually), and the bike prices did not go up very much before 1986, (tripled in 5 years after the production rule, making the beginning of the sports decline.). The 4-stroke engine (forced by the EPA and FIM), that drove up the cost of bike to the point today that only well-to-do families can buy them for their kids. Those stands are full of kids who bought their own bikes, and bike sales are 1/10th today then they were before the production rule. Just goes to show how intervention into free enterprise damages any industry. What good is bike advancement, if nobody can afford it. If such intervention had happened in 1969, none of those pros would be on the track in 1983. The sport is dying now. It would have been dead then. We don't understand how such intervention hurts every industry that a more free people built. That is every industry. Our world could be much much better today, full of freedom, opportunity and achievement, if we understood those differences as we once did (the founding of the USA based on individual liberty protected by law, and the citizens crating free enterprise. That is the best economic history lesson on the internet. Doug in Michigan
Mark Barrnett on the Suzuki RM was my favorite rider. At that time it was Bob Hannah, Broc Glover and Mark Barnett that usually won, (from what I recall).
Hannah was the best before he broke his leg before 1980, but he did win a lot of races in 83 (broke his wrist, or he would have had 2 more championships). After that, not so much. The Bomber (too bad he won't do an interview), was a little monster in 80 and 81, and Glover started winning in 1977 when Bob let him win, but kept winning until about this time in 83,--the Bailey. O,Mara and soon to be Johnson era. Hannah was my only sports hero as a kid new to the sport, starting in 1978 because he came from nowhere as a self taught individual, and smoked everybody until he broke his leg.
Some of the comments on here are a little disrespectful those tracks back then were not completely groomed and manicured like we have today there's a lot more to it than what meets the Eye those tracks were narly Coupled with the lack luster suspension of the day... it wasn't many years after this race the track's actually became death defying.... Racers of today are totally spoiled... In all their spandex riding gear...ha
And they have been racing the same baby groomed and perfectly sculptured tracks ever since the FIM took over our racing, so that is why we see 10 guys on the same second, and almost none have the confidence to say "I am going to win this race/series!!". We will never see a guy come from last to win again, never see a multi pass battle for the lead, and the racing is a fast parade compared to the days when the tracks separated the talent, (as they should). What we are actually seeing is the philosophies of socialism/communism trying to make everybody equal. I promise you, Jett in the 2023 450 nationals, pissed of the FIM tremendously. I have to admit, I never thought I would see that kind of domination on these tracks of equality. But it just goes to show, communism can not hold down all individual greatness. That makes Jets 2023 MX season the most impressive in the history of the sport IMO.
You have an Amazing dirtbike channel on here brother, that are a wealth of knowledge, for old school 2 stroke MX Dirtbike fans. If a dirtbike isn't a two stroke, I don't want it. I hate these 4 stroke dirtbikes. They don't have anywhere near the torque as the 2 stroke dirtbikes. Hell, I also own a 2 stroke Yamaha Streetbike, restored from the frame up, with a 350cc 2 stroke engine that they came with....It's a 1985 Yamaha RZ 350 cc twin cylinder Kenny Roberts Edition Bike. The only way I like a 4 stroke bike, is if it's an Enduro that's street legal, or if it's a streetbike like naked bikes or crotch rocket style bike. Much love and respect from Sonny in New Orleans, La.
The 4-strokes make more power today of equal displacement, (which i never thought I would see, but i understand why now.), and the much better reason for not buying one is the fact that a dictatorship called the EPA forced them on the industry, creating more complexity and almost tripling the cost of a bike again, (like the 1986 FIM intervention production rule did in a short 5 years). Those two interventions in our free enterprise is the #1 reason by far on why the sport is now failing, and unfortunately, we don't understand it and now think it is fine for a government dictatorship to force what we make and buy. I hate the 4-strokes because I hate communism!
@@EarthSurferUSA Me too. I grew up on 2 strokes, at the age of 5, and I choose to stay with them, being 50 years young now. Lol...They're a bunch of insecure, atrongarming, treehugging, grandiose and radical, troublemaking liberals. We have so many things in the world and society today, that pollute the air and environment more than a 2 stroke street or dirtbike. If you take any brand new 4 stroke 450 dirtbike, and you put it up against any 2 stroke 500cc dirtbike, with a skilled rider on it, the 500cc will wax the ass of any 4 stroke 450 mx dirtbike. The 2 stroke dirtbikes require alot more skill to ride, are a much more aggressive ride then the 4 stroke mx dirtbikes, and the two stroke 500cc mx dirtbikes have quite a bit more torque than 450's. I like the way you think, brother. Please keep in touch. From Sonny in New Orleans, La. Much love and respect.
The little professor is realy bandit Bailey. Even later racing Johnson he was always a second ahead on doubles and triples.bombers works full floater was on song in the factory bike dayz.:)
I used to ride with guys back in the day that rode with Mark Barnett when they were very young. These guys were way faster than me. They said they would downshift for a corner coming up and Mark would be shifting up two gears to hit that corner way faster!
thats bull.....you dont shift 2 gears up into a corner.......the bike would lug through the corner even if you abused the clutch......plus you wouldnt gain anything.......now maybe not shifting at all into the corner would be more like it and using the clutch to exit......dont believe everything you hear son
They had absolutely no clue how to properly file a supercross race back then. You could barely tell what was going on. This was great to see, though. A blast from the past!
Yes they are,---and no they weren't. They did not go to a teacher if they got bullied on the track like today. They got even. But a rivalry still rarely lasted past 2 or 3 races, as both tend to lose points, positions and money if they keep knocking each other down. You did not want to mess with Hannah for example. And Bradshaw has said he had to "hate" somebody on the track for motivation. Both were much more exciting to watch than the racers today exchanging flowers, and now, the teacher is the bully.
Have you ever noticed how we get better with sports every generation, but not in math, (that we need to produce ourselves out of poverty)? There is a very evil reason for that.
Thank God those tracks were so rough they couldn't ever go fast really they look like they were riding so slow because they were not very good for any kind of a rhythm they just sucks I mean maybe it was because they were designed for the bikes of the day which were much heavier I don't know either way I just know they never really had a smooth flow to any of them in those days
That is what I thought, and why I did not win a lot of races. Sure, you have to be in pretty good shape, but the smoothest and fastest guys (Like Lechien and Bayle for examples) did not train off the bike. When they got tired, they figured out how to ride a bike and not use much energy instead of doing something else to get in better shape. I got to that point for one summer, where I was riding so smooth, used very little energy, and felt like I could push it as hard as I wanted. Unfortunately, that was about a decade after my racing days were over, (in whooped out sandy trails of Michigan),--or I would have won a lot more races. It is about "working as one" with the bike, and it is a relationship not as profoundly found in any other racing sport.
Wow 198k dollar top prize back in 1983! Somewhere along the lines this sport has deff messed up. Getting rid of those incredible sounding 2 strokes in my mind was 1 of them. Wonder what that is in todays dollars?
The math is pretty easy. A new 250 MX bike then cost about $1,500.00. Today a new 450 costs over $12,500.00. So about 8.3 times the dollar value of 1983. It also about equals about 8.3 times more people who could afford a bike back then. Funny how the numbers can show reality quite well huh? Maybe that is why they don't teach math in school well anymore?
Id love to go back in time and show these guys footage of the triple backflip, Colby Raha, and Axel Hodges throwing down. I bet theyd have heart attacks.
I would love to go back to that time with photos of the ape hanger high handlebar set up (that freestyle started for leg/trick clearance), that everybody races with today, and the go-pro video of how slow amateurs are in the corners today, because high bars suck for cornering with out a berm. :)
@@EarthSurferUSA amen brother. I'm 6'5 245 lbs so I gotta have taller bars but, I definitely don't run a freestyle bend. They're super narrow which is honestly most of the problem. That and it's hard to keep your elbows up if the bars are too tall. I was taught by Pat Foster that you want your grips to be in line with your naval. Not sure if that's correct but it's what I've always done and I'm a top 3 guy in our local vet pro class. BTW brother, there's nothing wrong with being slow as an amateur. Hell I was even slow at one time years and years ago. It's the candy asses who have been riding since 1998 and still squid shit up. Pit racers we call them. It's always the slowest guys on the track who ride fastest through the pits. I really really hate that shit.
250 only back then, no gimme class’s. All one class, only the best of the best got a title, no east west shit and then a prem title. Hence why u see a 16 year old Ron Lechien racing in top tier.
It was during this era that Bob Hannah (I love the guy) was always complaining about how the Yamaha works bikes were "overweight garbage". And yet Broc Glover still found a way to win on them. And Hakan Carlqvist won the 500 World Championship in '83 on a Yamaha.
Penhall announcing is as bad as jackie stewart doing it. He was just a poser. If he didnt cheat in LA Kenny Carter would be world champion. Win at any cost Penhall. Black eye on the sport.
