In the first of three episodes, motocross World Champion Brad Lackey talks about the early years in California, moving to Europe, and dealing with engineers on the Grand Prix circuit.
The manufactures competition until 1986, was a race all on it's own, and very exciting to witness and be a part of as consumers. I am sure it was the same with automobiles, with literally over a thousand companies in the USA trying to make a car. Guess who decided the winners though? The big car companies got in bed with government, and now nobody else is allowed to compete, unless you make what our dictatorship wants you to make, on the tax payers dime, like subsidies for electric cars,---and dirt bikes. You wanna bet Triumph is taking subsidies? How else can they enter this failing market today?
My hero when I was a kid. Jim too. I guess I never knew they actually went over together. I believe Jim was on a 250 Bultaco. Always read about the races in magazines. For the younger folks, magazines were like websites that they printed out and put in a soft paper cover book.
Reading about Brad racing the 500 GP's in the early 70's is what ignited my quest for how do l get me a m/c , thank you grade school library for having motorcyclist magazine , l followed him yr after yr thru the mag's .
I think it was noble at the time when Brad went to Europe to win a world championship. He said in this interview, "I wanted to go European speed, set myself apart from the other American riders." Now there was a kid looking to be great! Very admirable actually. But the irony of it was, it took him 10 years to win the world championship secured in 1982, after 4 unknown kids from the USA won the MXofN in 1981. By 1981, American speed dominated, and Brad found himself on the wrong side of the pond by the time he earned the championship. But he earned that Euro speed. :)
I agree. The golden era of motocross was the late 70's to early 80's. One of my heroes. I followed Brad's career as a kid and loved reading about his battles with Malherbe and Vromans!
I was lucky enough to get introduced to Brad through a mutual friend at a vintage MX race earlier this year, then got to chat with him one-on-one for about 20 minutes. It was an enjoyable conversations that flowed from one thing to the next and I wish I'd had more time to chat with him. This interviewer in this video does a very good job of asking good questions and giving him the chance to open up about his career.
I grew up in Richmond too & learned to ride a Honda Trail 90 in Wildcat Canyon. Hodaka & several CZs followed. Brad was fast & very stylish, very inspiring.
My brother and i would race way back in the day . My brothers 1976 Honda cr 125 had made 13.5 inches of travel in 1976 and my 1979 rm 80 had 8.5 in the front and 11 inches in the back my brother Kelly really new how to modify are bikes back in the day plus Now he has invented and patient the cross lock that locks and transporting bikes with out tie downs in 2003 and made it back then to the Sema show . To this day . We still are involved with motocross.
Yep. Was there back in the day. When the CR's and RM's came out in the late 70's, I was so blown away by what the Japanese had built. I was still on a CZ which was like a decade behind. Then went to an RF-125 in '79 and started doing much better at the local and regional races. Ah...those were the days...
I'm 66 - raced motocross/TT/1/2 mile in late 60's - 1975. Had the first 125 Elsinore. Started in a 50cc Honda "monkey". Hodaka, Bultaco, Sachs, CZ, AJS, and a few more. Loved the Bultaco. Honda changed everything with the CR models. Good memories. Saw Joel & DeCoster at a race event in Phoenix. I was a fast 125cc rider in Arizona. But, the attitude in racing was pretty cutthroat. Not a career for too many to follow & succeed at.
I'm very lucky to grow up in the 70s and have a motocross bike and plenty of land to ride. I had to do some hard labor to save up for my RM 125, $700. Lackey was never a quiter when it came to pursuing a championship. That is what I remember about him.
60 years old here, and you hit a nail on the head bout the sport in the USA till 1985, (before the evil FIM 1986 production rule). It is the reason why MX took off like crazy in the USA, (plus more places to ride). Any kid with a part time job,---could afford a new bike, and learn how to ride and race. I actually got into manufacturing and engineering because of me being able to buy bikes and work on/modify them, and now port little 30cc 2-stroke engines for a living, (may be the first to use a CNC mill for porting, because the volume is higher than dirt bike cylinders/engines.). Even people our age, not to mention the kids today, really don't understand the opportunity we got, because we could afford our own bikes as kids. One guy I know, a good friend, makes all the Indian tanks and fenders in Lowell Michigan in his 60,000 sq ft facility that he built, (Envision Engineering), and he probably would not be doing that if his Mother took away the mini bike he put together. Would not buy him a bike in 1968, "too dangerous", but morally did not take away what he built. :) Look at all the opportunity we had, because we could afford a bike at the age of 12. Free enterprise belongs to us. Give it back! :)
1976 Kawasaki KD125, $750.00. 1978 YZ100, $800.00. 1979 YZ125 (new, but left over in 1980), $850.00 Used 1982 YZ250 bought in spring of 1984, $850.00, (not sure what a new one retailed for. I think about $1,400). Enter the 1986 production rule, (with only USD forks added). 1986 YZ250, $2,300. 1988 CR250, $3,200. (up to 5 grand by the early 90's) Now enter the dictatorship EPA forcing the 4-stroke on the industry. Sad,---all these kids,--with no opportunity, isn't it? :(
The only good shows Ping has today, (but started out great), are with racers who did better than him. Ping is still a a child intellectually, and I doubt he will ever grow up.
Nope, it was a hippy symbol protesting the Vietnam war. Bad brad, was a hippy,--who rode for a communist factory at one point (CZ). But---he was not a lazy hippy. :) It is still a pandemic today. That damn 1960's communistic counter culture revolution, (the loss of good values basically), has continued for every generation since. That is not to say that we went to war for the right reasons though. I don't think we have done that since probably WW1. But not sure by my research, maybe earlier.
@@EarthSurferUSA Thanks for the info and I can see that. I was just a kid that loved Motocross living in North Carolina and put pictures on my wall from CN. I meet him at Lake Sugar Tree when he won on the Husky. Great memories..
@@TimGuitarcouk I think it was noble at the time when Brad went to Europe to win a world championship. He said in this interview, "I wanted to go European speed, set myself apart from the other American riders." Now there was a kid looking to be great! Very admirable actually. But the irony of it was, it took him 10 years to win the world championship secured in 1982, after 4 unknown kids from the USA won the MXofN in 1981. By 1981, American speed dominated, and Brad found himself on the wrong side of the pond by the time he earned the championship. But he earned that Euro speed. :)
We are not sharp enough to see it, but that golden era was until 1985. Until then, the competition in manufacturing was more free enterprise, which is always better for product development, and affordable prices. For example, the 2-stroke engine was not forced on the industry, it was just free enterprise,--and the prices went down with over 10 times more sales than today, with a much smaller population! Enter the 1986 FIM production rule, (that stopped factory development in the USA, cause we won the MXofN 5 years in a row by then.), that almost tripled the cost of a bike in 5 years, (not much different in the bikes from 1985. Added upside down forks, which were already being raced), and the bigger nail in the coffin of MX,--the EPA forcing the 4-stroke on the industry. We are not sharp enough to reject such intervention in our free enterprise, and now we ride what communism wants us to ride,--if you are lucky enough to afford a bike today. By by MX. It was nice growing with you when we could afford it. Oh yea, Michigan used to put out the 2nd most factory riders in the nation (behind CA.), and has not put out a factory rider (Kelly Smith being the last), for over 2 decades now. Sport is doing great? Now if you know the actual history, and what made it great in the first place. Such intervention damages/destroys everything we built. But,---you can believe what ever you wish. Doug in Michigan.
Great interview ,thanks !! I really enjoyed listening to Brad and learning more about his amazing career. Congratulations world champion 🇺🇸🙌🏻 and congratulations on your marriage of 50 plus years 🤘🏼
