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The Roads I have Traveled:The Steve Wise Story

Prologue

“The Roads I’ve Traveled”
The life story of Steve Wise



I remember it like yesterday. It was the summer of 1979 at the National Motocross Championship event being held at the famous race track, Red Bud, in Buchanan, Michigan. 40 mechanics, with their bikes and riders were standing in the start holding area waiting for our name to be called.
Being one of the top national caliber riders I was the third one called to the line and I watched, as my mechanic Cliff White pushed my red factory Honda RC 250 into the position I had chosen on the starting gate. As I scanned around looking at the other young men I would be fighting with that day, during the two grueling 45-minute motos (races), I glanced at some of the other factory riders.
There was factory Yamaha’s, Bob Hannah, Kawasaki’s, Jim Weinert, Suzuki’s, Kent Howerton, and my own Honda teammate and friend, Marty Tripes. I noticed some of the privately sponsored riders (privateers) such as John Savitski, Greg Theiss and a plethora of other young men who would love to be in my position riding for a factory team.
As I stood behind my motorcycle on the starting line, Cliff was revving the motor on my RC 250 to warm it up. When the starter turned the time card reading 1 minute to go, before the starting gate would drop, I walked over and mounted my factory Honda.
While Cliff continued to control the throttle, as usual, I put my head down on the handlebars to say a little prayer asking God for His protection, but for some reason today was different, very different. What I distinctly remember about that day from any other, as I put my head down on the cross bar, was saying a different little prayer and even today I remember that prayer. I said, “God, if you will protect me from injury and help me to do good, one day I will write a book and tell people about you.”
Little did I know then, but by the time I would write this book about the God whom I promised, my life would be completely transformed into a man I could have only imagined some 28 years later.
There was always a tug in my heart that said God was real, but as I look back after these many years, I realize this God I was praying to then and asking for His blessing, I didn’t even know. The book you are holding now is the fruition of that promise I made to God that day so many years ago. It is the end result of the roads I’ve traveled on the journey to becoming one with the Lord.

--Lord Bless, Steve Wise

"The Roads I Have Traveled-The Steve Wise Story"

Hey y'all, those of you who have been following my updates on Facebook and Twitter already know I have been writing the bio of AMA Hall of Fame member Steve Wise. Steve made a legend of himself by being one of only 3 people to ever beat Bob Hannah on the up and up, not when he crashed. It was Marty Tripes, Steve and Kent Howerton. For the young 'uns who don't know, Bob Hannah was the most fearsome motocross racer on the planet when he got to the top. He was the Ricky Carmichael of his day and it took tremendous efforts to beat him. Like RC, it wasn't impossible, just a truck load more improbable than most people want to deal with.


That aside, Steve slid (literally and figuratively) over to the streets of Carlsbad and dominated a made for TV race called The Superbikers. It was set up to see who the best overall motorcycle racer was and racers from motocross, road racing, flat track, TT and even trials competed in the event. The course blended past of the famous Carlsbad Raceway and the surrounding streets and even part of a drag race strip. Steve was the only back to back winner and would have been the only three time winner had Magoo Chandler not been given a works 500cc motor instead of the modified production 480 that Steve was given.


Honda was so impressed with him they offered him a tryout of a factory road race machine. After an accidental off road excursion at over 120 mph, Steve was hooked. He raced three probationary races and did impressively well. Honda signed him to race the rest of the Formula 1 and Superbike series. He nearly won the Superbike title and only veteran Mike Baldwin (and 2) points stood in his way from becoming the National Road Racing Champion.


The book will delve into much more detail than I can put here and is written from Steve's personal point of view. It speaks of his struggles from privateer to factory rider to his calling to become a man of the cloth. You see, today, Steve Wise is an ordained minister in San Antonio, Texas. Steve specializes in father and son bonding sermons and likens a father's role to the role our Heavenly Father plays in all of our lives. The world is in a shaky place because of the much disrupted father/son and father/family relationships. Broken homes, drug abuse, divorce, teen pregnancy and hopelessness pervade too many lives today and Steve wants to help those who he can...one father at a time, one son at a time, one family at a time. Steve was the very first person to minister to the motocross family on Saturdays and Sundays prior to the nationals. He passed the torch on to Steve Hudson but it was Steve Wise who started what we now come to expect at every national. God bless him and Steve H.



Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of Steve's success, no racer before him and none since him have successfully gained factory rides and race wins in three disciplines on motorcycle racing. Steve won, SX, MX, Road Racing and TT races on the national level. It's been over thirty years and no one even came close. Bob Hannah after trying to ride a road race bike said, "Hell no, I'd get killed on that thing." And he has never set butt to seat of a road racer since. Marty Smith, Howerton and several others were humbled when they tried road racing. The closest anyone has come is US and World motocross Champion, Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle who left motocross and went road racing. It took Bayle almost 3 years to garner top five or better finishes and he never won a GP road race. Steve Wise did it in the first year he tried it. Chew on that!



Stay tuned and log on to www.stevewise.com and drop Steve a line, let him know you are interested in this book. It should be ready in the later part of 2009.

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  RonnyJackson633 Posted:

  4/19/2009 6:49 PM

  Hey man, how ya been? Things are going better for me. Got a new bike and training hard.
• 

  Racer92 Posted:

  9/18/2008 6:03 AM

  Hey fella, whats new your way? Been doing any riding? Havent heard from you in a while - let me know how things are going.
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  RonnyJackson633 Posted:

  9/6/2008 8:04 PM

  Thanks. It's getting really hard on two year old clapped out bikes. I would have won the lites overall but my throttle cable broke. my pipe had a big crack in it too but it held in there. It's gonna be great seeing a "real" mx movie!
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  mxryder231 Posted:

  8/13/2008 9:39 PM

  i used to race back in the day when i didn't have to work. but yeah ncy has been a really good job for me and i wouldn't change anything.