What hooked you?

Going to the Louisville Arenacross (don’t remember the year) and hearing about this hotshot Ben Riddle. Watched him and it was game over for me.

This might sound stupid, but nothing got me hooked. It’s like I was born obsessed with motocross. Neither of my parents knew what motocross was, nor did they even have motorcycles. When I was 5 I was subscribing to motocross magazines. I read the book below over and over as a kid...Sadly I had to wait until I was 13 to get my first motocross bike after saving for years- my parents didn’t have the money. Since then I’ve always had a bike and will to the day I die.

Neighbor had a Maico 490
He would rip wheelies down the street.
My father would get pissed because of the noise.
That planted the seed
Then the first time I experienced a powerband, I looped out my friends YZ80.
That’s when I knew it would change my life!

I rode dirt bikes for several years, then at age 15, the year 1982, some friends took me to my first MX race at Dick Klamfoth’s Honda Hills for a Saturday race. When the gate dropped on the first race, 80cc Sr class, it sounded like a stirred up hornets nest and I was instantly hooked.

I have no idea , Im 60 now and love moto more than ever,,,,,I think its in my DNA cause I passed it on to both my boys

Always loved bikes but the first time my dad took me to an actual motocross I was hooked and knew I wanted to do it.

It was the sensory overload that got me. A full gate of 250 2 strokes made the ground shudder and then there was the smell of pre-mix and these lunatics on bikes 20 feet in the air !!!

I remember just standing there laughing.

1970's, mini-chopper fat tire mini-bike, Briggs&Stratton 1.5hp engine. Got a hold of that throttle and when I felt the monstrous torque it was all over !!

In 1996 (8 yrs old) my 2 brothers, step brother, and myself took the seats out of the ford windstar to go snag a 1978 Kawasaki KM100 with our step mother. Through it in the back and we held it instead of tying it down on the way home. Ever since that day there has been something two wheeled in my garage. Dirt bikes, street bikes, baggers, bobbers, 4 stroke, 2 stroke, in-Line 4, v-twin doesn’t matter. If it has two wheels I’ll ride it!

Seeing dads trophies in his workshop and hearing all of his cool old stories. He got me a XR50 in Kindergarten, my mom was pissed. I was timid and just rolled around our backyard track, He packed a nice lip on one of the singles while I was on the other side of the track and when I came around he told me to stand up. Didn't see the lip until it was too late. Soared that poor XR to (What felt like the moon) flat and bent the shock shaft to a near 90 degree angle. Made mom even more mad, me and dad drove to the Honda shop the next morning where he picked up a new shop and we spent our Sunday with my bike hoisted up on the workbench and I really got to see the mechanics of how the motorcycle worked. Fell in love with riding when I about shit my pants after launching that lip, and fell in love with wrenching the next day fixing that old XR. 19 years old this year and still at it, scrounging up whatever money I can working at my local dealership part time while in school, Dad still loves seeing me do it and mom still doesn't love it, but I found this quote in an MXA article not too long ago that I really like.

"They remembered how their mother felt when she found out that they were racing motorcycles. She cried. Somehow, when she cried they knew that they were on to something really fun. I think Sigmund Freud wrote that anything that makes your mother cry is worth doing."

I was too young to remember, but probably wanting to be like my dad. Anybody who wouldn’t ride and race given the opportunity has a few screws loose.

And some would say you need to have a few screws loose to ride and race dirt bikes.

¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

They are missing out!

The beginning of Hooper.

Seeing SX, and watching footage of the Blackwater 100 on Wide World of Sports, then riding my friends TS185 in ‘83. Been hooked since.

Age 5, in N. New Mexico, a family across the way had an alfalfa grove, and the whole fam was kitted up with the 1983 YZ line up. They would rip up and down a gravel road, just watching them I knew this was my sport.

this one right here.




then this one. VERY MUCH this one. p/c Tony Blazier

Just riding and having fun, nothing else matters when you’re riding it’s the ultimate disconnect from reality. A miniature vacation from life’s worries and bull crap, your demons can’t find you when you’re on your dirtbike

My old man buying me brand new pw50 for Christmas in 97 and going camping, doing the little peewee races at the desert races my dad did. Seeing Jeremy Mcgrath on that #1 Chaparral Yamaha. Going into the local dirt bike shops and see terrafirma videos playing on repeat, got to see James Stewart's first pro race at Anaheim...dirt bikes are cool

Christmas afternoon 1983

Born in. Both my parents ride, so I was blessed with a minibike at 8. This is a cousin with that bike before it was stolen. No pics of me with it because cameras were scarce back in the day. Didn't start racing until I was 19, and that was like a whole new beginning!

I would point to these 4 building up to the "moment":
- my Dad got me an XR75 in 1976 and I rode it for hours and hours on the hilly 2 acre lot where we lived.

- My Mom took me and a friend to the '79 Oakland Supercross for my 11th birthday. It made an impression to say the least.

- My Soccer coach who rode and raced, took me and his son down to Hollister OHV park. His son and I were 17 and followed him around for a few trails, then I passed him. Coach turned it up, so did I. And we had a pretty intense ride for about 20 minutes, with him right on my rear fender. I low-sided in a left-hander, he had no where to go and he went down too. My very first response "Sorry Coach!". He said "No worries, not your fault"

We get back to the truck and he says "Did you ever think about racing? You should try it. It's fun"

A few weeks later, I lined up in 250 Beg. at Santa Clara PAL track and went 10-1 for 5th overall. Somehow(only 12 riders) they gave out a plaque for 5th and when my Dad and i got home I showed my Mom(she was worried, didn't go) the hardware, recapped the night, and the great feeling of racing . She was happy for me and it was a night I'll never forget. 35 years later, still into this darn sport!

10th birthday 1974. Surprise gift of an MR50. Grandmother and great aunt took me to Honda shop and said they had to pick a bike for a kids friend. Between Z50 and MR. probably went back and forth an hour or two. Liked the lights on the Z bit when the bigger kids bounced up and down on the XR 75 I knew the MR looked the part of the “big” bikes. Boy they had me fooled. So much better than my pull start hardware store mini bike. No more detailed chains and blistered pull starter hand.

I saw Winner's Take All at the movie theatres. I loved Judy's character so much!

I liked jumping my bike as a kid. I probably got hooked when my dad turned a race on

That ended more MX careers for many.

Loved that movie

I wish I knew what set the hook but it just feels like I was born this way. I still have every MXA, Dirt Bike, Popular Cycling, and Modern Cycle from about 75’ on and remember every detail. But even before these dirt based magazines I was asking my mom to buy me Cycle magazine when she’d grocery shop. I’d hope that the Honda ad which was always on page 2 would be featuring dirt bikes. The ad was on a red background and always featured two bikes, each got a half page and even the price was always in bold letters. If it was an XL or XR that was cool, an MT, MR, or CR really got my blood boiling. I’d stare at these ads for hours and hours. Some time after a couple years of this my Dad had had a few too many and came home asking my mom for the check book (she was not thrilled). A neighbor was selling a 74’ XR75 for $375 and later that afternoon dad returned home with it in the trunk of his Buick.

Since that day, I’ve rarely gone more than a week or two without riding other than taking a six month break when I stopped chasing the dream of professional racing, or for an injury. My parents got fully into the racing too. My father passed long ago but my mom who’s 84 now still watches all the Supercrosses and knows all the riders. Chad being her favorite, but early this year she told me of her new guy, Jett Lawrence! Guess mom likes the Aussies.

It’s crazy to think how much time I’ve spent wrapped up in dirt bikes. But you’ll still find me on my bike with a smile in my heart most Sunday’s. I could do lots of other things, and I have, but dirt bikes still occupy rare territory in my soul.

Watching Kenny Keylon ride at the T Bowl in Orlando back in the day

This little jump in a field where I grew up. I used a shovel to make a lip on a natural takeoff and would hit it over, and over, and over. I was probably a whopping foot off the ground in that pic, despite the angle. The next year I saw the broadcast of the USGP with Hannah and O'Show battling, and the next year I started racing. 100% hooked every since, even in the years I wasn't racing. This is the coolest sport on Earth, I couldn't imagine my life if moto hadn't been a part of it.

Same exact story here!