Moto Dads

My parents only went to one of my races, so didn’t have the moto connections to them like many of you do. But my mom always left a twenty of the table for gas the morning of a race. My parents are both gone, but like you spent many days with my mom visiting while she was in hospice care. She didn’t say much but when I asked questions about her youth or growing up she got talkative and the time went by. Great suggestion for those going through what you are, talk about the good times. Best wishes to your pops.

Thank you. I had a very similar situation growing up going to the races as a family. My Dad would prep my gate while my baby brother was passed out in a backpack type setup with an umbrella over it on the starting line of a 42 man, two stroke gate! Getting to and from the races was half the fun and the memories will last us all our lifetimes. Dad is 75 now but we still talk about those times frequently. Nothing else comes close to motocross.

Awesome story and hope everything pans out. I've always cherished the memories made more so than any accolades. My late grandfather always said keep it simple and make some good memories.

I have lots of great old photos of me riding back in the day, but one of my favorites is this grainy frame grab of my dad freezing his ass off on the side of the track giving me the "gas it" sign..

That's great. I hope my son has the same perspective of motocross as you! Great father son time for sure.....

Im 59, my son is 27, i got to roost him in a sand corner yesterday, i hope he has another 20 years to pay me back. There were 3 riders in their 70s at the track yesterday, my idols!
Blessed and lucky enough to moto or ride with family

My Dad was a Manufacturer's Rep (non-moto products) when I was growing up. He was gone 4 nights a week and drove lots of miles. But when he made it home on Friday nights he just asked where we were racing that weekend. He never encouraged me to race but he would support whatever I wanted to do. What's another 300 miles of driving on the weekend when you've already clocked 500 or more during the week? And as long as I was still on minis my Mom would go keep score for the promotor. Once I moved to big bikes, she wouldn't go to the races anymore. She didn't like the idea of me racing with "grown men"

My Dad has been gone since 1989, my Mom since 2010. I will never look at a motorcycle without knowing they made it possible.

Photo is from 1971...

Oh man, what a great thread!!! My turn. My Dad was amazing!!! My parents also split when I was younger. A man that worked as a Mechanic for the Ford dealer, paid child support on 2 kids that lived with my Mom, and I lived with him. As an adult, paying my own bills now, I have no clue how he did it. My bikes were always in the best shape. We made it to practice on most Wednesday nights and rode/raced Saturdays and Sundays from 5 years old to 16 years. He was my biggest support and always was there to help, even when I was too stupid to listen to his advice. I can still here him yelling in my ear at the starting line. "Kick their ass, love you!" So many great memories!!! Love you Dad!!!

Dad here, some of the best memories riding with my son. That pretty much does it.
TM

Me and Dad sometime in ‘86, maybe ‘87.
Lots of great memories from that time.

On the flipside of this, I was the moto dad and my son passed 6 days before his 19th birthday. I'm incredibly grateful for all the time we spent riding, at the track, in practice, at races, training and traveling. One of the things I can say I do not have as a regret is that I didn't spend enough time with my son. All because of moto. Wouldn't change that for the world.

My dad owns a business and is generally an extremely fast paced and scatter brained man. He means well, and is an amazing dad/grandpa, but he’s not much for small talk. Never has been.

But.

Like clock work, every few months, he will send me a random race result of mine from over a decade ago, and he will describe the race with perfect clarity and recollection. And when I say random, I mean “Saturday night local race in the middle of august” random.

As thankful as I am for the years he took me racing, I truly believe it meant more to him than it ever could have to me….and as my kids get older I understand that feeling completely

My dad only saw me race one time when I was in my twenties. As a kid my parents forbid me to have a dirt bike, but I grew up next door to an uncle that never went ride or race without taking me along. Although I had some great family time with my dad doing and learning other things I owe all of moto to my uncle with the many hours we spent on the road going from track to track all across the South. We hit the Gainesville National in 1989 and shortly after I got my first bike at 21 years old.

Edit: Left out the most important piece. My son had his first dirt bike in front of him at 2 years old. He never really took to it but would come to the track with me from time to time. We’ll some 20 years later he decides he want to ride moto so I get him a bike and he goes like he’s been doing it all his life. We rode Day in the Dirt together a couple years back which was awesome. He rode a good two’ish years but had put it aside for now to focus on his craft for his last few years at/near the top. He still loves to talk about our talks to and from the tracks

Cool story about you father OP and just know that being lonely sucks! Plays tricks with your mind for sure.

My son and I Bodie,CA 3 day dual sport ride

im prob never having kids but like alot of people, dont really have a good relationship with my dad.

i cant imagine having a kid and NOT wanting to spend time with he/she. so many boomers were just dumb breeder idiots

My dad took me everywhere racing as a kid, it was his sport just as much as mine. He came out to see my son’s first race two summers ago but isn’t up for all the traveling we do now that he’s older.

A buddy sent me this picture last week he took of my son on his way to 2nd in the 65 open class in this years winter series. The student has become the master as I appear to have the mini-dad thing down just like my dad did!

Best times I ever have had with my dad were racing dirt bikes or cars. It’s been a while since he’s seen me ride, need to bug him to go with me one day. Still remember the last time we rode together perfectly.

An awesome reminder for those of us still lucky enough to still be able to enjoy going riding with our dads or sons to not overlook the fact we’re living the best years of our lives and may we not take it for granted. Best off season thread I’ve seen.

My son and I on his first day trophying last year, it was his first year. He was a BMX racer and decided to try moto. Been a hell of a lot of fun being able to ride with him.

I have the same with my Dad he is starting to get a little older and his health is really starting to go. I'm right in the middle of it all with my 15 year old as well. It's really the best when we can all go and they can ride together because it's something that brings all of us a lot of happiness.

My Dad never saw me race or asked how I did. Mom took me to 2 races before I had a driver's license, but that's the extent of my parent's involvement in racing. I think my Dad regrets the day he purchased a shiny new 1971 Honda SL70 for my brother and I one Christmas. He never could bring himself to say the word "motocross", instead using the phrase "dirt motorbike racing" to convey his disdain. Both of my parents have passed away and I'm thankful that they provided me the opportunity for me to get into motorcycles - I just wish that had shown more interest in anything I did.

My dad used to make that circular finger gesture each time I came around the track telling me to go faster and he threw rocks at me if I wasn't fast enough in the turns. Ah, memories.

My dad didn't know anything about dirt bikes, and even when I was 12, I never trusted him to do anything but wash my bike. But him and my mom were always there, and we all agree some of our best memories were going to some local races and camping for the weekend. Pretty rare for a teenager to spend the entire weekend with their parents and not hate it.

I have a 2 year old now. I don't want him to get hurt riding, but, at the same time, I really want to ride with him and have that quality time when he's a teenager.

Man this is a long post but I had to share a couple awesome stories. I hope at least some of you take the time to read it because I don't get too many chances to share these stories with like-minded people and I'm sure some of you can relate or have had similar stories amongst your families.

When I'm asked about Motocross, the first thing I say is how family oriented it is. I think that's what makes it so special. We sometimes hear stories of families who fall apart throughout their racing career but fortunately that wasn't the case for me.

I remember when I first started dating the girl I'm with now. Early on when we were getting to know each other, we were talking about friends that we hang out with and what we like to do and I explained to her how my dad's my best friend. Not just because he's my dad but because Motocross made us so close from all the time that we would spend together racing. I explained to her how other kids who I went to high school with were playing stick and ball sports and hanging out on the weekends with other kids whille I was spending weekends with my dad either camping or at a hotel.

We would play video games, jam out to music in the car for hours on the way to tracks, and just spend every weekend together. My mom and dad have been divorced since I was little but fortunately they get along and I have never seen them fight so to me them being separated is just normal so on the weekends when we went to the races, I didn't go hang out with other kids my age, I hung out with my dad because that was my time to see him. He was basically a big kid so I would always rather hang out with him than other kids.

I'm 33 and he just turned 60 and to this day, we hang out at least for a little bit almost everyday. In fact, if we were to play a sports video game like Madden, NBA, baseball, etc. He would probably still beat me and I'm pretty good at video games haha.

I have a couple stories I want to share and have so many more but this post is already longer than I had planned on and I don't want to lose your attention haha. But these stories bring happy tears when I think about them and I'm excited to tell them.

1. It was awesome the times when he would call me on a Monday and ask me where we're racing at the following weekend. He was all in with me and just as excited as I was. Keep in mind he's a boater, so he used to joke with me about how we could be out on the boat on hot humid days but instead he's at the dirty dirt bike track haha. We spent every weekend for several years racing on both Saturday and Sunday and sometimes even on Friday.

2. One time, I came up to his house on a Saturday and we were expecting to leave for race early Sunday morning but it started raining and storming and they canceled the race. We found out at about 6:00 p.m. that they canceled and dad looked up on the internet where other races were and there was a Loretta qualifier 7 hours away and he told me to get some sleep and we're leaving in a couple hours. He only did that because he knew how bad I wanted to race.

3. One year at Ponca, I ended up crashing out and not qualifying for the Saturday main events. I was super bummed, but we packed up our stuff and headed home. I fell asleep in the car and woke up as a lady was asking for an entry fee because Dad drove all through the night to get me back to a local race on time because he knew how bummed I was that I didn't do well at Ponca.

4. My very first B race and almost winning it. There was only a couple guys in the class because it's stormed really bad that morning and they really should have canceled but they ended up running anyway. Dad told me to take it easy, it's the first race of the year and my first race in B class and he does not want to have to walk out on the track and dig me out of the mud. Sure enough, while I was leading the race with a few Corners to go, in a valley like section of the track, I go down and I'm stuck in the mud. I'm only 5 ft 5 so I can barely touch as it is and I remember looking up at him and he was shaking his head no right before he realized he had to walk down there and get me out. Needless to say we ended up both caked in mud.

5. My favorite memory is from when I won my first race. I remember crossing the finish line and dad was along the fence about 30 yards after the landing and I've never seen him jumping with joy and so excited before. He was screaming yeah buddy and even kind of embarrassed me as he was celebrating in front of the other kids. That whole ride home, you would have thought I won a pro race or the super bowl, but I was just a kid riding his dirt bike at the beginning of our racing career.

If I had one piece of advice for kids who are starting out racing it would be to take it all in. Most of us will move on to college or a normal job and the racing won't continue like it did during junior high and high school years. Take a moment and let it sink in when you are there having the time of your life with your friends and family because before you know it, weekends won't be the same and racing won't be the most important thing anymore because of other obligations. Enjoy it while it lasts and never take it for granted.

My dad passed going on 4 years ago at 89, but to this day I thank him regularly for getting into our sport in 1970 at the age of 41 (I was 7). I grew up riding with my dad and siblings, my kids grew up riding, my wife, and daughter-in-law ride, and my nearly 3 year old grandson can't get enough of "dirt bikes, dirt bikes, dirt bikes, dirt bikes...".
And my nephew (who rides a ton) has my dad's 1977 Penton MC5 400 on his shop wall.
Heading to Geels (St Helen, MI area) for some fall riding this Saturday with one of my adult sons if any dad/son combos want to join! I'm 59 and he's 27... I still hit what he hits... but I'll smoke him on the trails hahaha
Great thread!

Is that max? I think I went to a FCA camp with him a few years back.

I’m so sorry for your loss I had no idea he passed.