Joe on modern day 250/450 bikes vs Factory Pro on 1970's works bikes

I have been doing this for a long time, so I saw some really great riders way back in the short travel days, starting with Robert, DeCoster and a ton of other Euros at an InterAm in Santa Cruz in the fall of '68, and Lackey, riding at the first race I ever rode at Marysville in 1969.  

Having watched those guys, I've got no doubt, international or national caliber riding talent on a short travel bike will win over okay local Joe talent on modern machinery every time.  If you ever saw these guys ride really fast on a 4 inch rear travel bike back in the day, you would understand.  The problem they had to solve was simple and direct--how to keep the throttle wide open, even with their bad suspension, and they did, much more than you would think.  Sure, they looked fluid and graceful some portion of the time, but they also had to stay on a bike while doing the occasional handstand or flying W--it was not necessarily pretty, but the deal was, keep the throttle open.  

Every generation to come along thinks they have invented the sport, or have reached new dimensions of riding talent and speed, but think about it this way--put Jett Lawrence or Eli Tomac on a '69 pickle pipe CZ and let him practice for a week, then race Joe ordinary local guy on a 2023 mx bike.  Who would win? the talented guy, for sure.  The much more interesting question is, how would Jett or Eli do against the 1969 Joel Robert, or Roger D?

So here's a sort of funny side story to all this.  My dad raced in the dirt in the 40's and mid 50's, first on Harleys, then on English singles.  I always thought, yeah, riding a Harley in the dirt, what a joke, they must have been bog slow.  Until a guy showed up in the open class at Hopetown in 72 or 73 or 74 with a rigid rear telescoping front fork Harley 74 in the open class.  It was amazing, that huge thing was up in the air, hammering through the whoops, tossing a roost, sideways, and the throttle was open a lot and the thing was on the ragged edge of control.  Oh, I said to myself, I get it now, those guys figured out how to keep the throttle open and did whatever it took, just like now.  The guy did ok, naturally he didn't win, but he ran maybe in the top 10 I think of maybe 80 riders, pretty darned impressive in what was for those days a stacked field of much more modern bikes.  I learned something that day, the guys who have been racing bikes and winning since before WWI have all been fast, talented riders no matter what it was they rode, and we newcomers didn't invent fast.