Hunter's quote yesterday on pressure being not having food to eat I thought was classic. Surprised so many people do not understand the family background on it.
But there are many riders and families that committed to the sport and sacrificed. Two that come to my mind are Brad Lackey and Bob Hannah.
Lackey, at 17 years of age, went to Czechoslovakia (the Czech Republic and Slovakia today) for a racing/training gig at the CZ factory. He lived alone in a rudimentary cabin during his stay. Think about it - 17 years old, does not speak the language, alone in a communist country and living in a log cabin.
Hannah too had no food at times. So he admittedly stole avocados for food from an orchard near his apartment at the time.
I am sure there are many other stories on sacrifice.Anybody want to share?
Did you just compare ”stealing” avocados in your home town with selling every thing you own, moving across the world and being screwed over by the team and running out of money there while having your whole family there to feed?.
i am pretty sure that Lackey had a home in US to come back to if he wanted?…
Didn’t Weimer’s family bet the farm?
Not MX, but this NZ kid was 17 when he rode between each round of the enduro world series around Europe, at 18 he did it for a second year. Not sure how many parents would be OK with their just finished high school kid biking 100-350km a day around foreign countries on his own! All for the love of racing!
Check out his interview https://www.pinkbike.com/news/interview-17-year-old-bikepacks-250km-a-day-to-race-the-ews.html
I understand the motive behind this thread.
Although their background story is unique, as a big Aussie fan, i can see it's time for the media to let it go.
It's now time to focus on the hard work and accomplishment the two have done in the USA.
Media, let it go.
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Looks like that’s exactly what he did.
People act like the Lawrence family is the only family in the world that got fucked over and had to struggle.
followed him last year, such a cool story,
Townley moved to Germany at 16 and lived by himself above the team workshop, there has been lots of stories like this, they dont diminish each others ones tho,
Sorry but the two scenarios he has mentioned is nothing compared to the Lawrence story.
I have no doubt that every first generation athleate has gone through some struggles before they made it. But not many in MX have done what they did and come out on top to tell the story.
And people love a underdog story to, not one where the kid grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and then made it.
But going to another country to race while you still have a home to go back to in your home country is not the same thing as moving the whole family without any security to come back to.
Chad Reed left AU and came to Europe as a 18 year old with Ellie but that is not close to the same thing as he was contracted by factory Kawasaki. The Lawrence family left before they had any real factory contract in MX2 for Hunter. There is zero money to be made in european amateur racing so it was a big gamble on the familys side.
Big gamble and luckily it paid off. Great story to sell.
Langston and DV have told stories of their families living in one room studios to make a go. Wiemer as mentioned, his dad sold the family farm to keep racing. Dungey family wasn’t rich. Lawerence family sounds like they bet the house on this racing thing being successful but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they are embellishing their story a little…would rather here of some of the stories from people that mortgaged everything and it didn’t pan out, would be a good wake up call go some of the LL dreamers
Agree , the pulp interview with Scott Mumford was good for that , would love to hear similar from towhees that pro careers didn’t go well ,
watch the tv series "spectrum" on Vimeo. its about the not so great parts of racing in our sport.
segments on riders such as:
- Andrew Short
- Sean Collier
- Luke Renzland & Jimmy Albertson
- Cole Seeley
- Dean Wilson
- Will Hahn
- Kyle Patridge
Really worth the watch. I dont think many have seen it but it put a lot into perspective
That series is stellar. Sean Collier's bit was super real. Must watch.
Didn't Jake end up buying his farm back, or more ground for a new farm?
Yes, something along those lines.
I believe he used some of his career earnings to buy his dad another farm
Langstons story is exactly the same, I say worse since his mom and dad divorced, DV, Townlys, a more are awfully familiar.
The difference is, they didn’t have an agent pushing their story.
It’s truly an amazing story, but it’s been talked about so much I’m pretty numb to it. Jett through hard work has become a 20 year old multi millionaire, talk about that.
I heard through the grapevine, Barcia also had a tough go of it. The story I heard was, he pitched up at a race with a clapped-out 85, they had to push start, because it had no kickstart and he still won.
Yes, Langston had struggles in the early years.
Pit Row
These people have farms to sell ?
A real hard luck story is when you don't have a farm to sell
Pretty much all of them had at least something. If their parents have enough money to purchase the bike and travel around to race … They’re far from lower class. I’ve said it before, the next RC, statistically, is highly likely to never even throw a leg over a bike. Sure some families sacrifice more than others, but even the ones who sacrificed the most are not a rags to riches story.
You do realize many family farms have passed generations, no different than generations of a family working in a coal mine. Also most “non-mega farms” barely break even and a year of bad weather or government manipulation of milk or corn prices can bankrupt you. Most work a full time job and then work the farm before and after their “real” job. So having a farm to sell isn’t necessarily indicative of a family’s wealth (although there are a lot of wealthy farmers)
Of course I realise some people inherit farms/land/money , and of course having a farm isn't indicative of wealth.
BUT , having a farm to sell , is a lot better than having NOTHING to sell.
There are thousands of people in every sport , business etc. who made the same big sacrifices to try and get on ,but things didn't work out for them, these are the people I have time for, but nobody interviews them.
If you made it, and now have the Ferrari, the money etc. , then good luck to you, but give it a rest with the hard luck story
Life is like a box of chocolate…
It amazes me how quickly a well intentioned thread can devolve around here. The truth is there are probably many more stories of families and riders that sacrificed a lot to try to make it in this sport than riders who grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth. Getting into a dick measuring contest over whether the Lawrence family stands on top box of the sacrifice podium is dumb. That said their story is amazing and the type of thing that most of us red blooded American types love to witness.
From what I hear is that a European manager signed them backed them helped create opporunity in Europe, then once success started happening Mirtl swooped in agree Mirtl helped in a big way but the guy who got them off the ground helped a lot also and not one mention right.
nothing to take away from the hard work that’s put in but the case on your family not eating is BS.
I hate BS acts it’s embarrassing for Hunter saying that like his a savage or something
I bet Jett never went without donuts
and you can clearly tell Mirtl never went without food
Since you know the story so well, what about their extended family? Grand parents, uncles, aunts? No one to go back to if they failed? No one would help them out, what does that say about them? What about all the money they raised by selling everything? How old were the parents when they decided to do this, 25-30? They accumulated so little in the 30 years of their life they couldn't eat? Where they getting assistance for having a special needs child? The more people dig in to champion this story of struggles the more other people will show others have struggled also. It's an awesome story and one that can bring in outside fans but don't think it needs to be something that is talked about on the podium.
Bunch of silly haters here. The Lawrences never said they were the first or only to do it. There are way, way more of them that took the silver spoon route. It seems there was a thread about them going to Lorettas. I don't think the Hunters
, Lackeys, Langstons etc. would recommend that path but it was probably the only path open to them. There are probably way, way more that got in their sitch and pulled the plug rather than bet the farm.
Post a reply to: Other MX greats that sacrificed like the Lawrence family early in their careers: Lackey, Hannah are examples