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It's columns like that which are part of the reason i'm such a huge smart-ass. It's the Super Hunky effect.
I had either never known/or forgotten that they didn't get along.
For the record, I'm a big fan of Jody Weisel too....and still look forward to Jodys Box every month.
Remembering Super Hunky
https://www.advrider.com/rip-super-hunky/
Barstow to Vegas, Nowhere U.S.A.
https://www.advrider.com/barstow-to-vegas-nowhere-u-s-a/
So many great columns . I somehow missed Judy's Box back then lol . Anyone ever read his 10 worst bikes ever list ? Hilarious. Crazy he's not already in the hall .
Never heard of him. But RIP . Condolences to his family
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That Barstow to Vegas poster available from Cindy is terrific. Super funny.
That is TRUE on all accounts.... AMA Voters whiffed on that one! 🙄
Yea that's Classic for sure! 😂
For sure Judy held a grudge against Hunky you can see him cracking a joke to him right here....
And for sure it's no coincidence if he hasn't posted anything about it yet
Remember the great Dick Miller (who was instrumental in getting the awesome MXDN team together along with Roger) who ran Motocross Action for years?
Well him and Jody must have had a falling out and I don't know if you saw that picture of the whole wrecking crew gang at Glen Helen and he Photoshopped Miller out of the picture. 🤬
A lot of the classic photos in Racer X magazine are from those Dick Miller archives. Davey must have got hold of them somehow and I'm GLAD he did!👍
Life has taught me that making your way through life, especially in work situations, without igniting a grudge here and there is almost impossible. It has also taught that life is way too short to allow those things into your life.
Condolences to Rick's family.
I still remember my grandma bought me a copy of Dirt Bike when I was young ~6-7 years old from the magazine rack at the grocery store after much whining, I'm sure. Never did subscribe but anytime I could get my hands on a Dirt Bike mag, I'd read that thing from cover to cover, multiple times.
I couldn't convince my parents to get me a race bike but did get a 1971 Honda Trail 70 for my 1st bike on my golden bday at 7 years old in 1989. I rode that thing every waking second.
Now I have 2 kiddos who love to ride. I'm truly blessed and look forward to seeing my children's passion for motorcycles develop.
Dirt Bike magazine changed my life I believe.
Man....that picture has a lot of body language that tells the story.
Again, I'm a fan of Jody....but him/MXA not acknowledging the death of an icon is not a good look. He would have a unique insight to share, if not entertaining.
Without Hunky, would we even have a Jody’s Box…?
Would Dirt Rider or Racer X have ever “happened”?
Would Tom Webb have ever gotten involved in editing/publishing?
I mean, hell, wasn’t Dirt Bike he O.G. magazine? I could be wrong; but, that’s how I remember it.
I remember that crazy dude with a mustache fighting to keep the Mojave open to dirt bikes…in the 70s, Again, that’s if I’m not mistaken on the timeline.
Phantom Duck of the Dezert and all that.
Dudes racing Barstow to Vegas with their dogs riding shot-gun on the gas tank.
I know about all of this due to this man’s existence and his use of language and publishing.
What we’ve lost, here, is an honest to god legend.
Well said. I couldn’t agree more !
I am nominating you to deliver Hunky's acceptance speech in absentia!
That's very kind of you; but, if it's in Ohio...as it should be...I'd have to step aside to the likes of Tom Webb and all those that got me hooked on this sport.
From Tom...
GODSPEED RICK "SUPER HUNKY" SIEMAN
4 days ago
|
By Tom Webb Verified
|
Dirt Bike Magazine Verified
Godspeed Super HunkyRick “Super Hunky” Sieman passed away after a lengthy illness. Rick was an instrumental figure in the magazine world, serendipitously mated to the explosion of dirt bike popularity. He was in on the ground level with Dirt Bike Magazine which launched in June of 1971. Rick was a sign painter by trade, started working at Hi Torque selling ads for a chopper title and was sucked into Dirt Bike when his writing prowess, wit and humor landed him a job on the staff.
Wasn't he Mister Know-It-All, too?
He 100% belongs in the Hall of Fame – hell, so does Jody and Tom Webb for that matter.
Mr. Know it All was Vic Krause
Oh man that's so good! Brutal but absolutely hits the nail on the head.
Jody is already in the HOF; he made sure everyone knew by crowbarring a bit about himself in on the beginning of the MXA video about Troy Lee being inducted. What's that saying from the Johnny Bravo cartoon? "well, enough about me. Let's talk about me..!"
He certainly deserves to be in the HOF, but I have to wonder would he want that honor. As I recall, he wasnt a big fan of thr AMA.
Pit Row
Hunk was also a competition weight lifter,and raced a triumph 650 chopper in the mint 400.
Legend.
SON OF THE GREAT YELLOW DIRT BIKE TRUCK
By Rick Sieman/October 1983/Dirt Bike
(Over the years, I had a number of El Caminos. One in particular stood out. It had an engine in it that powered a lakester to over 200 miles per hour at El Mirage. Brian Fabre stuffed that engine in an El Camino and sold it to me. I got more tickets with that rocket than I cared to think about. The only other problem was that I could not keep a clutch alive in that vehicle. I still vividly recall heading out to the desert in the wee hours of the morning with two bikes in the back, and comfortably cruising at about 130 miles per hour on the empty back roads.)
In the mid-'70s, a noble vehicle captured the hearts of the dirt biking public. It was called the Great Yellow Dirt Bike Truck and served to shuttle all manner of machines, as well as the somewhat ill-mannered staff of Dirt Bike Magazine.
An unpretentious unit, the G.Y.D.B.T. was, in fact, a ratty 1964 El Camino painted school-bus yellow. Some wits of the day likened its progress down the road to “a 200-year-old sea turtle emerging from a stupor.''
Others, less kind in their comments, noted that “It's the closest thing imaginable to a rolling ghetto.” One especially vicious detractor commented: “General Motors must hang its corporate head in shame when that thing wallows down the road.”
True, the G.Y.D.B.T. was a less-than-perfect machine in its later years, but it served the DB editors without a whimper for almost 300,000 miles. Without one single oil change, it might be noted. Try that with your new Citation, buster!
The function of The Truck was to transport bikes and people from point A to point B. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less.
Because the G.Y.D.B.T. was taken for granted, it received little or nothing in the way of service. It burned oil at copious rates. Any kind of oil, we might add. It thrived on a diet of Bel-Ray, Spectro, Yamalube, Torco or Pep Boys reprocessed oil. Two-stroke or four-stroke—it apparently made no difference.
We also used The Truck as a receptacle for gas we wouldn't dare run in any bike. When a bike had been sitting for the better part of a year, the gasoline would be ceremoniously drained out and poured into the gas tank of The Truck. It apparently ignored the varnish, dirt, water, mung balls and dog hair that might be contaminating the fuel.
Pre-mix also got dumped into the G.Y.D.B.T. on a regular basis. This sort of controlled neglect led to more or less steady plug fouling. Cylinders 1, 3, 5 and 7 were more prone to placing syrupy deposits on the plug tips than the others were, so they received hot plugs from two-stroke bikes.
Still, the vehicle never failed to start and get the bikes to and from their intended goals.
Visually, it left a bit to be desired. Inside, there was usually a collection of hamburger boxes, dried-up French fries, pop cans, cigar butts, napkins, straws, paper cups, empty bags, crunched-up beer cans and taco wrappers.
The exterior didn't have a hint of rust, but it did proudly sport a multitude of scratches from innumerable bikes leaning and falling against it. The grille looked a lot like an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon, from when it had made contact with a Nevada coyote somewhere north of Winnemucca at slightly over 90 miles per hour. The Truck, not the coyote, by the way.
A giant CZ sticker was on the roof of the car and it must have driven old World War II fighter pilots to near frenzy when they flew over the red and white bull's-eye CZ logo. Two glass-pack mufflers, long past their prime, let out a steady stream of bluish-white smoke, along with a mellow roar somewhat reminiscent of a P-5 1 Mustang with blooie pipes.
Anyway, this fine auto finally gave up the ghost. One morning it gave a death rattle that was too crude and loud to ignore. No mechanic would even give us an estimate. “There ain't enough money in L.A. to get this heap healthy!” was the disheartening verdict.
The last we saw of the G.Y.D.B.T., it was on a flatbed truck, squashed flatter than a pizza, no doubt heading off to Japan to be made into fake Zippo lighters or Yamaha kickstands. We shed a quiet tear and entered the age of Datsun pickups. Efficient? Yes. Soul? Hardly.
The years went by.
Please try to visualize pages of a calendar turning rapidly here. Our special effects are limited to words and pictures.
Then, lo and behold, another candidate appeared on the horizon. Another El Camino. A newer one, to be sure, but one that genuinely fit the mold of the original.
It was a 1972 El Camino on which a tree had fallen. The body was tweaked out, but still solid. The grille had more than a few encounters with lesser vehicles, but the hood still could be opened and closed with the aid of any reasonable sized screwdriver.
The engine was a mighty 350 V-8 that ran like a striped ape. Gas mileage was pitiful. The staff of Dirt Bike was ecstatic! Best of all, the El Camino was cheap. A veritable song and a dance.
Only a few things were lacking. First off, it was a putrid brown color, much like rubber donkey lungs. A trip to Earl Scheib would fix that in a hurry. A tasteful coat of eye-hurting yellow would add some character to the new G.Y.D.B.T.
A good radio was added and the tank was topped off with leftover pre-mix. But it still lacked something. The staff pondered for what seemed like minutes, then came up with an idea!
The P-51 Mustang jaws-and-teeth symbol was borrowed and a skilled sign painter applied the finishing touches. The Dirt Bike legend was applied to the doors and we were in business.
Son of the Great Yellow Dirt Bike Truck! Rocky IV. Jaws IV. All rolled into one!
Well, there you have it. A bit of history revived. Days of wine and roses once again. Now, if we can just find a cherry DT-1 to slip into the back …
I posted a thread in Non-Moto that highlights what Rick stood for. The use of OUR land. It's political in nature....
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/non-moto/rick-super-hunky-sieman-and-fig…
Cindy tells me he did. They were hoping it would happen last year. But Rita Coombs and Travis Pastrana edged him out (the both deserve it).
Did you know he was interviewed on "60 Minutes" (a really long time ago) about BLM overreach?
Wish I could find the video on that.
Of course he should be in the HOF, not only for inspiring so many of us to ride, but also for his standing up to politicians and law makers fighting for our rights to ride public lands. We'll never get to hear his HOF induction speech, and that's a shame, as I'm sure it would've been one for the ages. RIP Rick
Me, too. Really long time ago. I wanna say like in the 90s. I just happened to see it after watching a Cowboy game. He was ranting a bit. Something like: "What damage?!?!?!? We're just out here riding our motorcycles down some dirt roads! BLM trucks do more 'DAMAGE' driving out here to throw us out than a hundred dirt bikes!"
Google found this guy who was there when they filmed it on race-dezert.com:
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Saturday at 13:53
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Too bad I did not know you when you lived in my neighborhood. Rick was at our place a couple times a year. If you remember that second 60 Minutes show he did, that was in my shop at the house at Jensen and Haley.
There's some great stuff over there in this thread: https://www.race-dezert.com/forum/threads/rick-super-hunky-sieman.15522…
More gold from over there. Epic thread they have going.
Heh.... I found the Gore stuff too. I posted the Death Vote 2000 one in Non-moto to avoid politics in moto.
Another gem I found...
Kookie the wonder dog.
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