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"One of the most surprising events I ever witnessed in National racing happened within the frame of this picture. Danny "Magoo" Chandler #594 had the inside holeshot in the first moto. Notice the AMA Official in the white at the top center of the photo. You can see the track comes down right in this area and would pop riders back up onto the front straight at the completion of a lap.
Magoo was in the lead and flying when he came around on the first lap. For some reason the official never moved and was clipped hard by Chandler while he was in the air. I know the officials arm was broken and he was knocked down but I guess I was too shocked to do anything but watch because I don't have any pictures of the incident. What happened next was even more surprising. Chandler managed to keep from going down after the impact and kept the bike upright and steady. While still in the lead as a rookie he pulled off to the side of the track tossed his bike aside and ran back to make sure the official was ok. How many young pros today would do the same?"
I sat just across the start chute from where the riders did the "Corn Popper" and landed on the start then turned left. I saw the whole thing and thought the AMA official was dead! It looked like Danny's left peg would have ripped the guy's face off. The guy just fell backwards down the sloped track edge. Freaky!
http://www.classicmotocrossimages.com/photo_album4.html
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Roger..... Danny, where's your chest protector? Your going to get killed!
Magoo.... Im not going to get killed, Im going to win...
He was Showtime before Showtime was invented.
This is a very sad day.
Those who were lucky enough to witness him in action and hang out with the wildman were truly fortunate.
Danny "Magoo" Chandler to me is on an elite list.
He's on the same short list with the likes of Bob "Hurricane" Hannah
and Brad Lackey. Danny help mold and shape the sport we love.
His World Wide appeal and dominance is clear, no easy task.
The wild-n-crazy, red-headed kid from Northern California became a true
force in the sport. I have so many stories of him in my head from the local
pro scene to the National spot light, he always showed a strength and determination
seldom seen. And win he did, & Danny won big. Though Championships eluded him,
he was no less a Champions Champion and always a threat to win, always.
Rest in peace my friend.
Dave O.
This is a very sad day. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. I would like to just once again say this.... Thank you Danny! You have done so much more than you could possibly realize.
Rest in peace and God bless.
Also love FTE's pic of him riding backwards at Unadilla. I think his leathers said "Road Hog" on the back. He was hucking a serious leap into and out of Gravity Cavity that day! There was/is no one like him. GodSpeed
RIP Magoo
Danny @ Unadilla podium. Fran Kuhn photo.
The photo's from the USGP (above) were taken by me that day. After Danny won that day he handed me the bottle of champagne and let me finish it off. Thanks Danny.
Danny and Tracy and I became acquainted at Answer Products where I was the only non-owner/family employee at the time. The weekend we met I went to watch him at Saddleback and he told me "I gotta win this weekend so we have money to get back home" (see photo). Well he bailed and I went to the hospital and gave Tracey my "Mobil" card so they would have gas money to get home. As luck would have it, I didn't see that credit card for about six weeks, and from the charges on it, I guess I became a temporary sponsor to some other races
We kept in touch and when he went to Europe to ride for KTM he lived in England and Tracy would send an occasional post card to keep me up on what was going on besides what I could read in the Cycle News or MXA (no internet then). He was always real down to earth and just loved riding a motorcycle more than anything on earth.
Pit Row
He had this cover framed on his wall, to get the shot they hung the bike up and he climbed on it:
Here are some randoms pics, hope they arent repeats:
I wanted to share a few pictures that I took of Danny at the 1983 RedBud Pro National. Some of you might have already seen them....and some of you might have not. I hope you all enjoy.
Godspeed to my biggest MX hero.....Danny "Magoo" Chandler!
Magoo and his wife Tracy getting interviewed by Larry Maiers up in the tower before the race.
Magoo holeshots the first moto!
Magoo leading Broc Glover
This is typical Magoo style!!
On the gas starting to gap Glover coming up the straight before the Monza Bowl turn.
High Point gear, socks rolled over the boots, and flat duckbill visor!
Check out the roost coming off the back wheel of that factory RC500!! Feet on the pegs and WFO! So Magoo!!
Rounding the Monza Bowl turn....
This is the view many racers had of the legendary Magoo....and this is how I want to remember him.
If I owned race team I would be sure to show it to my riders from time to time.
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Re: RIP magoo
Postby HAMMERTIME on Thu May 06, 2010 4:41 am
after washougal nat 84/85...i hung with danny and he said "i like your spirit kid"...sent me home with his full set of hondaline gear. i wore it the next year here and there.
some people say he was the fastest open bike rider ever....nobody really remembers how small he was. people remember jeff ward being like 5'4...whatever pounds on a winning open bike. when danny gave me that gear...i wore it comfortably the next year as a int. i don't know how big i was then....but in 125/250 jr as a champ i was 4'11/90lbs. my dad had me on blocks both feet. so that next year in dannys gear i bet i was like 5'3/120.....he was sweeping des nats at that size on 500 factory bikes :!
us guys in that era know danny's ferocious talent and skill....his will to win will never be matched...hannah maybe. look at billy's photo...no bar, clutch and a missing shifter and he's still pinned.
nobody will ever say danny was the greatest, but many will say he was the fastest and grittiest racer that ever lived!
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Re: RIP magoo
Postby HAMMERTIME on Thu May 06, 2010 6:26 am
i've said here forever that lechien and bradshaw are my legends...but those guys were my age range of influence.
magoo was a few years before but i was still aware. this guy was 120 lbs and won all 4 motos at the des nats on a 500....think about that. the guys in northern cali like bobbym and fte saw this guy get lifted onto 125's and 500's and reinvent the wheel of mega pinnedness.
the mag covers of this guy hanging upside down and endo'ing his maico's before his prime are still the best covers of mxa ever. post that, on factory 500 hondas at beets size were stuff of legend.....danny was unreal, nobody knew WFO like him. he invented massive gaps....the magoo double at saddleback ect.
i used to race roseburg oregon as a early pro....there was a downhill bump bump that was never considered jumpable....i heard danny did it. i was there when guys like phil larson were there (phil jumped suicide mth at saddleback first...before bailey and glover) and they never even thought about doing that d-hill at roseburg.
you young guys...just trust me...danny chandler was the first ever guy that could win the biggest races in the world yet at the same time was the first ever free rider!! he was unreal!!!!!!!
I stared at it for ages. I had never seen anything like this. We'd all seen cross-ups but nobody had ever laid a bike flat before. Not only was it flat but it was one-handed!
This was before freestyle. Before play-ride videos. It was ground-breaking.
I just stared at it, looking at how the clutch lever was level with, or even perhaps below the tyre! I wondered how he could possibly do that. How did he get it back upright? What would have happened if he didn't? How did he know that it was even possible to do that with a bike?
I went back and stared at the photo over and over again. Even now, nearly 30 years later I still admire that picture. It was the start of freestyle in my opinion. Magoo, you were a hero. A crazy dude, but a hero.
And the Wohlen holeshot. Has there ever been such a monster holeshot before or since? He was in a class of his own that day and I wish I had been there to witness it.
However I think that the bent-bars shot is possibly my all-time favourite photo. That one picture says everything that needs to be said about Magoo's character, desire and will to win. It makes a mockery of every pro who's ever pulled out of a race because of bent bars, no brake, arm pump, a stone in their boot or a fly in their goggles. JLaw, are you paying attention?
That 'bent bars' photo should be made into a motivational poster with the caption 'winners never quit', and factory team managers should hang it in the trucks and force their riders to stare at it before they go out.
Magoo, you were a legend.
My buddy set me str8 yesterday, its a blessing really. Magoo is free now, unencumbered by a broken body.
"If you believe in forever, then life is just a one night stand, if there's a motocross heaven, then you know they got a helluva track." Ride on, Magoo.
Along came a group of South American deaf/mute motocrossers with this young lad acting as their signer, translating questions they wanted to ask Danny.
After all the photo's, autographs etc., Danny asked me to get a copy of his DVD which he signed and then gave to this young boy, saying "your de man", thanks for helping your friends, have this from me.
You should have seen the look on the boy's face, priceless!
That just showed to me the humanitarian Danny was and is a memory I will cherish forever.
Last year at Franciacorta MXoN in Italy Danny and I were waiting in his hire van outside the hotel, whilst his good friend Kris Egbert tried to track down a FedEx shipment of t- shirts that had got waylaid.
We were just talking about life, reminiscing about his old racing days, his outlook on life.
Never once was he downbeat on his situation.
Everyone he met was touched by his spirit and his memories will live on forever.
Godspeed Magoo
Post a reply to: Godspeed Danny