The 70’s

I oh SO regret that I don’t have any cool pics of myself racing in the early 70’s like many have posted here…but while dear ol’ Mom & Dad were all-in on my brother & I having bikes, they were diametrically opposed to our desire to race! 
(My bro & I never raced until we were old enough to sign ourselves in at the gate! 🥵)

But I’ll go ahead & post this semi-nerdy (ALL-nerdy? 🤔) pic from about 1975 that completely encapsulate EXACTLY how growing up in the 70’s looked! 

10 years old…OKC, just before Christmas break in my folks front yard, on a warm December day, headed to the open fields adjacent to our suburb, where all the kids congregated after school! 
When I was in elementary school practically ever kid I knew had a small trail or mini-bike and we’d change out of the school clothes (unless you wanted to suffer the wrath of Mom for F-in’ up your “good clothes”! 😁) grab a snack, slip on the metal-flake helmet, tough-skin jeans & head out the door, knowing you better be back before the street light came on! 
By the time my own Son was in elementary school, he knew ONE other kid that had a mini-bike & there was NO where close to home where they could ride!

The 70’s were a great time to be alive! 😎 👍❗️

That's a great shot Kenny.

I rode that KX one ride-day at River Valley! Mike's still very moto-active. Rides the 70+ class in TVRC and AHRMA events. Full stable of bikes. He's got a little bit of everything. TT500, ATK, Husky, RM, CZ (that was the first CZ I ever rode in 2015), KTM and bunch of other vintage stuff.

I still have it.

Me and another (ancient) moto-bro are curators of this repository of digitized old school videos and imagery. We have digitized and published hundreds of stills, home movies and stories contributed by members of the facebook group we run:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/docriddlemotocrossmediarchive

which began when we discovered that the father of the late Tim Riddle (legendary DFW mxer) had shot hours and hours of home movies around Texas and Louisiana following Tim in the early to mid 1970s. We started a GoFundme to cover the costs of digitizing which closed within an hour of publishing it. 

After a time we started getting contributions for a number of folks, which we promptly post to the group. The mother lode of imagery and videos can be accessed here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Bnwis8k5u3ve04OZAwDzrBEebac7D887?usp=sharing

There's multiple appearances in there by all of 1970s Texas MX royalty including Wyman Priddy, Bobby Pickard, Tim Riddle, Jeff Kring, Steve Stackable, Jody Foust, Mike Crowley, Steve Hackney and countless more. The Lake Whitney battle between Jody Foust and Gary Bailey is pretty epic.

The trove of select still images we lifted from the videos

There are even my high school film projects shot at Mosier Valley and Green Valley Raceway stashed in there. 

1974 Mosier Valley MX film project

Mosier Valley project - cutting room floor

1971 SWRA moto, road, drag weekend at Green Valley Raceway

There's a video that captures brief glimpses of Mike Hance and I racing aboard the first two 125 Elsies in North Texas at Rabbit Run MX in 1973 shot by his grandmother (she shot hours of home movies, too):

August 1973 first two North Texas CR125M Elsinores in action at Rabbit Run

There's even this (very shaky) movie shot by a friend (who didn't know what he was doing) of yours truly spinning practice laps at Rabbit Run in I think 1974 (bc the yellow plate background meant I had moved up to B class):

1974 Myself during mid-week practice sessions 

And assorted other curiosities including some fun AI generated still-to-movie conversions.

Enjoy!

Yes. My first car. I figured for a time that I would hang up my boots to go drag racing with it. Mainly because girls relate to cool cars more than muddy racers. Then the economic reality of that pursuit set in, so I dusted off my boots again.

That is awesome, a guy down the street used to have one, it would pop wheelies.

Lord Hance is a good dude.  I raced with him a LOT back in the EVO Sports days.

"The Banana" has been known to lift the wheels. Not anymore. Not that it can't. But just about every drivetrain part, nut, bolt, etc, are unique to the J-codes. And there were only around 1200 J-codes sold. The radiator, the water pump, the hood springs, the driver's side exhaust manifold in addition to engine and transmission components were unique to the j-codes. I also have an unobtainable 'orange-yellow' hydraulic cam the CJ shared with the Boss 9 in my parts stash. 

It would be tragic to break something that can't be replaced.

This one is still running the motor I built for it in 1976. Down to the clutch disk. I keep waiting for something to break. But it hasn't so far since putting it back on the road in 2013.

That’s too precious to tear up

Had a 69 Mach 1.  Sold it sometime  79-81 to pay for school.  Although that "investment" in school paid off, I'd kill to still have it.  Loved the early fastback Mustangs.

This is what happens when you grow up around Doug Domokos...

That’s cool, I watched Domokos ride a wheelie all the way around the Houston Astrodome SX track. Sprocket was same size as the rear wheel 

Thats great to hear! I got that KX from Mike more than 16 years ago now, but all these laters, I still remember that dealing with him was as good as it gets, when buying a used bike! He underpromised & over-delivered! I have never forgotten that he was a good person & I am glad to hear that Mr. Hance is still going strong in the moto community!

😎 👍❗️

When we saw him, he had a small electric motor on his front wheel which allowed him to streer.

I’ve always LOVED the old van stuff and those pics are KILLER! 🤪

When I bought the house I still live in back in 1995, the fellow two doors down, had THIS gem parked in his garage! 
Since I’d been driving moto vans back to the mid 80’s, I was drawn to the van like a “duck to a junebug”! (Is that a saying anywhere else or strictly a here in the “land 0’ the redneck” thing? 🤔)

He was a Vietnam combat veteran, nicest & cool as a cucumber ol’ fellow! He had purchased a stock 1975 Chevy cargo van after his return from his 2nd deployment, and converted it into this, to haul his wife/kids back & forth on vacations down to Galveston, Port Aransas Texas etc (at least thats the “story” he gave to me!? 🤪) 

After a few years of him refusing to sell it to me, he knocked on my door one day & said…its time, if you still WANT the van, you can HAVE it! And I mean, for FREE! He said he wanted it out of the garage but wanted to GIVE it to me because he knew I was crazy to get it & he wanted it to go to someone that appreciated it for its 70’s nostalgia! 
We aired up the tires, pushed it out his garage & into my driveway…My auto mechanic buddy & I freshened everything up, oil change/new tires/battery etc and I started driving it for fun! It ran perfectly for 3-ish or so years and finally the tired ol’ V8 finally gave up and it needed a complete overhaul. 
Another old guy (well, older than me!) who had been on me (practically since I’d acquired it!) to sell it to him & with the wife & I in the middle of raising kids, we weren't really in a position at the time to spend the $$$ on a fun old weekend van, so I let it go…AND I HATE MYSELF to this day for letting the ol’ Shaggin’ Wagon get away too!

The response the ol’ van would get with the Crager mags, side pipes, porthole windows, dual sun roofs etc was a blast to experience! 
The memory of ALL the guys from the 60’s/70’s that had a similar van reliving their glorious van days when they’d see me at the gas pump, MTB trailhead, (or wherever!) were happy times that will stick with me always! 

😎 👍❗️

My brother had 2 of those vans. He even painted a mural on one of them. He hauled both of our CZs to race at Carlsbad and a few other tracks..

Second time trying to type this out. F'ing app lets you (accidentally) jump out without asking "Are you sure you want to lose these 500 words?"

Don't want to inflate his ego too much.  But Mike Hance is probably the nicest, big-hearted guy I have ever met in this sport:

1) My very first race at our local “Chicken Licks” raceway, which is Jody Weisel’s label for Rabbit Run – yes. Before MXA and California Jody rode out of the same shop in Richardson, Texas that Mike and I ended up riding for. Big R Cycle.

I was in the signup line, scared to death. I hand the lady my form and money. She looks it over and says, “Aww, honey. We already have a #17 in your class. You’ll need to pick something different.”. Shoulders slumped with a “What the hell do I do now?” look on my face. A couple of seconds later, somebody taps me on the shoulder. I turn around and the guy says, “Hey, bud? Keep your 17. I’ll change mine to 71.”. That was the moment I met Mike “Lord” Hance. We’ve been friends ever since. We kept those numbers. And, then, when Chicken Licks became an AMA track, we had to switch to 3-digit plates. Naturally, I became 170 and he became 171. I only switched to 177 because Bates was out of white #0s when I set up my 79 Elsinore.

2) That was only the beginning. About 2015 he purchased, refurbed and gifted an 83 RM125 to former national #220, Paul “Bermshot” Burnett at Oak Hill. 
 

3) Same day he brought out a #21 Husky 250 for the late Tim Riddle to ride just like the one Tim rode BITD. I think Tim raced it a couple of times before his doctors told him “No more.”. One of those races was at the late Mike Kidd’s Scramblecross events.

4) Same day he has a CZ 400 that he was letting anyone that wanted to spin some laps on it. Only condition? The bike belonged to terminally ill guy. After your laps, Mike would hand you a sharpie and ask you to pen words of encouragement on the gas tank. Only time I ever rode a CZ. How the hell did anyone get used to that shifter?!?! 

Founder of the legendary Team Cramp. (IYKYK). 

“Championships won at 3pm and 3am”. 

Best pit setup anywhere. 

“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”. 

“You can either get busy living or get busy dying. The choice is up to you.". 

Modelo Especial. 

Teekeelya.

Legends and Heroes could do worse than officially honoring my friend.

Whip, there's that slow mo moment in the MX part On Any Sunday where the CZ shifter is just springing back and forth after a shift.  They had quite a throw.  Tranny's were bullet proof though.  

I know the scene! And CZ riders swear you get used to it. Only gear I found consistently was neutral!

Hold the throttle wide open and pull up on the shifter, it was like a automatic. And you didn't need the clutch.