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Bob Hannah explains how he got started. Amazing story if you don't already know it!
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Great story!!!
A 3rd in a local race & he got free bikes , box van, gas card and 800 s month. You can’t get any of that now. Not even 800 a month. I hv a pal he,s real good in sand & won pro am full gates at red Bud, Millville,etc. he went to Ca. To race , practicing he blew the bars off of Dubach and he freaked out on him. You had to b a Cal. Bro in the 80,s to get a ride .
Right place, right time and smart enough take advantage of a situation. Must have been a great time to be involved in Moto….
What’s your pal’s name? Especially here in California, I get in convos with people and everyone seems to know someone who was a pro and getting free bikes at one time or another. I always ask for their name and every single time it’s a name you don’t recognize and you can’t find in a result anywhere, but said racer has beaten, Hannah, or Smith or Macgrath and on and on. Most recently a kid with a decked out Yamaha 450 claims to test for Yamaha with Tomac and has won most regionals and a moto at Loretta’s but once again can’t seem to find a result that matches the name. Humans!
The Shop
That is exactly how it was in Southern California in the mid 70s. I raced CMC a fair amount and when racing Saddleback, Hannah would be a few pits over, then Eierstadt, Mosier, Croft, Jennings, Staten, Denton, West, McDougal, etc, etc. It was insane!
Side note: While racing at Carlsbad, I overheard Nancy Moore (who basically ran the raceway) informing her son Corky that Factory Suzuki would be testing there the next day with Bob Hannah. And since all the Japanese mechanics didn't really speak English nor knew who I was (I was a nobody), I attached two XL Suzuki stickers to the sliding doors of my StepVan and acted as though I belonged - then tested those new RM100s and 125s with Corky and Hannah... Great memory!
The Golden Era!
Great read
Thanks for sharing that. Really enjoyed that read. There isn't anything even remotely close to stories like this today.
Hannah was one of a kind. He is a true legend and was definitely my moto hero back then.
Golden era indeed.
Cool pic too...
I need to get out to the Museum one of these days....
Droool......
Heck Yeah! That's like sneaking down to the front row of a concert!
Post some pictures if you've got them.
You need to understand what the line looked like at the “local race”
CMC Pro classes in 1975 were like mini Nationals. If Bob finished 3rd with the competition he was going up against it pretty much told them he’s a top ten National talent
Maybe so but in 75 it was a hippy scene on the gate. I ran into a few from thd 70,s , they said I hope most on the gate r 1/2 as high as me. When they smoked too much weed. Look at Donny Smidt 2nd in the Nationals on a bike not 1/4 as good as a factory Honda. And Suzuki can’t pay him, so he bought his own cr125 and beat all the Suzuki riders. Jr Jackson broke his collar bone 4 times in the 125sx then gets canned. A ton of non Ca. Riders got screwed. Bradshaw opened the door some for non Ca. Riders to get a chance. RC even more. Keith Bowen had a lot more raw speed , Bob hated him because he got slammed out of the way. Keith had raw speed Micky couldn’t beat him either straight up. They came up with a plan , start in 1st & cut him off. Micky was Super smooth & fast.
Neat story for sure!!
Hey Langham...I bet we know where he was most likely riding on those Friday's with his dad.
1980 Road Atlanta Trans AMA series. My friend and I woke up early and took his moms Chevy Vega without permission. I was 14 and he was 15, so neither of us was old enough to drive. We lived only about an hour and a half from Road Atlanta. We snuck into the pits and went and found Bob Hannah. I took his picture standing behind his box van in the pits. Keith McCarty is in the pic too. This poster has been with me since that day and hangs in my shop today. I have always been a Bob Hannah fan.
What would most people prefer?
A sport where the grass roots was stronger, but there wasn't much media coverage for the top guys to get 'rich'? Local guys could make a 'living', but a National Champion would make less than $2 million a year and would likely need to work a 'real' job after their moto career?
Or the way the sport has evolved into its current form where a handful of guys can make incredible money, but the local pro scene is virtually nil compared to to the 70s/80s?
Dude, you might wanna go read that, again, and a bit slower..too.
At those 1st few races where he got 3rd…one at Saddleback aka Saddleback Sunday where Jennings got 5th (that’s a FAST crowd at that time) and then he get’s 3rd behind Marty Smith and Tommy Croft a week later…at Carlsbad and let’s get this straight…
On a bike he’d never ridden before and only got on it the morning of the races…he gets 3rd against the likes of Smith & Croft! Do you know who these guys were…does the term “Factory Honda” mean anything to you? Because, these guys were the riders that Factory Honda chose.
MONTHS LATER…Suzuki gave him a ride as a test rider…he got a van, a gas card, $800 a month, a 250 & 370 …and…something that’s not clarified in the story…he raced 125s at the races along with his 250 & 370. Seems to me he rode the shit out of 125s for them.
So, again, at a New Model Release Demo…Bob gets on a bike he’s NEVER RIDDEN BEFORE and shreds with The Fastest Guys in The Class. As his Suzuki deal developed, he was known for showing up and being VERY competitive in MULTIPLE classes every weekend…you could say “Every Class”.
I don’t think his Suzuki ride was for more than..or as long as…year. Why? Because, Yamaha signed him as A Factory Rider November of ‘75. Btw, he does a good job of telling the story of how the race boss at Suzuki lost his shit when he’d found out that Bob had signed with Yamaha (he’d asked Suzuki for a ride they’d said,”No.”).
That’s how Bob got to ride “Bruce McDougal’s old works 125 and Pierre Karsmakers’ 1974 works 250” during the winter of ‘75-‘76 and really made a name for himself as “the new guy”.
Anyways…you really left out a lot…
It’s WHO he beat…and HOW he beat them…and the fact that he was a nobody on a bike he’d never ridden before.
I’m jus’ sayin’…
There was a legend that got reprinted in MXA back in the '80s about some world-beater who nobody knew. Someone wrote in about a local race at Carlsbad, wherein the local guy absolutely ruined everyone in 250 Pro. He said all the top guys were there: O'Mara, Glover, Ward, Johnson. And according to the letter, "[Mystery dude] smoked them all! Who is he and why doesn't he have a factory ride?"
I'll probably never know if they were joking, but MXA replied that they knew who he was and that Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki were each pitching in equal amounts of money to keep him out of motocross. I have a feeling the whole story is BS, but it keeps me up at night wondering if there was or still is the ultimate MX rider who never came out of the woodwork.
Ok relax Mr Green. We all Love Bob & his stories ,and i had a magazine page of Bob cut out on my bedroom wall. But winning the winter ams or a local Ca. Race gets you nothing today. I think there was fast riders in other parts of the country in 76. Just like today if he was told to race Millville, Wi. Ltm in iL. On a 125 he would b competitive. But I don’t think he would dominate. Some of these kids started working at 5 yrs old on a farm. There tough & hv speed of the last yr 125,s where raced at nationals or gp,s. A local kid Kane the Hurricane just came off a 85. He went out of st & bought a 125 gas gas and drove to a race. The bike wouldn’t run they worked on it at night, it was the float. Never road the bike 1st gate drop he won against hvy comp of a full gate. No he didn’t get signed by gas gas. I talked to fc wed they know the Midwest has a lot of fast 125 riders.
Pit Row
Could b true, Look at Marty Moates Ca. Rider but on a iL. Chicago Land shop bike wins the biggest race ever. Our local guy racing stock Suzuki,s beat a 125 sx champ Jimmy Gadis Kawi flew him to 15 rnds of the Lake Geneva Fri night sx. Packed grandstands a lot of Chicago money was thrown at the series. Ezerins went to Florida to & won. There fast guy was pissed saying who the hell is that Ezerins. They raced Sunday then at Byron IL. Full gates again. Ezerins made 4,800 one week , Chicago dealerships double contingency money, many other co.s paid . Why would they do the Nationals to make nothing.
All those commercials we saw as kids were wrong......
The post above is actually your brain on drugs.
English please.
The 90,s had the biggest turn out. The last few yrs it’s all about marketing the very top riders. A marketing, buisness degree persons job is creating a fantasy that the rider is above all others. A lot of money is spent promoting them. The tracks r tamed down to prolong there career , permanent #,s, etc. It kinda works but does it ? The constant fan boy threads show an interest in the marketed rider. The adds r constantly pushed. But most fan boys don’t race or buy a lot of parts and accessories. The co.s that make everything don’t make as much money today. So they hv to increase the prices, since there is much less riders. Now the 125 riders the most important since it’s all about skill and most exciting racing. Hv a hard time purchasing the parts needed. Since the co.s can’t afford big discounts, free parts of bonuses. Because it all goes to the top.
Haha Your probably 1 of the many that insult a kid for winning a 125 race. Saying your no Jimmy D he would smoke you Lol. I can believe they do that. Why do ya think there is no 12-17 yrs old 125 riders on here. You guys would rip them apart insulting them.
Add in that the factories were or are here. Japanese engineers were involved every day. These bikes were being evaluated and developed daily. Did anyone see where he worked on the bike at the Suzuki headquarter? It's kind of hard to do that in Pig Knuckle, or Hooterville or anywhere that wasn't Southern California.
When they get me and you coming at them from the same perspective…?
Do they have ANY idea of what they’ve done?
So, to the good & well argued gentleman from Texas via Washington, I concur and reserve the rest of my time to agree with him, continuously and on the record…
I yield back.
Yeah but they hv to be somewhere. Wi. Had the 1st auto race in the world. Did auto racing only hire drivers from Wi. ? No . Harley Davidson r built in Milwaukee. Did they only hire Wi. Riders for racing or hill climbs ? No. That’s why it’s ridiculous that Mx pretty much only hired riders from Ca. 70,s through the 80,s. We just had a snow storm , so I get it . The weather is not ideal for Mx.
My grandma smokin a cig drinking a Budweiser at Ponca probably flirting with Hannah
I'm not insulting any kid for winning a 125 race. I'm just pointing out that you are an illiterate jackass, nothing more.
Hannah was the greatest American moto racer and always will be. Not as many wins as RC4 but still #1 all around for multiple reasons.
Suspect there was a sand hill or a slide involved.
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