Something That Bugs Me.

One thing that bugs me in the pro motocross world (well let’s be straight here, there’s a ton of things that bug me but we’ll cover one today) is that the old warriors of moto don’t get saluted or thanked for their memories and championships. They just go away. Only the very elite few like MC or RC have any kind of “Farewell, thanks for the memories” ceremonies. If this were a stick and ball sport, we in the media would be fanning over them non-stop and then in a few years, trying to figure out whether or not they belong in the hall of fame.

But noooooooo, in our sport a guy like Ezra Lusk, who was a bad motherf****r and was one of the only riders that could beat McGrath straight up just shows up at Washougal, goes like7-4 in the 450 class and then walks off into the sunset. A multi time 125SX champion and honestly, one of the more popular riders back in the day (I used to get chills when he was introduced in Atlanta..serious) just up and quits. This bums me out, that we’re not notified that he’s retiring. A lot of times these riders can’t get rides for the next year so that’s why they quit, ala Larry Ward. Big Bird is another great rider that just….stopped….racing. The list goes on and on

Here is the Bomber..my hero. He just never got the send off he deserved and I'm still mad dammit! I took this image from Google and I'm wondering if this is even legal. Photo by Google. Maybe that helps?

One of the reasons I’m upset at this trend is that when I was a kid, I was a big fan of Mark Barnett. He was the winningest rider in 125 motocross history, a 4X champion and one of the legends. He raced inferior equipment the last couple years of his career and then switched from Suzuki to Kawasaki and even more drastic, Fox to Answer gear. So he goes out in 1985 and wins Atlanta SX with a 2-2 score (goofy 2 moto format). He drops down to 125’s and gets 2^nd at the opener and sets a tone for the series. Then he gets hurt and disappears. He drops off the grid and no magazine writes anything about this total legend and what he’s doing. Remember, this is in the age of MXA and Dirt Bike and maybe Dirt Rider-there wasn’t much out there then. But I hung on every word that the Wrecking Crew wrote and there was NOTHING about the Bomber. I didn’t know who/what/where my hero was going to ride in 1986. After all, in my convoluted mind, the production rule was coming in, the times were changing, Bomber would have equal equipment now, the domination could begin again!

Then it happened. One month I pick up the MXA and there is a small picture and the caption that said the Bomber has packed it in and retired. That’s it. No interview, no story no anything. A 13 year old kid in Canada was crushed and distraught over the flippant way this all went down. It wasn’t fair. Keep in mind that this wasn’t John Finkleday or some journeyman pro (no offense to the Finkleday fan club members) that retired. This was, at the time, one of the top five motocrossers WHO EVER LIVED. And months and months later, still no interview! As a matter of fact, when I started working for Tim Ferry he was getting Mark to build his tracks and I had to ask him then about it! I had to wait 14 years for my answer. Please, stop the madness.

So now you see why I feel like we need to honor these moto heroes for what they gave us. I don’t want to see some kid end up like me. Just wondering what happened to “his guy”. Knowing Ezra like I do, I guarantee you he didn’t want a farewell ceremony for himself but I say, too f-ing bad. Let the fans say goodbye to you, let us regale each other with stories about your riding and let us remember that at one time, on some track, you made us a memory.