Best looking wr250x in America - maybe world

We're WAY off topic here, but for entertainment purposes....

twday wrote:

Can't go with the Hannah dis. I've met him a couple of times, including when he was an AMA 250 champ and I was a support class rider and he has always been polite, friendly, and focused. If he didn't think you were being the same, I can easily imagine him blowing you off.

You caught him on a good day perhaps. ...and all I did was introduce myself and a young fan. ...and I had exclaimed a previous connection in our past. He never even looked up, or acknowledged this young kid who though he was "God" himself.

My feelings weren't hurt, but this kid was like "Wow, is that what MX stars are like", Perhaps it was a circumstantial pressure thing at a major MX event, and an exception. I wasn't impressed and the young man I was with found another "hero"; thus my opinion.

twday wrote:

I've been watching MX since 1969 and Hurricane is the best I've ever seen. The AMA created rules to keep him from winning all three classes in the same year, after he almost did it in 1976.

For the record, I was racing MX before you started watching it. I was riding on practice tracks mid-week with the likes of John DeSoto, Brad Lackey, Mark Blackwell (Etc).

Life in Minnesota is different from SoCal. It's no doubt Hannah was the best you ever seen. There are DOZENS of kids here (and around the US and the world) that are potential future stars (e.g. Ken Roczen). I'd argue that he's (Hannah) not the best there will ever be - there is ALWAYS someone better. ...or would you choose argue that too ?

Bob Hannah came along in the time of MX "Superstars" and set the path forward (McGrath era). It was WAY beyond the days I could (and did) walk up to Joel Robert and Roger DeCoster, Hikki Mikola, Ake Johnnson, Torsten Hallman (Etc) sitting in the back of a van and walk up and shake hands with them and get their autograph.

...and sorry; The AMA never created such rules for Bob Hannah. If so they created the same rules for Baily, Kehoe, Broc, Sun, O'Mara, Leichein, Stanton ( etc.... etc...) and everyone else who may have chose to ride two, or three classes.

Peace - Out...

Holy crap! Someone older than me who owns a WR? That's pretty cool.

I'm a mid-tech transient who totally by accident ended up in Minnesota in his dotage. I was probably riding Kansas dirt ovals when you were riding motocross in the 60's. I stumbled onto my first MX track in Texas in '70 and didn't own another street-legal bike until the early 80's. I met Hannah the first time in Nebraska when he was chasing all 3 titles and I was riding 125 support class. Met him again when he was doing his old guy comeback at Anaheim Stadium. He won the race and I ran sound for Dick Dale outside the stadium as the pre-race entertainment.

I missed out on the prime years of SoCal racing, Elsinore was closed just before we moved to Huntington Beach. Most of the great tracks were gone or going. By then, I'd classified myself as old and all of my MX and flattrack activities were behind an FOH console. I've seen a lot of races and Hannah is still the most exciting, fastest rider I saw anywhere. But, no, I can't imagine anyone will ever deserve the title as "best ever." I get into arguments all the time about MJ being the NBA's "greatest ever" and remain unconvinced, still, to many friends' disappointment.

I think you're wrong about the rules change, but I've been out of it for a couple of decades and can't find evidence to the contrary. As far as I remember, though, nobody else has been a serious contender for all 3 classes in one year. Hannah was in 1977. Others may have ridden different classes in a given year, but I don't think any of them accumulated many points. I do remember Hannah in '77 riding (and winning) both 250 and open at Herman and hearing the announcer mention, the following year, that he wouldn't be doing that again. There was an article in Dirt Bike about that, which is where I first heard about it.

I had no such luck getting to talk to DeCoster or any of the Europeans (except the Soviet bloc riders who wanted to know where the hookers were in Omaha) at the '75 Trans-AMA. Having raced and done a few absorbing things, it doesn't bother me when those guys aren't interested in my opinion of them. Some people aren't PR-oriented or can't multitask. I suspect it's a high price of being really good at something, a problem I'm unlike to have to worry about.

Tom