Page 16 - PULSE-3-RIDERS-BIKER-SUPPLY

That had to be great cross-training for flat
track as well... Oh, it’s the best. I mean, there’s more traction on the lake than there is on the dirt.
How did you get the nickname Gonzo? Well, my cousin Terry Brow who was also a motor- cycle racer, he gave me the nickname Weasel
-- and that was okay when you’re a little kid or younger. So I’ve always been a Ted Nugent fan, I’m not much of a muppet fan so the Gonzo didn’t come from that, it came from Ted Nugent. I made my own nickname up, ‘cause I wanted something different. They’re trying to nickname everybody these days and I guess you gotta get a good one, so I had to change it from Weasel.
1975 was an awesome year for you in the novice class as you broke the record for most points scored by a novice. There was actually a little controversy that year because you decided to stay in the nov-
ice class, what happened with that? Oh, it was really cool. Basically, what happened to me was that my dad and I thought “We don’t have an XR750 and we’re not gonna have one. If I only do four races and get my points I can move up, but what’s the point?” I turned sixteen on the thirteenth of September, so we thought let’s just hold off a ride a whole season ‘cause we’ve got
Bultaco behind us anyways. The Bultaco factory sponsored me, Carlisle tires jumped on board, and Bel Ray oil -- between the two, they would give me contingency. It was only forty dollars to win a novice main event and they would give me fifty a piece for winning. I pretty much won most everyone I went to, so it panned out good for us back then ‘cause then we could afford to go, and we went to a lot of races. I had a lot of good fast guys around me, so they made me faster, ya know. There were a lot of good guys out there and to make the main event at the half miles, you had to win one of the twelve fastest races or else you didn’t move up.
1977 was your rookie year in the expert class and you got your first podium out of the way at Du Quoin. You probably had no idea what was coming in the season finale at Ascot later that year, what do you remember about the record breaking win
there? Well, here’s the thing...we heard it was tacky, we were prepared to go there with some
of the best suspension. Pecatonica, Illinois has that gumbo dirt also that’s so sticky and we were bottoming out all over the place. It was scarin’ me at Pecatonica and I told dad “I just don’t feel like ridin’ this thing, I feel like I’m gonna kill myself.” So he said “You’ll be alright, just tell me what you
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16 THE PULSE • ISSUE THREE