First American's
By Shawn McDonald
Shawn McDonald: How's it going Brad?
Lackey: I have to make a new Brad Lackey shirt. The current one says 1972 500 National MX Champion, 1982 500 World MX Champion and 2000 40+ AHRMA Champion. Now I have to make a new shirt that adds 2005 50+ AHRMA Champ, but I have to first beat this Pomeroy guy who has won the last two 50+ AHRMA Championships. I haven’t told Jim of my plan yet. I have to make some new shirts because my sales have gone flat because everybody has already bought the current shirt. So I have to go and win that damm championship so I can sell some new shirts! I love coming out to these autograph signing events with all these people. This store is really awesome. I used to come out to these type of events and nobody would show up, but Skagit Powersports did a great job of advertising and I hear they had Bob Hannah and Malcolm Smith here before.
SM: How does it feel to be sitting so close to Pomeroy?
Lackey: Jim is in a world all his own. He doesn’t know were even here.
SM: Hey, Bimbo! How are you doing?
Pomeroy: Oh, it's such an awesome thing. Whoever would have dreamed 30 years later I would still be signing autographs for fans. It's just unbelievable the way our sport has grown. I never dreamed the sport would become this big.
SM: Who actually is the 1st American you or Brad?
Pomeroy: Brad is the 1st AMA 500 MX National Champion and the first, and only, American to win a 500 World MX Championship. I'm just the first to go to my debut World MX GP and win, and no one has done it since. I was also the 1st American to win a World MX GP race.
Lackey: That's all true, and that's it. That's the end of it.
SM: So according to Brad your career peaked, and declined all in the same moment, in 1973?
Pomeroy: Thanks Brad! I was the 1st American to win a 500 GP moto at Carlsbad in the USGP. That was three years before American Marty Moates won the USGP with two good moto finishes.
SM: Now give me your version some 33 years later on why you call Brad, 'Partly Leaky'?
Pomeroy: Sometimes he was dependable and sometimes he was a little leaky. Brad's a lot better and more professional now than he was.
Lackey: Here's how the real story goes. I'm in the parking garage under the apartments, and Jimmy is parked out in the street because he has a trailer. I say, "Jimmy. I've got to get my car out of the garage so stay where you're at and I'll come out of the garage and come around the block. And then you can follow me to New York. I come out of the garage and go around the block. Jimmy is gone. He left without me and went all the way to New York by himself. Which for Jim is an amazing feat that he actually got there. That's what really happened. When you hear his story, whatever that is, it's totally false.
Pomeroy: It all started off with my Bultaco teammate Tom Rapp to go back east and race because he knew all the ropes having raced there. Tom came down with Mononucleosis and I was now without a traveling partner. I had borrowed a trailer from my sponsor Terry Saxlund and was sitting down in Los Angeles after the Supercross still determined to go back east and race. Brad had no place to stay in L.A. so I had a friend Roger Ridell who worked on the film 'On Any Sunday' and we stayed at his condominium. The plan was the next morning to follow Brad so that we wouldn't get lost traveling across the country. I had to go get my trailer which was inside a garage parking lot. I went to go hook up my trailer and when I came back Brad Lackey was gone. So Brad left before I did. It took me 4 ½ days to get there and the only driving drugs I had were sunflower seeds. I didn't drink coffee, and I didn't do drugs. Those seeds made my lips chapped and my tongue so sore. I opened my van door and all the seeds came pouring out that people thought I had hidden a bird inside.
SM: If you two couldn't hook up on a trip out of the parking garage how did you ever hook up in Europe?
Lackey: I tried to talk Jim into riding the 500 class in Europe with me, but he was a pea shooter 250 rider and I never saw him. I brought him over to Europe so we could be team mates, have fun together and he went and rode the little bikes, because he couldn't handle the big bikes. So I never saw him. If Jim was in Poland, I was in Belgium. He was in East Germany when I was in France. Russia, when I was in Luxembourg. They made all those 250 guys go to all those Eastern countries while the 500 riders were sitting around the Riviera. So I don't know why Jim made that move. The F.I.M. didn't make us go to the shit holes. We got to go the great locations. The 250 guys were the 2nd rate riders so they had to go to Poland, East Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia while I was hanging out on the Rivera, Paris, London. When I brought Jimmy over to Europe for the first time in 1972 as part of the American Motocross and Trophee Des Nations Team we were in Holland and hanging out. In Holland they have all those Hash bars and brothels on Canal Street and I couldn't find him for days. We were team mates in 1972, 1973 and 1974 where we finished in 2nd place behind the Belgians. In 1975 the AMA no longer considered us American enough to represent the United States because we rode in Europe and had ridden and knew all the tracks. Jimmy and I were the only American riders in Europe throughout the 70's. Marty Smith popped in for a couple of 125 races, but nothing other than that. I told Jim back then he could either stay in Yakima or go to Europe with me. I said, "Come on, let's go. It will be fun and we can go to the races together and have a good time." I was kind of holding his hand over here, and I thought I could hold his hand over there just as easy. Then he went and signed up with the pea shooters, and I never saw him. We would run into each other at the international races now and then, and when we had some time off in the pre-season we would race and practice together. Once the GP season started we might not see each other until we came back to the U.S. for the Trans-Am races.
SM: Pea Shooter class Jim?
Pomeroy: I guess Heikki Mikkola, Jaroslav Falta, Guennady Moisseev, Sylvain Gobers, Joel Robert were nobody's. There were about 20 guys that could win a moto in the 250 class while there were only 4 or 5 that could win a moto in the 500 class. It was a pea shooter class, but we had the faster lap times. Like Stewart today having faster times on a 125.
Lackey: Real men ride 500's!
Pomeroy: I tell you that you could hold the 250's wide open. The 500's you couldn't. You had to know when to turn them down, and exactly how much throttle to use in a corner. The 500 riders didn't have more brains than the 250 riders, but they did have more balls. Brad and I ran into each other several times at international races. I'd help him out, and he'd help me out. It seems like I helped him out more often because his bikes were breaking down more in practice. I would always save a little room for him so he could be on the front line with me on the start. I remember getting to Canal street with Brad and Jimmy Weinert and they told me to give them all my money because the're are going to steal it from you on this street. By the end of the night I had no money left in my pocket, so I don't know which was the better choice of them spending my money or me spending my money.
SM Tell us your version of riding with Steve McQueen?
Lackey: It was in 1971 at the Indian Dunes racetrack where I was doing testing for Kawasaki. Jim and I were there riding and McQueen came over and talked to us.
Pomeroy: We were looking at Ali McGraw more than anything.
Lackey: Oh, man. You got that right. McQueen was talking and she was standing next to him. We just went, "Uh, huh. Uh, huh. Oh, yeah. Just gas it in the corner. Uh, huh." She was smoking then. I don't know how long we were with McQueen because we were just looking at her. McQueen was a regular dude, and he could ride.
SM: After the GP wars you came back and raced against each other in the Trans-Am Series.
Lackey: We were battling buddies trading off the title of 1st American every week. We were having fun. After a season in Europe we were wore out by the time we got back to the states. You go over there in January and do all the International races, then race the GP's until August and then came home to race in the Trans-Am. We really didn't care that much about the Trans-Am. All the other Americans wanted to beat the Europeans and us. We had been racing against the Europeans all year so it wasn't a big deal to race against them again. We had good results and we usually beat all the other Americans, but it wasn't like a GP to us.
SM: What have you got stored in your garage today?
Lackey: A 1969 American Eagle 405, 1970 CZ sidepiper, 1965 CZ twin piper, 1973 factory Kawasaki Trans-Am bike, 1975 factory Husky, my 1982 World Championship Suzuki RN 500 and a 1960 CZ scooter. If I include all my other bikes it comes out to about 25 bikes in total. It took a couple of years looking for the Suzuki, then I had to find the original prototype Simons USD forks. Other than rebuilding the seat it was all there. It's in the AMA museum for the next couple of years right now. My Harley is a 1957 Panhead. There is Frankenstien which is a CZ motor in a Maico frame and suspension.
By Shawn McDonald
Shawn McDonald: How's it going Brad?
Lackey: I have to make a new Brad Lackey shirt. The current one says 1972 500 National MX Champion, 1982 500 World MX Champion and 2000 40+ AHRMA Champion. Now I have to make a new shirt that adds 2005 50+ AHRMA Champ, but I have to first beat this Pomeroy guy who has won the last two 50+ AHRMA Championships. I haven’t told Jim of my plan yet. I have to make some new shirts because my sales have gone flat because everybody has already bought the current shirt. So I have to go and win that damm championship so I can sell some new shirts! I love coming out to these autograph signing events with all these people. This store is really awesome. I used to come out to these type of events and nobody would show up, but Skagit Powersports did a great job of advertising and I hear they had Bob Hannah and Malcolm Smith here before.
SM: How does it feel to be sitting so close to Pomeroy?
Lackey: Jim is in a world all his own. He doesn’t know were even here.
SM: Hey, Bimbo! How are you doing?
Pomeroy: Oh, it's such an awesome thing. Whoever would have dreamed 30 years later I would still be signing autographs for fans. It's just unbelievable the way our sport has grown. I never dreamed the sport would become this big.
SM: Who actually is the 1st American you or Brad?
Pomeroy: Brad is the 1st AMA 500 MX National Champion and the first, and only, American to win a 500 World MX Championship. I'm just the first to go to my debut World MX GP and win, and no one has done it since. I was also the 1st American to win a World MX GP race.
Lackey: That's all true, and that's it. That's the end of it.
SM: So according to Brad your career peaked, and declined all in the same moment, in 1973?
Pomeroy: Thanks Brad! I was the 1st American to win a 500 GP moto at Carlsbad in the USGP. That was three years before American Marty Moates won the USGP with two good moto finishes.
SM: Now give me your version some 33 years later on why you call Brad, 'Partly Leaky'?
Pomeroy: Sometimes he was dependable and sometimes he was a little leaky. Brad's a lot better and more professional now than he was.
Lackey: Here's how the real story goes. I'm in the parking garage under the apartments, and Jimmy is parked out in the street because he has a trailer. I say, "Jimmy. I've got to get my car out of the garage so stay where you're at and I'll come out of the garage and come around the block. And then you can follow me to New York. I come out of the garage and go around the block. Jimmy is gone. He left without me and went all the way to New York by himself. Which for Jim is an amazing feat that he actually got there. That's what really happened. When you hear his story, whatever that is, it's totally false.
Pomeroy: It all started off with my Bultaco teammate Tom Rapp to go back east and race because he knew all the ropes having raced there. Tom came down with Mononucleosis and I was now without a traveling partner. I had borrowed a trailer from my sponsor Terry Saxlund and was sitting down in Los Angeles after the Supercross still determined to go back east and race. Brad had no place to stay in L.A. so I had a friend Roger Ridell who worked on the film 'On Any Sunday' and we stayed at his condominium. The plan was the next morning to follow Brad so that we wouldn't get lost traveling across the country. I had to go get my trailer which was inside a garage parking lot. I went to go hook up my trailer and when I came back Brad Lackey was gone. So Brad left before I did. It took me 4 ½ days to get there and the only driving drugs I had were sunflower seeds. I didn't drink coffee, and I didn't do drugs. Those seeds made my lips chapped and my tongue so sore. I opened my van door and all the seeds came pouring out that people thought I had hidden a bird inside.
SM: If you two couldn't hook up on a trip out of the parking garage how did you ever hook up in Europe?
Lackey: I tried to talk Jim into riding the 500 class in Europe with me, but he was a pea shooter 250 rider and I never saw him. I brought him over to Europe so we could be team mates, have fun together and he went and rode the little bikes, because he couldn't handle the big bikes. So I never saw him. If Jim was in Poland, I was in Belgium. He was in East Germany when I was in France. Russia, when I was in Luxembourg. They made all those 250 guys go to all those Eastern countries while the 500 riders were sitting around the Riviera. So I don't know why Jim made that move. The F.I.M. didn't make us go to the shit holes. We got to go the great locations. The 250 guys were the 2nd rate riders so they had to go to Poland, East Germany, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia while I was hanging out on the Rivera, Paris, London. When I brought Jimmy over to Europe for the first time in 1972 as part of the American Motocross and Trophee Des Nations Team we were in Holland and hanging out. In Holland they have all those Hash bars and brothels on Canal Street and I couldn't find him for days. We were team mates in 1972, 1973 and 1974 where we finished in 2nd place behind the Belgians. In 1975 the AMA no longer considered us American enough to represent the United States because we rode in Europe and had ridden and knew all the tracks. Jimmy and I were the only American riders in Europe throughout the 70's. Marty Smith popped in for a couple of 125 races, but nothing other than that. I told Jim back then he could either stay in Yakima or go to Europe with me. I said, "Come on, let's go. It will be fun and we can go to the races together and have a good time." I was kind of holding his hand over here, and I thought I could hold his hand over there just as easy. Then he went and signed up with the pea shooters, and I never saw him. We would run into each other at the international races now and then, and when we had some time off in the pre-season we would race and practice together. Once the GP season started we might not see each other until we came back to the U.S. for the Trans-Am races.
SM: Pea Shooter class Jim?
Pomeroy: I guess Heikki Mikkola, Jaroslav Falta, Guennady Moisseev, Sylvain Gobers, Joel Robert were nobody's. There were about 20 guys that could win a moto in the 250 class while there were only 4 or 5 that could win a moto in the 500 class. It was a pea shooter class, but we had the faster lap times. Like Stewart today having faster times on a 125.
Lackey: Real men ride 500's!
Pomeroy: I tell you that you could hold the 250's wide open. The 500's you couldn't. You had to know when to turn them down, and exactly how much throttle to use in a corner. The 500 riders didn't have more brains than the 250 riders, but they did have more balls. Brad and I ran into each other several times at international races. I'd help him out, and he'd help me out. It seems like I helped him out more often because his bikes were breaking down more in practice. I would always save a little room for him so he could be on the front line with me on the start. I remember getting to Canal street with Brad and Jimmy Weinert and they told me to give them all my money because the're are going to steal it from you on this street. By the end of the night I had no money left in my pocket, so I don't know which was the better choice of them spending my money or me spending my money.
SM Tell us your version of riding with Steve McQueen?
Lackey: It was in 1971 at the Indian Dunes racetrack where I was doing testing for Kawasaki. Jim and I were there riding and McQueen came over and talked to us.
Pomeroy: We were looking at Ali McGraw more than anything.
Lackey: Oh, man. You got that right. McQueen was talking and she was standing next to him. We just went, "Uh, huh. Uh, huh. Oh, yeah. Just gas it in the corner. Uh, huh." She was smoking then. I don't know how long we were with McQueen because we were just looking at her. McQueen was a regular dude, and he could ride.
SM: After the GP wars you came back and raced against each other in the Trans-Am Series.
Lackey: We were battling buddies trading off the title of 1st American every week. We were having fun. After a season in Europe we were wore out by the time we got back to the states. You go over there in January and do all the International races, then race the GP's until August and then came home to race in the Trans-Am. We really didn't care that much about the Trans-Am. All the other Americans wanted to beat the Europeans and us. We had been racing against the Europeans all year so it wasn't a big deal to race against them again. We had good results and we usually beat all the other Americans, but it wasn't like a GP to us.
SM: What have you got stored in your garage today?
Lackey: A 1969 American Eagle 405, 1970 CZ sidepiper, 1965 CZ twin piper, 1973 factory Kawasaki Trans-Am bike, 1975 factory Husky, my 1982 World Championship Suzuki RN 500 and a 1960 CZ scooter. If I include all my other bikes it comes out to about 25 bikes in total. It took a couple of years looking for the Suzuki, then I had to find the original prototype Simons USD forks. Other than rebuilding the seat it was all there. It's in the AMA museum for the next couple of years right now. My Harley is a 1957 Panhead. There is Frankenstien which is a CZ motor in a Maico frame and suspension.
