Throwback Thursday: Mike Bell Wins “The Last Superbowl”
Larry Lawrence | July 25, 2019
Throwback Thursday: Mike Bell Wins “The Last Superbowl”
In this week’s Throwback we dial back the Wayback Machine 37 years to July of 1982, during the days of mostly white racing jerseys and when a lot of MX riders were still wearing open-face helmets. The race at the Los Angeles Coliseum was billed as “The Last Superbowl”. The stadium was about to undergo renovations for the upcoming 1984 Olympics and it was said after the updates Supercross would not be able to be held at the famous stadium. It turned out not to be the case, but fans in ’82 didn’t know that and they showed up in droves to watch what was thought to be a historic race at the birthplace of Supercross. The 65,000-plus fans got a great show. It was expected to be a showdown between championship contenders Mark Barnett and Donnie Hansen. Instead they witnessed a resurgent Mike Bell race his Ron Heben-tuned factory Yamaha to victory. It marked the end of a two-year Supercross dry spell for Bell. Bell took victory over teammate Broc Glover (also pictured on the right) and Honda’s David Bailey. Afterwards Bell said, “This is the first win in Supercross I’ve had in almost two years. It feels good to win the big one, the granddaddy!” And yes, “Too Tall” was one of those wearing an open-face helmet that night, and naturally it was a Bell.
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