| February 26, 2024
Cycle News Archives
COLUMN
And It Was a Hot One
By Kent Taylor
Throughout most of the United States, motorcyclists are in lockdown, hostages of Old Man Winter, Mother Nature, Mr. Snow Miser, and any other sadistic, mythical beast who derives pleasure from keeping good, hardworking people from enjoying their outdoor fun. Our motorcycles sit in hibernation, tucked in for a winter’s nap behind our snowblowers and shovels. Meanwhile, we plod along like Ernest Shackleton and the crew of The Endurance, searching through the ice packs for a passageway to the trash dumpster or mailbox. Other than the fact that Shackleton’s crew ate blubber and drank seals’ blood to stay alive, our plights are almost identical to one another.
Now would be a great time to reminisce about a warmer day, so this week’s Archive column both turns back the clock and cranks up the heat! Not just once, but twice, as we look back to July 17, 1977, when two major motocross events were held in America on the same day!
The AMA’s 500cc National Championship (God rest your soul) kicked off the ’77 season at Lake Whitney, Texas. July in Texas means hot, and Lake Whitney would not disappoint. CN reported, “The sun crept its way past the 110-degree mark, and the shade, when you can find it, wasn’t much better.” Hot and dry motocross almost always means dusty racing as well, and by the look of the photographs, it appears that the racers dealt with choking, heavy dust.
Meanwhile, a few hundred miles to the north, many of the world’s best 125cc racers were in Lexington, Ohio, for the 10th round of the 1977 125cc World Championship Series, where CN editor Charles Morey referred to record-high temps as well. A quick check of the weather almanac shows that Lexington’s high was in the low 90s that day, almost jacket weather for Texans.
Fittingly, the Lake Whitney race became a battle between a couple of Texans. Though neither was born in the state, Steve Stackable and Kent Howerton had been battling each other in Texas motocross for many years, and on this day in 1977, they took their rivalry to the front of a pack of some of the greatest names in the history of AMA motocross, with Stackable leading the way throughout both motos. Howerton, who was the reigning champion, took second in both races, while eventual champ Marty Smith was third overall on the day.
“My strength was gone,” said Kent that day, explaining why he dropped 15 seconds behind Stackable near the end of the moto—Stackable just played it cool.”
Stackable said in our report of the race, “I figured I’d just set a pace during the second moto and see what Kent would do. I knew he had ridden hard the first moto and might tire out completely if he passed me. When he didn’t even try to pass me, I knew he was tired, and I just picked up my pace a little more.”
All these years later, Stackable recalls what motivated him to his double moto sweep that sweltering July day.
“I had ridden for Suzuki in 1976 and had a good season,” he said. “I won a 500cc National and finished third in both the 250 and 500cc classes. But I had a knee injury that kept me out of the Trans-AMA Series, and Suzuki let me go at the end of the season.
“I went back to Maico and vowed not to let any Suzuki rider beat me in 1977! And they didn’t!
“That was definitely a big day [at Lake Whitney] for me. That heat was tough, and I knew it was going to give those California boys fits! I lived in those conditions, so I was ready for that heat.”
Stack’s win at Lake Whitney obviously put him in the lead for the championship, but it would be short-lived, his mostly stock Maico living up to its “Maico Break-o” reputation.
“At the second round of the series, there was a very steep downhill section, with a series of bumps and ruts at the bottom. I hit that section, and the forks on my Maico locked up and pitched me off. That DNF right there cost me a lot of points, and I could never make it up.”
It was a good day to be a Texan that day at Lake Whitney, and Stackable obviously knew how to combat the oppressively hot temps. Photos show his custom jersey, carefully cut in strategic places to allow at least some air to cool his lean, lanky figure. He had his Maico, a bike that was a match for any Japanese works bike made at that time. Stackable and Maico went together like Peaches & Herb, and they would be reunited many times throughout his career. Stints on Suzuki, Kawasaki and an LOP-sponsored Yamaha would lure him away. But when each gig ended, Steve would come back home to the motorcycle made in Germany, which was also where Stackable himself was made as well, born there on July 3, 1954.
While Stackable was giving Maico its first-ever victory in AMA motocross, in Mid-Ohio, Team Suzuki’s Gaston Rahier was wrapping up his third consecutive 125cc World Championship. Rahier had won his first two World Championships without much challenge, but 1977 saw the rise of Dutch rider Gerard Rond, a factory Yamaha racer who gave Rahier a solid fight for most of the season. Rond won the first moto over Suzuki’s Koji Masuda, with Rahier in third. But a sprained knee took him out of moto two. Rahier collected the win and the overall, with Masuda an impressive second. In the 1970s, European riders thoroughly dominated motocross and journalists heralded the finish of “first American” in their race coverage. On this day, Moto-X Fox-sponsored rider Pat Richter nabbed that distinction with a solid 5-3 for third overall.
“I worked very hard,” said Rahier of his Mid-Ohio win. “I’m tired. I’m not used to this heat.”
Rahier’s streak of 125cc World titles ended in 1978 when his Suzuki teammate Akira Watanabe took the championship from him. In America, Short Stack’s Lake Whitney win would be his last major AMA victory, and three years later, Denny Swartz gave Maico its second and final AMA National motocross win. And Maico went away into the land of lost motorcycle marques a few years later and has yet to make a meaningful comeback. A day of firsts for Rahier and Stackable was also a day of “lasts.” CN