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“My goal is to keep going and to someday be the oldest motocross racer in the world.”
By Kent Taylor
“A little bit of the disease for the cure” is the theory behind the science of the vaccination. Chickenpox, measles and mumps are introduced to the system to help the body fight off…chickenpox, measles and mumps!
The theory behind the science of motocross is that repetition is what makes us faster, so on the last day of the year in 2024, longtime SoCal pro MX’er Val Tamietti was out practicing at the Glen Helen motocross track in San Bernardino, California. He crested a tabletop jump at high speed, something he had done many times, only to suddenly see something that he had likely never seen before. For some reason, another rider had stopped right in the middle of the track and right in Tamietti’s path. Changing lines in mid-air requires wings and propellers, so the inevitable collision between the two racers pitched Tamietti off of his Yamaha YZ250, eventually landing him in the hospital with a broken pelvis, broken tailbone and a brain hemorrhage. He remembers the moments leading up to the crash but has little memory of the several weeks he would spend in the hospital.
Such a horrific crash, resulting in injuries that would put a 68-year-old man in a wheelchair for three months, would likely mean it’s time to drive a nail in the wall, put the helmet on it, and hang it up. Call it a career. But even with the pain, even when doctors opined that he might not get out of that chair—ever, Val and his wife, Debbi, knew that there was only one thing that was going to cure him. That vaccine was called “motocross.”
“It was the dirt bike that got him hurt,” says Debbi, “and it is the dirt bike that made him well.”
Val Anthony Tamietti was 12 years old when he got his first motorcycle, a somewhat rare Keystone minibike. While most minibikes of that era had single-speed four-cycle engines, the Keystone featured a two-stroke powerplant and a real hand clutch. He soon graduated to a Yamaha AT-1 and would spend his sunny California days riding from his family home in Glendora to nearby hills and trails, a path that eventually took him to the motocross tracks.
“My dad [Paul Tamietti, but “Tami” to all] owned a chain-link fencing company. He saw that I really sucked at most sports, so he got behind me when he saw that I wanted to race. He would handle half of my expenses, but I had to work at the fence company to pay for my share.”
California MX kids lived in motocross’ version of heaven. Racing was available nearly every day of the week, year-round. Wednesday through Sunday, Val and his buddy-rivals like Dave Eropkin, Davey Carlson and a tall skinny kid named Mike Bell could be found dicing it out on legendary tracks like Saddleback, OCIR, Irwindale and Tamietti’s favorite track, Carlsbad. “I would ride two classes a day,” he says. “That worked out to 16 motos every week.”
He raced many brands before finding true love on a Maico, which was well-suited to his riding style. “Saddleback and Carlsbad would really develop a hard, blue groove. The Maico had a long-stroke motor, and it would give you the right kind of power for those tracks.” Tamietti rode his Maico to numerous California Motorsports Championships (CMC), including in 1976, when he won a new Ford van for being the CMC rider with the most season points.
This is the story of the factory racer. When a fast kid starts winning the big Southern California races, the factory-sponsored ride is sure to come his way. Championships, fame and fortune ensue. The end. It’s the Marty Smith, Broc Glover, Danny LaPorte and others’ story. But this isn’t Val Tamietti’s story. And he’s perfectly fine with that.
“One day, my dad said to me, ‘You’ve got to come watch this new kid in the novice class. He’s hanging off the back of the bike and just flying!’ That kid was Bob Hannah. He went from novice to pro in one week, and I saw that he had a really strong desire to win.
“Winning wasn’t going to mean life or death for me,” he says. “I wanted to win, and I did the best I could. I beat Mike Bell a few times, and I beat Danny ‘Magoo’ Chandler in a race in Sacramento, but when all of these factory riders would show up for a local race, I knew I would be lucky to get into the top five. I had to work for a living. Fencing work kept me in shape, but it wasn’t like riding or practicing, and I think that’s what you had to do to get to that level.”
Tamietti had his AMA Pro license, but he mostly stuck to the local scene. He has had a few brief spells away from racing over the years but always found his way back to the track. “Even after his crash last year,” Debbi says, “it was never a question—I knew he would ride again. He has to race. It’s what’s driven him to work out, eat better and recover. He just really wanted to get back on that bike.”
A few weeks ago, at Glen Helen, Val Tamietti mounted his Yamaha for the first time in 10 months. He missed the Veterans’ World Championship race, but says he will be back in 2026, shooting for the 70+ title. “My goal is to keep going,” he says, “and to someday be the oldest motocross racer in the world.”CN
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