WARREN REID REMEMBERS SADDLEBACK - 1975

Warren Reid Remembers The San Antonio, Texas 1976 National...

125 National Championship Race, San Antonio, Texas 1976

By Warren Reid

         In 1976, the San Antonio 125 National was in it’s 2^nd year on the schedule.  It was the third-to-last National of the year in 1976.  Because it was a returning National, everybody knew what to expect.

 The course is held right next to a Sewage Treatment plant and in the heat and humidity of Central Texas, the entire place smelled like being locked in a full port-a-john at the County Fair Chili Cook-Off.  The race course went up and down little hills with hairpin turns everywhere.  The course was hard, dusty and it was oppressively hot. It was similar to the dirt in So Cal and it is no coincidence that So Cal riders dominated the 125 National at San Antonio.  Note that they don’t have Nationals in the South in Summer anymore and they don’t do 40 minute + moto’s anymore either.  We were tough.

I don’t remember many details of the 1976 San Antonio 125 National, but I remember the drama.  Bob Hannah was looking to dethrone the, up to that point, invincible Marty Smith.  There were a bunch of players and dramatic issues in the 1976 125 Nationals.  I could write a book on just that year.    

 This was the course that a year later in 1977, the famous ‘Let Brock bye’ (Not my spelling) chalkboard was held up for Bob Hannah so that Broc Glover could beat Danny LaPorte for the 125 National title.  (I’ll address that whole issue on another Blog, but in this one, I will touch on some of the drama and players that would be a part of the ‘Let Brock Bye” issue a year later.    

In the photo, you will notice number 39.  That is Bob Hannah.  He would win that day in San Antonio and take a commanding points lead over Marty Smith into the next round.  He would go on to wrap up the 1976 125 National Championship at the next weeks race at Rio Bravo in Houston, TX. 

 What a lot of folks may not know is that Bob Hannah rode the 1975 San Antonio National as the first National of his career.  In that race he rode a Yamaha for DG even though he was the primary Suzuki test rider in 1975.  He did very good at San Antonio in 1975.  He had high expectations for the race that followed too, but he passed out during the 2^nd moto at the next weeks final National in New Orleans and was hauled away to the hospital with Heat Exhaustion.  It was the last time that guy ever got tired that I know of.  

 In 1975 you got National points for the Overall position and not by Moto position.  Hannah earned is Number 39 for 1976 from his finish at one race at San Antonio in 1975.  I think he got 4^th or 5^th.  He was essentially a rookie in his first championship year of 1976.  We all knew him in 1975 in So Cal but nobody else in the country did.  In 1975, I thought he was fast, but I honestly thought he would implode someday.  He never did although he did prove fragile after his prime years of ’76, ’77, 78 and ’79.  He won a lot of races after that and his desire was never in question, but he couldn’t seem to stay healthy for an entire year.

 Another rider in the photo that is the other primary player on the day was Marty Smith.  You can see his head/helmet behind leader Broc Glover’s left soldier.  He hadn’t won a National over Hannah the whole season up to that point.  Smith had beaten Hannah convincingly at the 125 GP at Mid Ohio but that was it.  There were many reasons for this.  1) Hannah was not on Marty’s radar screen until the first race was over and he was not prepared for the sheer desire that Hannah brought to he table.  2) The press seemed to love Smith getting beat for reasons I cannot understand, (Just check out the Motocross Action coverage of the Hangtown 125 National in 1976).  That ate at Marty I think.  3) The claiming rule scared the hell out of Honda and they kept the Type 2 works bike and sometimes the Type 1 off the track using a CR125 at some races.  4)  There were so many more fast guys in the field in 1976 that it was harder to get to the front of the pack after a bad start.  5) Marty was also attempting to win the World Championship in Europe during breaks in the 125 Nationals.  Travel to Europe in the ‘70’s was terrible during the Cold War and Marty was extremely uncomfortable and homesick when he was there. 

There was a lot of tension around Marty, Honda and the FMF folks by the time the San Antonio National rolled around and Smith was almost resigned to defeat.  I think if he and Honda had known what they were to be up against with Hannah and Yamaha, they would have chosen to do more pre-season testing and decline the 125 GP’s.  Don Emler of FMF was a friend of Marty’s for years and was the pipe supplier to the Honda 125 effort.  In Emler’s eyes, Hannah was a “DG” guy so he was the enemy.  I was the primary FMF guy in 1976 and Marty was a friend of mine.  I was not in the Hannah camp although I never had any problems with him either.  In fact, I traveled to the last 3 Nationals in the Honda Van with Dave Arnold, Marty’s US Honda mechanic.  My Step-Father, Jon Rosenstiel was Marty’s mechanic for his first two 125 championships and was in Europe with Marty for his 1976 GP tour.

 I don’t see Steve Wise in the photo.  He was the “local” rider at San Antonio even though he lived 4 hours away near the Mexican border at the bottom tip of Texas.  He was fast at San Antonio in 1975.  For 1976 he dumped his 125 Factory Kaw early in the season for his own CR125 kitted with FMF parts.  Steve, Broc and I were in a tight battle for top Privateer in 1976.  We were fighting for 4^th, 5^th and 6^th and that is how we finished.  Dave Arnold and I went to Steve’s house in McAllen between San Antonio and Houston and had a great time on an evening Mexican Vacation. I was 17 and there were no age laws in Mexico there if you had $ in your hand. 

 An interesting note is that the top privateers were on Hondas.  Every magazine rated the Honda CR125 behind Yam and Suz for 1976. Go figure.   

 The photo shows Broc with a fantastic Holeshot.  He is the only guy in the photo on the gas.  (Note:  A motorcycle will not turn fast without a bunch of throttle to transfer the weight to the rear wheel)  Look at the roost he is throwing and check his clutch fingers ready to make the next shift.  1976 was Broc’s rookie year.  He had to miss the first National at Hangtown because his 16^th birthday was not until after that race and he couldn’t get his Pro license.  He was getting faster every race up to San Antonio.  In fact, he won a moto at the following weeks National at Houston.  He earned 5^th   in the1976 Nationals.  I had a chance to beat him at New Orleans for 5^th but broke both motos.  My bikes never broke.  I can only blame my mechanic, me.  FMF supplied all of the hop-up parts but I did all of my own engine and chassis rebuilding in 1976 having learned from the best, Jon R and Dave Arnold.  Not bad for a 17 year old, but I obviously missed something. 

 By the way, in the photo, I am number 20.  No mouth guard.  It was too hot and there weren’t any rocks on the course.  I have no clue how I did at that race.  I distinctly remember going to a Taco Bell after the race with my good friend Bruce McDougal, number 17 in the photo.  I remember saying something (not sure what) to a girl at the Taco Bell and she threw a coke at me but missed and hit McDougal.  He was 2nd in the 1974 Nationals and I think 4^th or 5^th in 1975.  He rode for T&M in 1976.

 Danny LaPorte is number 352 and was third in points at this point in the series and was starting to come into his own.  He was the main Suzuki rider after Billy Grossi had to miss most of the Nationals after an appendectomy.  Laporte ended up 3^rd for 1976.  LaPorte won the final two Nationals in 1976 after San Antonio at Houston and New Orleans which gave him momentum into the 1977 Nationals.

 I think that 364 might be Jeff Jennings, a So Cal speedster who had a factory Suzuki ride in 1976 and showed some flashes of incredible speed but very inconsistent.  Jeff Jennings is Mike Bells cousin. 

 I also think it might be an old friend of mine, Ron Turner who is crashing into Hannah.  His helmet is under LaPorte’s left elbow.  He was one of the few guys that raced with glasses.

Another thing I will say about San Antonio is a story that many folks that follow MX trivia may have read about me.  I shut down a Denny’s Restaurant the night before the race with the help of Danny LaPorte and Dave Arnold.  I can tell this story because the statute of limitations has expired.  The Denny’s was next to a La Quinta hotel which was the race headquarters.  I was told that La Quinta in Spanish means “Next to Denny’s”.  The manager of the Denny’s was a jerk.  Being MX guys and being young, we had nothing to do all day before the race so we hung out at the Denny’s and BS’ed and read magazines and basically took up space and didn’t spend much money.  Nobody made much then anyway.  The manager kept kicking us out and was really belligerent about it too.  Well this went on all day Saturday and by Saturday night the gatherings in the parking lot and balconies of the hotel starting ramping up the frustration with the Denny’s.  LaPorte and meandered over to the back of the Denny’s, lifted up the 18” square lid to the in-ground grease pit.  Danny and I climbed to first roof to the Denny’s and Dave handed the lid up to Danny while I climbed to the upper roof where Danny handed me the lid.  I put it on top of the smoke stack to the grill preventing any venting of the grill smoke.  It took about 5 minutes to fill the place up with grill smoke.  That manager thought we cost him money sitting in the booths.  He cost himself a bunch more money by being a jerk.  My kids are all grown now, so I am not worried that they will be influenced by this.  I have already molded them with the impression that I NEVER did anything illegal in my life.  I considered this civil disobedience as my way of justifying what was really just vandalism. 

 Here is an interesting point of coincidence after the 1976 season.  Glover earned Overall AMA National Number 17 and I earned Overall AMA National Number 23.  That year in CMC, which was the main So Cal racing organization that Glover and I rode during the Pre and Off Season, he earned number 17 and I earned number 23.  We didn’t have to change number plates from Nationals for local races.  What’re the odds of that?