Volume 4, Issue 1: Spring 2008

Video Review

BackTrack
Written and produced by Kent Taylor
John Spence Video
Edited by The Conference House
Soundtrack by Mo Java Sound Studios and Studio Q
http://www.backtrackvideo.com/

Ed Youngblood

The 1970s was the decade when American motocross came of age. It began with America’s best finding themselves hopelessly outmatched by their European masters at the Inter-Am in 1967. Then Jim Pomeroy proved how quickly his generation could learn when he became the first American to win a motocross grand prix in Spain in 1972. Europe’s outright dominance came to an end when Roger DeCoster won his last Trans-AMA championship in 1977, and by the mid-1980s America proved its riders were the best and had the depth to create national teams that could win the Motocross des Nations thirteen years in a row.

Those days are now high-test fuel for sweet nostalgia, which is exactly what Kent Taylor serves up in BackTrack, a 55-minute video filmed in 2004 at the Texas Pro-Am where Warren Reid, Billy Grossi, Gary Jones, Marty Smith, Kent Howerton, Ron Pomeroy, and the late Jim Pomeroy came to cut exhibition laps for the fans and reminisce on camera. Their racing was a bit of a mixed bag, since promoter Rick Humphreys tried valiantly but not always successfully to provide them with vintage mounts similar to the brands and models they rode during their heyday. As one might expect from 30-year-old equipment, it did not always run well or sometimes run at all. But what happened on the race track is not the point of this video, although it does seem to fire the old boys up and get their memory machines humming.

Warren Reid and Kent Howerton talk about the beginning, when they had no support, scrimping to get a ride and keep it going. Billy Grossi talks about being mentored by his older brother Bob, and Gary Jones and Marty Smith speak of the influence of their parents. In Jones’s case, it was the technical expertise of his father, and with Smith it was his mother, making sandwiches for him and all of his friends. Jim Pomeroy talks about going to Europe in 1972, just having fun without having a clue what he was doing, especially when it came to finding decent food in some Eastern European nations. He laughs in that familiar Pomeroy way when he describes how he upset the Europeans, first by taking unorthodox lines on the track, then by giving away fistfuls of stickers to the fans in Russia where the other riders had been accustomed to selling them.

In regard to their learning experiences, Howerton describes figuring out how to feather his Husky’s clutch in the turns so he could jet out in a taller gear because his Japanese-riding competitors had more powerful machines, Reid explains how desire sometimes overcame a lack of technique and experience, and Smith talks about learning to ride smart because winning titles was more important than winning races. Howerton, Grossi, and Smith all talk about how the whole dynamic of American motocross suddenly changed when Bob Hannah arrived on the scene. Here was a man who had more desire than anyone, incredible raw talent, and seemed to be able to get away with riding wild rather than smart. And some admit that they hated him, not just because he could beat them, but because he was so insufferably cocky in the process.

This video helps us understand how important the 1970s were in the evolution of American motocross. It is entertaining, well-shot and nicely edited, and enhanced with a good soundtrack. For information on how to acquire a copy, e-mail info@backtrackvideo.com, or write Taylor Productions, P.O. Box 29781, Lincoln, NE 68529-0781.

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