Motocross Back When

[the Ferret]

This thread brings back many memories. I remember racing at tracks all over Georgia back in the day. The very first race I ever entered was on a Honda XL 250 stripped to nothing. Then we started running Elsinores and Suzuki TM' s then on to RM' s. I remember a race at Burn't Hickory where Bob "Hurricane" Hannah and Marty Smith battled back & forth for 45 minutes with Hannah taking the win. One of the highlights of my MX days was spending a week at Suzuki School of Motocross in Carlsbad California in 1974 riding with Danny LaPorte and Mark Blackwell. Good times!

I went to the Yamaha version of that with Pierre Karsmakers, Tim Hart and Mike Hartwig

Here is a picture of a photo that hangs in the owners office at the local Honda Yamaha Shop.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/april4009_zps9ffa2816.jpg.html]

The guy in the lead pulling the wheelie in this 125 class motocross is Tom Bellamy. Tom was probably 14 then. My wife and I used to cart him around to out of town races sometimes. He is about 54 now. He grew up to be quite a good Moto X racer and is the owner of Beechmont Motorsports here in Cinti where I have bought many of my bikes incl an FZ-1, a Majesty, an ST 1300, and 2 CB 1100s. The guy in second place just over his left shoulder was a slightly younger than now Ferret (about 24 then..soon to be 64)

Wow, that is impressive Ferret. I didnt know you had a wild side. I never raced but we jumped, popped wheelies and did all kinds of foolish stuff on what we called enduros back in the day. Its really cool that guy leading owns a dealership today. I bet that was a lot of fun.

Its good you have a good relationship with them also. I cant find middle ground and have accepted that it will never happen. I am an internet shopper and value to me means the low price period. No games, no BS, and cut and dried out the door. Its just the way I am.

I think its great you have a good relationship with the dealer you raced against. That is really cool.

It's important for a dealer to make a profit. That's how he keeps the doors open, hires good mechanics and parts people and stocks the showroom and the parts shelves. i could probably fond some things cheaper on the internet, but I appreciate what Tom has invested and the risk he is taking, so I try and give him my business when I can.

Tom and I have remained friends. Every Christmas he invites a bunch of us old racers and good customers to his house for a a big Christmas party and we all get together and bench race. We seem to get faster every year.