BEST OF JODYS BOX: “OVER SPRINGS SIT STAND,” ADVISED PIERRE KARSMAKERS BACK IN ‘73. I STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT.
Super Hunky advising Jody on how to get a good start at Saddleback—beer and sandwich optional.
BY JODY WEISEL
What I’m going to tell you is the most important advice you’ll ever get in your motocross career. It has worked for me regardless of where I raced or who lined up against me. And I have raced in America, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Mexico, Germany and a few places with names I can’t pronounce. At the same time, my front wheel has been shoved against the same starting gate as Roger DeCoster, Jimmy Weinert, Gary Jones, Chuck Sun, Kent Howerton, Mike Bell and a host of Euros whose names I can’t pronounce. By the simplest math, I have raced more than 2500 times in my career—which started in 1968. There was a ten-year span at Saddleback Park when I raced three classes a day, two times a week. I may not have raced more times than anybody on the planet, but I’m still adding them up on a weekly basis).
The advice I’m going to share with you, isn’t so much a pat little phrase, as it is a mindset. It is advice that you have to put in motion. Not that I haven’t gotten great advice from the people I’ve raced with over the years. Here is a litany of good advice from very worthy people.
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“Don’t go so fast in the beginning,” said two-time 500 World Champion Jeff Smith after I passed him like a banshee on rubber on the first lap of a 30-minute moto at Saddleback. He passed me back two laps later and disappeared over the horizon.
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“You don’t have to ride so dirty. Although it’s fun to watch,” Roger DeCoster told me once. I’d like to see how funny he thought it was if I could’ve line him up in the sights. Unfortunately for me, you gotta catch ‘em to knock ‘em down.
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“If you went as fast into the corners as you do out of them you’d be World Champion,” said Tony DiStefano back in 1977. That’s empty advice from a guy without a World Championship to his credit (just three AMA 250 National Championships).
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“The way you block you’d be World Champion if you could get the holeshot,” said four-time AMA 250 National Champion Gary Jones. I get tired of a bunch of guys without World Championships telling me how to become one just four 250 National Championships (Gary just has four 250 National Championships).
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“If you’re gonna turn it on,” said Lance Moorewood, “turn it on all the way.” He was no where to be found when I needed advice on how to get snow fence splinters out of my leathers.
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“Over springs sit stand,” advised Pierre Karsmakers back in ‘73. I still don’t know what that meant. I asked Gerrit Wolsink, who was also from Holland, what it meant, and he told me he didn’t speak English well enough to translate.
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“Sit as far back as you can when starting on cement,“ said David Bailey one year at Mammoth Mountain. I’m only guessing, but I think it just slipped his mind to tell me to move forward once I hit the dirt.
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“Drag the brake in the whoops to help pre-load the suspension,” said Mike Bell as we walked a track somewhere in the Midwest. How was I suppose to know he meant the rear brake?
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“Grip the tank with your knees,” advised Jeff Ward. It was good advice, but he got a little mad when I told him that “at least my knees hit the gas tank.”
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Jody (left) and arch-rival Lars Larsson (right) never took each other’s advice — unless it was about how to dress.
All of these guys were helpful in the my career (mostly by making me realize that I’d make more money as test rider than as a professional privateer). It’s always good to get advice from guys who know the ropes, but the best advice doesn’t come from one-liners. It has substance. If you’re ready, I will give you some sage advice that will change your motocross career for the better. This is it!
Don’t take the short view of racing. If you don’t win today’s race, don’t worry, it’s only preparation for the next one. Imagine that if you started a serious training program of push-ups, sit-up and five mile runs today. By next week you’d be weaker, sleepier and slower than ever. But, if you kept at it, the training would pay off in the long-run. I’ve raced endless motocross events, and each race was the most important thing in the world, however, when it was over, win or lose, it meant nothing, zero, zilch, nada. I was already looking ahead to next week.
By taking the long view of life, minor inconvenience like getting smoked last Sunday, are just progressive steps in the big picture. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like getting beat. I get hyped up for big events. I want to win, but the only real difference between the races I’ve won and the races I lost are gaudy pieces of gold-flaked plastic out in the garage. I love every minute of racing. To me, a great pass is still a great pass whether you’re up front or sucking wind in the back. So, don’t take the short view of motocross. It’s too great a sport to let the undiluted joy of racing be contaminated by self-induced visions of grandeur.
Look at it this way — On any given Sunday, small bands of men meet on remote fields to engage in an activity, in front of a small crowd who isn’t really paying attention, that has no known social significance and only a handful of people on the planet have ever heard of. It is its total meaningless that makes it so much fun!
If you don’t like that advice, try this — “Down for low.”
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