MXA INTERVIEW: MICKY DYMOND’S EXPERIENCES WITH THE CORPORATE WORLD

 

BY JIM KIMBALL

MICKY, WHEN DID YOU FIRST BEGIN RIDING? I started riding motorcycles in the mid 1970s on a minibike. My family used to go to El Mirage Dry Lake in the California desert. We lived in Garden Grove, and then moved to Yorba Linda in 1977. There I could ride in my yard.

THAT’S AWESOME. I got to know other kids who had minibikes. As a matter of fact, I had a paper route in Yorba Linda, and occasionally I would put the bag on my XR-70 and do the route that way. My father kept it going. On Christmas or birthdays, it was always motorcycling-related presents. I got a Yamaha YZ80 one Christmas. I loved motorcycles because it was a family activity that we all grew up with, but my dad and my uncle were the real sportsmen. It was a whole different world. It was cheap to ride motorcycles, and there were lots of places to ride then compared to now.

DID THAT SPUR YOU TO RACE? Yes, but I was not that good in the beginning. I was just happy to be doing something cool. There were so many kids racing at that time in Southern California. I watched people I would race with later, like Jeff Ward and Brian Myerscough. I would see a lot of the same people every weekend. I was happy that I was one of them and felt honored to share the track with the pros.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST SERIOUS MOTOCROSS BIKE? We ended up on Maicos. I was a 130-pound, 14-year-old kid on a Maico 400. I ended up on a 125 later, but, under my father’s direction, I began with bigger bikes before eventually settling on a 1980 Honda CR125. I did like the bigger bikes better, probably because I was around them more. In fact, my first few AMA Nationals were all in the 500 class.

HOW WAS YOUR FORAY INTO THE PRO NATIONALS? The first time that I finished in the top five in any AMA National Championship race was on a Maico. It might have been a couple of times that year. Then, in 1982, I was sponsored by Maico West in California. Chuck Sun was my teammate. I moved to Husqvarna in 1984 and 1985. 

WHY THE MOVE FROM MAICO TO HUSKY? Maico was forced to shut their doors at some point in 1983, and when they did, I had nothing. I talked to a few people about getting help. Mitch Payton was one of them. I rode a Husky that he built and felt okay on it. Later, I got a sponsorship directly through Husqvarna’s Mark Blackwell. He was the team manager.

DID YOU HAVE A TEAMMATE WHEN YOU WERE WITH HUSQVARNA? In the beginning no, but then in 1985, I got a great teammate, Danny Laporte, who signed to ride 500s while I rode the 250 class. We both did Supercross. That year I had a couple of great moments in Supercross and learned a lot. I got to see David Bailey, Mark Barnett, and all these great racers week in and week out. I learned so much by just watching them. Things were starting to get a bit quiet at Husqvarna, and I felt my bike was inferior to my competitors’ bikes. They paid me a salary of $24,000, and I had bonuses as well for race wins at Husqvarna. I lived with my parents, so $24,000 was not so bad.

YOU PROGRESSED SO QUICKLY IN MOTOCROSS. I did accelerate fast because that was all I really cared about and all I wanted to do. I did not start on minis in the same way that other people did. I played football, baseball—all those things. Motorcycling was one of those hobbies until motocross became something more important. Motocross was all trial and error. Take Danny “Magoo” Chandler, for instance. He had strengths and weaknesses, but on certain days that guy was able to be a world killer. He could do things that I had never seen before or seen after. There is a lot of that in the sport of motocross. You may stink today, so you go onto the next day, where you apply what you learned so it does not happen again. Every now and then, you have an amazing day when you can’t believe what you are doing. I love that about motorcycle racing. I have played all the other sports, but there is nothing quite like the ability to have clay in your hands to create the masterpiece that you are working on. In motocross, you can have it; even if it is for only a lap, you can have it. 

HOW DID YOUR FACTORY HONDA RIDE HAPPEN? I got a call from Dave Arnold, and he offered me a 125 sponsorship. I thought it was a prank call, but it was real. I had already signed a contract with Mark Blackwell at Husqvarna. Blackwell and Arnold spoke to each other. Mark called me and said, “Hey, they are going to offer you three times as much as we can—and they are Honda. I am going to tear this contract up, and you should go that way.” That was a big moment, especially for Mark Blackwell to look out for the best of somebody else. He did not have to; he just did. 

“I STARTED RIDING MOTORCYCLES IN THE MID 1970S ON A MINIBIKE. MY FAMILY USED TO GO TO EL MIRAGE DRY LAKE IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT. WE LIVED IN GARDEN GROVE, AND THEN MOVED TO YORBA LINDA IN 1977.THERE I COULD RIDE IN MY YARD.”

WHAT WERE THOSE FIRST DAYS AT HONDA LIKE? I drove all the way out to Simi Valley, and if I can remember right, Roger DeCoster, Brian Lunnis and a couple of Japanese guys were there. We rode a stock 125 out there. I did laps and Roger did laps. His were probably faster than mine! I drove home and waited for a call saying, “Thanks, but no thanks.” That did not happen. I got a good contract, and I had confirmation from Roger. 

He told me, “I won’t leave you to do it all on your own. I will help.”

I told myself, “You are going to win or you are not going to stay.” In the beginning, I believed that was the truth. The team’s purpose is to turn you into a winner, and you get to be a part of it. I don’t know if Honda cared about me personally—or just about my wins—but I believe there are good people out there. Roger is a good person. Dave Arnold is a good person. It was an amazing opportunity that presented itself. I rode for Honda, and I believe I did mostly good.

YOU QUICKLY REWARDED THEM WITH A 1986 AMA 125 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! It helped immensely that I was around other teammates who were winning. At some point, I simply believed I would win. My mechanic, Chris Haines, and I were like a team within the Honda team. Together we knew we could win this championship against the other teams. I had some others help. I had a doctor who was with us always. He helped me to understand how to become the champion—psychologically, physically and everything all together. 

AND THEN YOU DEFENDED YOUR 125 CHAMPIONSHIP THE FOLLOWING YEAR! Both years were hard, and I had challenges. I had some injuries that I rode through that were tough. Guys ride injured all the time; it is not impossible. You always had to go through certain things to win a championship. 

OBVIOUSLY, YOU WON A LOT OF 125 RACES AND WERE A TWO-TIME AMA 125 CHAMPION, BUT HOW ABOUT SUPERCROSS? I did not have great success in Supercross. Many times, I would win the heat race and believe that I had it, then crash out of the main. There were Supercross races that I really thought I was going to win, and then I did not get on the podium. There were a lot of Supercrosses where I finished second, but even in the ones where I got second, I usually fell. It is just tough to look back and wonder why. It is hard to look back now and not have my name on the list of Supercross winners. 

“I WENT TO BRAZIL AT THE END OF MY 1986 CHAMPIONSHIP, THE WEEKEND AFTER WASHOUGAL, SO I COULD RACE AGAINST THE SAME GUYS AS AT THE UPCOMING DES NATIONS. HONDA SAID, “LET’S DO IT, AND WE WILL SHOW THEM THAT YOU ARE THE GUY”

AS A TWO-TIME 125 NATIONAL CHAMPION, YOU WERE A SHOO-IN FOR TEAM USA FOR THE 1986 MXDN? WHAT HAPPENED THERE? I went to Brazil at the end of my 1986 championship, the weekend after Washougal, so I could race against the same guys as at the upcoming Des Nations. Honda said, “Let’s do it, and we will show them that you are the guy. I rode hard on every lap in Brazil to show that I deserved to be the 125 rider on the 1986 Motocross Des Nations team. I won both motos in Brazil by over 60 seconds.

CAN YOU TELL US WHY YOU DIDN’T GO TO THE MXDN? After Brazil, I was certain that I would beat the guys that I would be racing against the next weekend at the Motocross des Nations. When I got home, I waited for my phone to ring to tell me that I was going to the MXDN. When they finally called, they told me that they were taking my bike to the Trophée des Nations but that Johnny O’Mara would be riding it! I knew that Johnny was one of the greatest 125 riders ever, so I didn’t feel bad because Johnny got the ride I wanted; I felt bad because Honda put me through the wringer for nothing. I kind of lost interest in racing after that.

WHAT HAPPENED AT HONDA? Honda didn’t seem interested in renewing my contract. It was late in the year, and they still hadn’t offered me anything. Honda was hoping that I would not have time to find a good ride with another team, and they could wait until I had nothing, then offer me whatever they wanted to pay. It wasn’t Roger or Dave. They were good friends. It was something that came down from above them. I don’t have great memories about it all. It is just one of those things that happens all the time in motocross. 

Micky was unhappy with Yamaha’s right-side-up forks and blamed the forks for the chassis problems and vice versa.

WAS IT A CORPORATE DECISION OR A TEAM HONDA DECISION? It was corporate. I have seen the same thing happen at Yamaha, too. I am sure that other companies have people in those same corporate situations where they must produce wins at all costs, and if they are not getting wins, then someone is on the chopping block—normally a rider. 

BUT YOU BOUNCED BACK FROM HONDA WITH AN OFFER FROM YAMAHA. HOW WAS THE TRANSITION TO YAMAHA? It felt pretty good. I thought we were on the right track, but what we tested in Japan never showed up in America. At that time, Yamaha used to have these conventional forks where the front axle was 4 inches higher off the ground than the fork legs. In a rut, the fork tubes would hit the ground. For that reason alone, I told Yamaha that we couldn’t use these forks. So even if the upside-down forks were terrible, they were still better than what we had. Sadly, if we had gotten the forks we tested in Japan, we would have been winning, because those forks were good. The fork problem was aggravated by the chassis, which sucked at that time compared to Honda’s. Later we had a comparison test between Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki, where Yamaha bought the bikes and had us ride all three while they took lap times. When I was on the Honda, I wanted to make the point that I could be 2 seconds a lap faster on the Honda than on our race bike. On one of those fast laps, I crashed and broke my hand. I made a bad decision in trying to show Yamaha that our race bikes were not as good as they could be. I lost a lot of that season because of that injury.

OBVIOUSLY, YOU WERE NOT HAPPY AT TEAM YAMAHA IN 1989, RIGHT? In hindsight, that was a sad year. I wanted to get back to where I was before, but I could not make it happen. I did not have that ability, and I struggled with the politics, the team and the bike. I felt hated when I went to the races. Keith McCarty was the new team manager. He had pressure from above, and he did not treat me very well. There were times when I hated Keith, and there were other riders on the team who felt the same way.

AROUND THIS TIME, WEREN’T YOU GETTING PRESS FOR HANGING OUT WITH MOTLEY CRUE? Yes. I was friends with Tommy Lee, and we got him a bike and went riding together. In the beginning, it was an attention-getter. The teen magazines ate it up. Yamaha loved it in the beginning. When I broke my hand, I had a big break in the schedule. Tommy and I went to the Hangtown National together, and that generated some negative press coverage because I was hanging out with a rock star but I wasn’t racing. A lot of it was timing, and Yamaha was looking for a reason why things weren’t going great. My days at Yamaha were numbered.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YAMAHA? After Yamaha, I did not call any teams about getting a ride in 1990, but I got a call from an Italian guy to do some European Supercross events. I went and did one, and an Italian Yamaha team offered me a contract for 1991. Unfortunately, I damaged my meniscus and required surgery. I only did the second half of the year. I had a few podiums but was injured the entire year. I did get a contract for 1991 to ride for Martin Honda, the Italian Honda importer. They were the defending champion with Trampas Parker, but I came home halfway through the year. I had injuries, couldn’t ride well and was newly married. Over the next few years I dabbled with freestyle videos, building freestyle ramps and racing Supermoto.

“I FEEL HONORED TO HAVE HAD SUCH AN EXCITING LIFE THROUGH MOTORCYCLE RACING. I TRAVELED THE WORLD, MET WONDERFUL PEOPLE, LEARNED ABOUT DIFFERENT CULTURES AND WAS LUCKY  TO DO ALL OF THAT. I CANNOT PUT INTO WORDS HOW INCREDIBLE IT IS TO HAVE A GREAT DAY ON A MOTOCROSS BIKE”

EVENTUALLY, YOU DEVELOPED A PASSION FOR BICYCLING, RIGHT? Yes, in 2013, I made a contract with the two guys who ran Race Across America (RAAM) to do a video on the 2013 Race Across American bicycle race. I fell in love with the whole event. I wrote a book about the 2014 Race Across America and formed the Legends of the Road team with Ben Bostrom, Dave Mirra, Dave Zabriskie and me. I did not come up with the name; Dave Mirra came up with the name. The book was released in 2017. 

YOU SUFFERED A SERIOUS INJURY WHILE CYCLING, RIGHT? I was riding a bicycle alongside a bike path with friends. I hit something, and the crash almost killed me. You can fall off a ladder while painting your house or cleaning your gutters. There are no guarantees in life for anything. I suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for almost a week. Luckily, I was able to recover, and I am grateful for that. It took a couple of years, and even now there are pieces of my life that are missing. Sometimes I get them back and sometimes I don’t. That is just life now. My memory, my eyesight, my hearing and my balance are all compromised. Sometimes I get vertigo, and that is pretty horrible.

This is classic Micky Dymond.

ANY FINAL THOUGHTS ON LIFE AS A MOTOCROSS RACER? I feel honored to have had such an exciting life through motorcycle racing. I traveled the world, met wonderful people, learned about different cultures and was lucky to do all of that. I cannot put into words how incredible it is to have a great day on a motocross bike. Through my bicycle injuries I keep running into Johnny O’Mara, because he and the Lawrence brothers use the same facility that I go to for therapy (they are there for the hyperbaric chamber). Whenever I see Johnny, we don’t have to use words to show how happy we are to see each other.