The Sweep Rider Of Edison, Tom, Joe & Mark

Words and photo by Ken Smith

Of Edison, Tom, Joe & Mark

Ol’ mate Jonesy salvaged a memento from Mark Firkin’s office after he passed. Jonesy thought that it would look just right in my office and I have to agree, it fits right in. Apparently, Firko bought the piece of memorabilia off eBay many years ago. As you can see from the photo, the piece comprises of two cheques, framed.

In the annals of motocross history, the cheques are indeed something of note. Some of you will be well aware of Edison Dye and his influence on motocross in the USA (and hence, across many other parts of the world) but it bears repeating. If you don’t know about Edison Dye, then listen up.

Edison was a bit of an entrepreneur and ran a business that set up motorcycle tours in Europe in the early ‘60s. During these tours, he was exposed to the sport of motocross. While in Europe he also heard some encouraging stories about the competitiveness of the Husqvarna brand and thought the Swedish brand would be a good thing for the US riders. Even though Husqvarna had enjoyed some racing success in Europe, they were still a very small concern and were selling only a few hundred motocross bikes at that time, all within Europe and the UK.

Later in ‘65, Edison met with some H u s q v a r n a representatives in Copenhagen, Denmark and convinced them that he should distribute the brand in the States. It did take more than a bit of c o n v i n c i n g though as the bosses at Husqvarna weren’t of the belief that there was even a market for their small brand of off-road bikes in the USA. Edison then placed an order for fifty bikes, to be delivered in 1966. Before the first bike even landed he had thought that the very first example to hit US shores should be given to a certain Malcolm Smith to test. Malcolm, racing a Greeves at the time, went for a ride, liked the bike and you know the rest of that story!

With Edison’s company, MED International, doing the distribution, the number of Husqvarnas sold in the US just kept growing. The first year they sold a hundred, the second year they sold five hundred and the third year they sold a thousand bikes. The factory had trouble keeping up with the demand. As part of the promotion of the Swedish brand in the US, Edison also introduced Lars Larsson and Torsten Hallman to the Americans.

Hallman was also keen to ‘spread the word’ so to speak in the US and helped Edison in setting up an event where he would race against the Americans. That event was held in late ‘66 at Pepperell, Massachusetts and Hallman lapped most of the top local riders. Hallman and Dye set up more events that year and set up the Inter-Am (International American) series in 1967 and brought top line Euro riders such as Joel Robert, Roger DeCoster, Dave Bickers, Arne Kring and Ake Jonsson. In 1968, Edison paid for twenty Euro riders to race in the InterAm series. As well, Edison imported Jofa protective gear to the US, with that gear at the time being primarily used for hockey players. The series continued through to 1970. Edison imported the Huskys that many riders wanted to own and race, organised and ran the races and paid the European riders to come to the USA to compete.

I had a number of chats with the late Tom White, when visiting Tom and staying at his house, and Tom really was Edison’s No. 1 fan. Tom was beyond proud to acknowledge Edison in a number of ways for his efforts in the ‘60s of bringing the sport of motocross to the USA. Hearing some of the other stories about how the AMA treated Edison in the early ‘70s weren’t pleasant and Edison left the sport, for good, in ‘74. It was brilliant that Tom, and others, got to acknowledge the contribution that Edison made to the sport, before Edison’s passing in 2007.

I recall, too, the hours spent with the late Joe Bolger, at his house, talking about the InterAM series, and how Joe couldn’t believe the speed of the European riders. He brought to life many of the battles he had at Pepperell and other tracks.

So now I have two framed cheques, signed by Edison, made out to Andy Roberton and Christer Hammagren. They are definitely reminders of such an important era in the sport of motocross (and no, I don’t have a farking clue why Andy and Christer didn’t cash their cheques!) and they make me wish I’d had an opportunity to have a quiet chat with Edison. But more importantly, I’ll look at those cheques and r e m e m b e r Tom, and Joe, and Mark, and smile.

their cheques!) and they make me wish I’d had an opportunity to have a quiet chat with Edison. But more importantly, I’ll look at those cheques and r e m e m b e r Tom, and Joe, and Mark, and