USA Vintage The Saga of Snake River - Flashback to 1974

Preface: I started writing this story back in 2013 but never got around to finishing it. To prepare, I interviewed people like Rex Staten, Marty Tripes and Gary Jones at the Hopetown Reunion. Their stories are timeless and most have never been shared – enjoy!

This story ends with Evel Knievel’s jump of the Snake River canyon on September 8, 1974 but it didn’t start there. For me, it goes back to 1967 when my Dad took me to the Los Angeles Sports Arena for the Cycle World and Tridents Motorcycle and Custom Car Show.

I was just thirteen and the motorcycles were displayed on the concours level around the venue, while the cars were on the floor of the arena. But there were two things that caught my attention, firstly, there was a trials exhibition, and secondly, Evel Knievel was performing a jump – not a big one, mind you, just a short one. Well, that started my admiration of Evel (and I loved that he was jumping a Triumph Bonneville)!

Fast forward to 1971 and Evel starts planning his Snake River Canyon jump and sponsors a $10,000 purse MX race to get press coverage. The crowd turnout was “light” with Bobby Grossi taking the Open Class win and Gary Jones winning the 250 Class. Evel also entertained the fans by jumping thirteen cars.

The next year, the purse grew to $25,000, attracting more riders and spectators. They also added a 125 class, with Greg Robertson winning on his Mid-Valley CZ. The Jammer (Jimmy Wienert) took the 250 class with Gary Jones second, making it a Yamaha sweep. Then Jones came back to win the Open Class.

Fast forward to 1974 and here’s where I got involved, up close and personal.

I had not been at the previous two races, and I almost didn’t get to this one. The Southern California Motocross Newspaper was a very lean and mean operation, with zero budget for traveling. So, imagine my surprise when my boss said, “You’re going to Idaho!”

I knew all my friends and the usual suspects were going but it was too late to drive to the event. Then Ted, my boss, said, “You’re not driving, you’re flying. But there’s one catch – because Evel’s jump is such a big deal, the town is sold out! The closest I can get you a room is Pocatello – 115 miles away.”

I was just twenty years old and not sure how I was able to rent a car, but I did, a Dodge Dart with a Hemi under the hood. The races were mid-week, with a wheelie and jump contest on Saturday and the canyon jump on Sunday. So, I made four round trips to cover this event (one night on the way back to my motel, I figured if I drove 120 mph, I could make it in an hour. I was speeding along when I noticed headlights gaining on me. I knew what that meant, and it was not good! So, I did what any racer would do, I turned off my lights and coasted to a stop alongside the road. The cop was so far back he couldn’t tell what happened. About two minutes later, I heard him zoom by - whew, dodged a big ticket. On the way to the races…

Most of the AMA Pros who were entered in this event were coming from Florida. Here’s one of the funnier stories and I won’t share

their names to protect the innocent – a Bultaco and a Kawasaki racer were headed east. They’re driving along and one says to the other, “Wow, that looks like marijuana growing wild alongside the road!” They slammed on the brakes, put it in reverse, and they were right. So, they harvested a bunch of these six-foot-high plants, tied them in bales, and used tie-downs to secure them under their van. When they got to Twin Falls, they shared their story and good fortune with their friends and proceed to “light up.” After quite a few minutes, they look at each other and ask, “You high?”. “Nope, how about you?” “No!” It was at that time a friend informed them that they had harvested industrial-grade hemp which was great for making rope but which had zero moodenhancing properties! Let’s get to the racing Evel wanted ABC TV’s Wide World of Sports to foot the bills for this event. They balked. So he hired Bob Arum and Top Rank Productions, The Saga of Snake River the boxing promoters, to do a closed-circuit broadcast - Flashback to 1974 into movie theaters across the country (like pay-per-view today). They had promoted Words & photos by Scott Heidbrink fights with Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman – they were the 800-lb. gorilla in the fight business. To entice the best of the best racers, they put up a $125,000 purse which included $100,000 in cash for the Pros and $25,000 in Harley-Davidsons for the top amateur racers. To put that into perspective, it would be like a $750,000 purse today – megabucks by MX standards! He had classes for minibikes, juniors, amateurs, and pros. The racing started on Saturday, August 31 and wrapped up on Friday, September 6 (I didn’t get there until Wednesday because I had to get the newspaper off to the printer before I could leave). This race brought out the best of the best - Gary Jones, Brad Lackey, Rex Staten, Marty Smith, Marty Kenny Zahrt won the jump contest. Above: Gary Jones Tripes, Bruce McDougal, on the 125 Can-Am. Pierre Karsmakers, Jimmy Ellis, Jimmy Weinert, Jim Pomeroy, Gaylon Mosier, Billy Grossi, Kenny Zahrt, Jim West, Chuck Sun, Bryar Holcomb, Rich Eierstedt, John DeSoto, Eddie Cole (founder of Answer Products, 661, and Matrix Concepts), Jim Hale (founder of AXO and Mechanix Wear), Mike Runyard and so many more. And with the big bucks purse, most rode all three classes! The cost of admission

Startline sequence [images 1 - 4]: 1. Tim Hart gets the holeshot. 2. Maico-mounted Jim West (#2). 3. Bryar Holcomb (#4) stalled in the first turn. 4. Traffic jam! 5. I wish they all could be California girls - this one was! 6. Rich Eierstedt. 7. Bad Brad pushing his bike back to the pits. 8. Jim Hale on one of the first Pendas (Penton/Honda). 9. Plenty of sun on race day.

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was $25 which was pretty steep for back then. In today’s dollars, that would be like $130 but it was good for all week long.

Day 1: I drive two hours, heading to Press Headquarters, which is at a local hotel. “Press Credentials” for this event was a green ribbon that said, “PRESS.” It looked funky but it worked. That is, until mine fell off! So, it was back to the hotel to beg for another press pass and luckily they relented (stop and think, I’m twenty years old and while I had a letter from my boss, I was probably the youngest one there covering the event).

Day 2: The day of the Pro races. If you look at the site from the air, it was flat, flat, flat!

Here’s what Gary Jones told me: “Evel hired the Uhl Brothers to design the track and since Evel was too cheap to spring for a water truck, he had them dig ditches alongside the track and fill them with water. Then when the track needed water, they’d ‘open’ these dykes and dam it up when it was watered. Only problem was, once they were opened, ALL the water flowed out, flooding the track,

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Main: Marty Smith on his factory Honda. 1. Brad Lackey had a mixed weekend. 2. Bruce McDougal. 3. Mike Runyard during the wheelie contest. 4. Billy Payne gets some encouragement. 5. Jim Pomeroy chasing McDougal. 6. Marty Smith leading Gary Jones.

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and creating a mud race!” My life at least was easier because the infield was dry.

Rex Staten actually loved the mud: “I was only nineteen at the time and Honda asked if I would ride a specially-prepped Honda four-stroke prototype. It had an XL350 engine built by Mike Bell’s Dad, Bill Bell, who bored it out to 401cc and put it in a C&J frame. When

I went out to practice, it was slippery and muddy, and I knew four-strokes had better traction. I got a good start and was dueling with Karsmakers and was able to finish second overall. Rich Eierstedt came up to me after the race and said, ‘Man, it sounds like you’re all over my ass…that thing sounds wild!’ I got to race it in other races but it had a tendency to over-rev and things would fly out the top. Steve Whitlock, one of the Honda mechanics told me, ‘You’re the only guy I know who can break a lead ball.’ But it was fun to race!”

The races themselves were a blur – I was too busy taking pictures.

Here are the results and payouts: 125 EXPERT Marty Smith - Honda ______________$6,700 Brad Lackey - Husqvarna ___________$3,479 Bruce McDougal - Honda ___________$2,390 250 EXPERT Marty Tripes - Can-Am _____________$8,800 Jimmy Ellis - Can-Am ______________$4,490 Pierre Karsmakers - Yamaha _________$2,910 OPEN EXPERT Pierre Karsmakers - Yamaha _________$8,800 Rex Staten - Honda _______________$4,430 Jim West - Husqvarna ______________$2,780

Day 3: Evel had a wheelie and jumping contest. Kenny Zahrt was in the pits when he hears about it so he grabbed his bike, broken expansion chamber and all, and proceeded to out-jump everyone, wearing corduroy jeans and moccasin shoes. As I recall, Rex won the wheelie contest.

Day 4: This was Evel’s jump day. By Sunday, we were all beat and I was ready to head back to So Cal. The only real excitement was that the Press Compound was fenced off from the general public (mainly biker types). They got frustrated they couldn’t get closer so the fences got torn down and we were afraid of getting pushed into the canyon.

The jump itself was anticlimactic, like a sixteen-year-old’s first sexual encounter, it was over in seconds. The force of the steampowered motor blew off the parachute cover so there was no way Evel could make it to the other side. He was just lucky he landed on dry ground at the bottom of the canyon.

Me, I headed home, developed twelve rolls of film and wrote up the PG-version of the race.

I hope you enjoyed the story, that event certainly brings a smile to my face every time I think of it!

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