I gotta go with an old friend of mine, Bo Clayon. Bo is gone now and was not a bike rider of any sort as far as I knew, but one day he showed up with 1974 Husky 400. Yep one of those bad-a$$ Huskies back in the day. I had a 76 250 CR so I think I might influenced him to buy it ... Not sure about this as I don't remember asking... But I could not have been more shocked if he had driven up in the space shuttle ... lol Only rode with him once ... We took off out of the small country down I lived in ARK on the payment heading for some dirt ... For what ever reason, we had to return to my house and on the way back, Bo had to top-out the Husky .... I was doing about 70MPH on mine when he passed me like I was sitting still .... He got about 25 yards in front of me and then the engine sized and locked the back tire! As I said, Bo was not a rider and just judging by the black mark he was leaving, he did not clutch the bike... He left a big long 'S' shaped black mark that finally hit the gravel at the side of the road and the bike slide out from under him ... As I was passing him and watching, he was kicking up crazy dust in the gravel and had just ducked his head and was beginning to do forward somersaults down in the ditch that was full of weeds and big grass!! I nearly hit a road sign as I watched him flip in all that dust... He stopped flipping and I came over to him and here is the first words out of his mouth after the wreck: "I'll never top this bike out on payment again!" I just left it at that and thought 'good idea' ... Bo did not know dirt bikes but he too was on a Husky He had one more wreck where the bike nearly cut his head off via the chain and I never heard about the bike again I like all the other cool guys mentioned here also ... You gotta wonder where Husky would be without the movie 'On any Sunday' with Steve McQueen and Malcolm Smith riding the bike so long ago and winning so much on them ... Heikki Meikkola was a true racer ... Spent his time in EU battling DeCoaster and raced in usa only to kick a little butt...
Drew, Yes I got to meet and hang out a with him and Geoffe Ballard (who was riding for Can-Am at the time as was legend Jeff Smith) for a bit one day after the race at the Loretta Lynn's national they where cool guys for sure. A freind and myself where traveling to as many east coast nationals as we could make. Sometimes I didn't even make it back home to Florida on Mondays to hit high school Those where experiences I will never forget meeting and talking to all my heros from the off road world that I read about in the magazines. We even let Jeff ride one of our 125 Cagivas and he loved it!! He said it was waaaaaay faster than his Husky (which we already knew anyway ) Joe Chod, ya that looks like him as I look through my fuzzy 1980's minds eye
Funny thing mentioning Geoff Ballard. Seeing him (huge tall) and John Martin (super small short) standing side by side was a hoot. But boy oh boy could they make those Can Ams sing through the trees!
Best Husky rider of all time!!! Malcolm Smith would get my vote This man has mud running thru his veins and truly loved any form of off-road motorcycle racing. Some riders were great moto-cross riders but that's where the story ended. Malcolm mastered them all cross-desert-trials and done it with a smile as if he was just happy to be on two wheels or only one, a true gentlemen to the sport!
Another vote for Gunnar Lindstrom. Also like Brad Lackey and Steve McQueen. Ah, hell....I like them all. They made Husqvarna.
Hi all , As a european member and Husqvarna rider /Enthusiast of the 70`s & 80`s I can only offer the TRUE Works riders of Bengt Aberg from Sweden & Heikki Mikkola of Finland.Also the marvellous & meticulous Brad Lackey who at that time was a truely dedicated Works Husky "under-study" making his way to the top in the Grand Prix. Both multi World Champions aboard factory mounts that I was privelliged to witness in all their world class glory of many MX Grands Prix . When I have got the hang of your web site I shall put on some personal photo`s from those Epic years when the harsh sport was one of Real, Mature riders. Men of incredible skill,courage & fitness. Incredible.
I was a desert guy and worked in the industry. My faves were Mitch Mayes, AC Bakken, Scot Harden, Brent Wallingsford, Jack Johnson, and Larry Roesler. I believe I remember George Erl racing a 125 Husky at the Parker 400 one year. I might still have the picture. I haven't talked to Scot or AC for a couple of years. They were at our Hilltoppers GP race quite a bit. Motocross guy I liked was Rolf Tibblin. He was an animal. Scott
So many good favorites listed in this thread. I think my favorite is Ed Lojak. He was apparently psycho. I was just a kid reading (looking at pictures really) magazines, but I remember seeing a few shots of him on a Husky, and a shot of the whole USA ISDT trophy team on Husky's, including Lojak.
Got to give a pretty enthusiastic nod to George Erl. He's not only won more than his share of fairly high profile events but also has supported many of the riders (some of which were competitors). Thanks for all you do George.
LR, harden, SMITH, Ashcraft, Jack Johnson, Ron Bishop(my uncle).....to me a tie between LR and Dan Smith....
I voted Hyde and Melton earlier, but after a lot of thought, I have to add Fred Hoess. I wish Husky would have pulled him back into the fold. GasGas is lucky to have him back.
Norm, Your response got me thinking. Husky had a great deal of success a few years back with Scott Summers acting as a player/coach kind of thing. If I were king for a day I would jump start that whole thing qgain with Fred heading up and managing a team of young upstarts while occassionally slinging a leg over a bike and showing them how its done. Just my 2 cents and If i hit powerball.......its a done deal....as well as restarting "Husky Products". GG is lucky and to hear that 2 stroke rip with him on it is better than any Mp3! Joe
