MXA INTERVIEW: RELIVING THE SUGAR BEAR’S HIGHS AND LOWS

BILLY, DID YOUR OLDER BROTHER BOB GET YOU INTO MOTOCROSS? My dad got me going. Most of the bikes I had when I was younger were hand-me-downs from my brother. Bob was six years older than I, but he was off racing a lot, so I started riding when my dad worked at the cement plant. We had a lot of ground to ride on, with sand and gravel pits, and I could ride there after school. I grew up on Schwinn Stingrays before I started riding motorcycles. I had good balance and could wheelie that thing forever. It all came easily, and getting on the motorcycles and going fast was just natural.

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED? I wanted to race motocross right away, but back then you had to be 14 to race AMA District 36. So, I did some off-road stuff with my dad, such as the Greenhorn Enduro and the Barstow-to-Vegas race. My very first motocross race was at the old Hangtown track in Plymouth, California. I believe I got a top-10 on a Yamaha AT-1 125, and I was hooked. I thought, “This is what I want to do.” By mid-year, I turned Expert and was winning all the local races on a Sachs 125. I turned Pro at 16 years old. So, I hit the road with my brother and started doing the Trans-AMA support races.

YOUR BROTHER WAS A FACTORY HUSQVARNA RIDER. WHAT SUPPORT WERE YOU GETTING? The John Moore and Sons Husqvarna dealership in Santa Cruz helped me out with bikes and parts. I recall Husky giving Bob stuff to give to me. Having a brother as a factory team rider helped in that respect.

HOW DID YOU END UP AT KAWASAKI? I was always hanging out with my buddies that worked at Kawasaki. They had to force me to go talk to Kawasaki team manager Byron Farnsworth to see if I could get bikes and parts. At that point, I was racing a Montesa 250VR. I loved that bike, but I kept seizing it all the time and having constant mechanical problems. When I asked if I could get any support, Byron offered me a bike and parts deal. All I had to do was help drive the trucks across the U.S. and give the mechanics an occasional break. It worked out well. I didn’t sign anything; it was a handshake deal. There was no money in it, just some minimal support, but it got me and my bike to the races. I did very well on that bike when I did not crash or break and won a few Trans-AMA support class races. So, Byron kept me on for the next year’s AMA National support class.

“I WANTED TO RACE MOTOCROSS RIGHT AWAY, BUT BACK THEN YOU HAD TO BE 14 TO RACE AMA DISTRICT 36. SO, I DID SOME OFF-ROAD STUFF WITH MY DAD, SUCH AS THE GREENHORN ENDURO AND THE BARSTOW-TO-VEGAS RACE.”

THAT MUST HAVE BEEN EXCITING. I was 17 and had dropped out of school so that I could pursue a racing career. It was a big change but a good change. I learned a lot. A lot of the older riders took me under their win

BUT YOU DIDN’T STAY WITH KAWASAKI; YOU MOVED TO TEAM HONDA IN 1974. WHY? Kawasaki had used all its money on Jimmy Weinert. They let everyone else go. Honda had signed all of these young guys: Marty Smith, Chuck Bower, Bruce McDougal, Tommy Croft, Rex Staten and me. We were all between 18 and 20 years old. Honda had its hands full keeping us under control. 

YOUR FIRST 250 NATIONAL ON THE HONDA, YOU WON. HONDA MUST HAVE BEEN SHOCKED! I certainly was, as were my parents. Honda was stoked. I won both 250 motos at Hangtown and stood on the podium with Marty Tripes and Gary Jones. Even better, Marty Smith and Chuck Bower went one/two in the 125 class. It went well for the next three Nationals and three Supercross races. I stayed in the top five at every race. Then I raced the L.A. Coliseum race and broke my leg there.

INITIALLY, YOU WERE NOT GOING TO DO THE 1974 SUPERBOWL RACE. WHAT CHANGED? Yes, it was not in my contract to do it, but it was the biggest race of the year. I could not turn it down. Honda never held my bikes back to keep me from racing, but they said I should not race it while leading the 250 National Championship. I raced it anyway. I was going for it. I had a good start and was following Buck Murphy up the peristyle. We were second and third on the first lap. Unfortunately, Buck missed a gear and I went a little wide to miss him and caught the hay bales at the top of the peristyle. I ended up with 17 other bikes on top of me.

WERE YOU ABLE TO COME BACK AND RACE IN 1974? I was able to ride the last couple of Trans-AMA 250 support classes. I had been out almost six months. I was not in very good shape, but I did okay. I got great starts but cannot really tell you where I finished. But there was enough interest in me after those couple of races to where Honda said they would rehire me for pretty much what I was paid in 1974, which was really nothing much, salary-wise. Suzuki offered me a much better deal, plus I had the opportunity to ride on a world-class team—and they signed Tony DiStefano, whom I admired, so I went that route for 1975.

WHAT WAS THE SUZUKI CONTRACT LIKE? Suzuki’s contract was based on the finishes you had at each National. Instead of a salary, it was performance-based. You could make pretty good bonuses per race.

Billy loved his time at Team Suzuki with Tony DiStefano.

HOW WAS YOUR FIRST SEASON AT TEAM SUZUKI IN 1975? The year started out fantastic. My mechanic was Brian Lunniss, and Keith McCarty was Tony D’s mechanic. We all got along great. We were still running stock bikes into the middle of the 250 Nationals. The bikes were good—not fantastic, but they were respectable. I ended up finishing in the top five quite often. I ran up front a few times, but Tony D. was on it. He adapted to the RM250 really well. Tony D won the 1975 AMA 250 National Championship, and I finished third. Then going into the 500 Nationals, I had some good finishes. I won in Ravenna, Ohio, which put me into the 500 National points lead going into the last National of the year.

WAS THAT THE INFAMOUS “BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS” RACE? WHAT HAPPENED AT THAT RACE? I had a chance to pull off the 1975 AMA 500 National Championship if everything went right, but it did not. I ended up parking my bike through a fence and getting it lodged under the front bumper of a truck, which is well-documented in the movie One Chance to Win. But I got up and finished the 45-minute race. I ended up fourth overall in the 1975 500 National Championship.

YOU STAYED WITH SUZUKI FOR 1976. DID YOU ENTERTAIN OTHER OFFERS FROM TEAMS? There were no other offers. Suzuki stuck with Tony and me, and they brought in Danny LaPorte—and I believe Steve Stackable that same year. I wanted to stay with Suzuki because I was quite happy with them. They offered a little better contract for 1976, even though after the AMA Nationals I rode a local race and broke my leg on another bike brand, which did not go over well with Suzuki, but they realized people make mistakes. I was just trying to race three classes that day and got pushed into racing Danny Chandler in the 125 class. That was a big mistake on my part, but they still re-hired me, and we went into 1976 in pretty good shape.

WAS 1976 WHEN YOU RACED THE 125 NATIONALS? Yes, we started off with the first 125 National at Hangtown. I was third in both motos behind Bob Hannah and Danny Turner. There were a ton of fast guys in the 125 class back then—Steve Wise, Marty Moates, Danny LaPorte, Warren Reid, Nils Arne-Nilsson, Bruce McDougal and the list goes on. It was a very competitive class, and I did well

MARTY SMITH AND BOB HANNAH WERE THE 125 SUPERSTARS AT THAT TIME. They were, but they could ride any size bike, and I could also. Being put into the 125 class was not a demotion. It was something that we discussed at Suzuki, and we thought I might have a good shot at it. You also had a lot of young guys coming up who were hungry. They wanted the big contracts, and they did not have anything to lose. That is how it was.

YOU RACED THE 1976 MID-OHIO 125 USGP AND WERE ON THE PODIUM AGAINST THE EUROPEAN STARS. That was probably one of my better races. Even though I got third, I beat all the top Europeans, including 125 World Champion Gaston Rahier. To finish third in both motos was quite an achievement, and I was totally stoked to be part of an American sweep of the podium with Marty, Bob and me. Things were looking good on the 125 until I got home from that race and had an appendicitis attack. I had an appendectomy, and that put me out of the rest of the 125 Nationals.

“BEING PUT INTO THE 125 CLASS WAS NOT A DEMOTION. IT WAS SOMETHING THAT WE DISCUSSED AT SUZUKI, AND WE THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE A GOOD SHOT AT IT. YOU ALSO HAD A LOT OF YOUNG GUYS COMING UP WHO WERE HUNGRY.”

Billy Grossi (left) and Tony DiStefano (right) at the Battle of New Orleans in 1975.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH SUZUKI AFTER THE APPENDIX? I raced some Trans-AMA races and did well. I also led the Saddleback Trans-AMA for 15 minutes and then threw it away in a sandpit. Overall, things did not go too well, but Suzuki resigned me for 1977. I think they figured, “Give him one more shot.”

LET’S HEAR ABOUT 1977? Nineteen-seventy-seven started off okay. I was in contention to win the Florida Winter AMA series but ended up getting hurt at the last race. Rick Burgett and I were trading moto wins for the whole series. It came down to the last race, and I got kicked off hard and had some internal injuries. That set me back, and later I got hurt at Supercross, breaking a wrist. The year 1977 was a downer. I never got anything going. I was running in the top 10 but not near the front like I should have been. After the Nationals and Trans-AMA, I parted ways with Suzuki. It was a very mutual thing. They paid me off, and I was fine with that. By that time, I was not being treated too well as far as having a mechanic or much help. I went to Tahiti for a couple of weeks and did some racing over there with Motocross Action. I raced in Mexico, and then I got a privateer Husky and did the Trans-AMA pretty much on my own.

WAS IT 1978 WHEN YOU SHOWED UP ON A CARABELA? Yes, in 1978 I got a Carabela ride and that started off well. I got fifth in both motos at the Hangtown National. We could not get bikes and parts, though, so we struggled and did the best we could. Eventually, we had to just stop racing. Still, Carabela was good to me and paid off on my contract. The following year, 1979, I was pretty much a privateer. Motocross Fox helped me out, and KTM gave me a bike, so I did some 500 Nationals.

THOSE WERE THE EARLY DAYS OF KTM. The stock KTMs were pretty good, but we ended up putting a Fox swingarm on it with the Fox shocks, which laid them down quite a bit. So, we had too much suspension travel. That worked well at Southwick but not the other tracks. After that, we struggled quite a bit, but we hung in there. My mechanic, Steve Gordon, always had a perfect looking bike for me to ride. We did what we could. Unfortunately, towards the end of the series, I got hurt at High Point, and that pretty much finished out 1979.

BUT YOU BOUNCED BACK WITH A FACTORY HUSKY RIDE EVENTUALLY. In 1980 I was on a privateer Husky and did well on it. I made maybe five or six Supercross main events, which was tough to do on a European bike. I did decently in some of the Nationals and got through the year without getting hurt. Nineteen-eighty-one was pretty much the same, but I got a little more help from Husky and Mitch Payton at Pro Circuit. The 430s were working pretty well, and the Huskys were good for the 500 Nationals. I finished seventh overall and just missed out being top privateer. Mark Blackwell was the Husqvarna team manager, and he saw what was going on. Mark offered me a ride, so Kris Bigelow and I became the 1982 Husqvarna team.

WERE THE HUSQVARNAS STILL COMPETITIVE AGAINST THE JAPANESE BIKES? They weren’t junk, but you would have to be a Bob Hannah to win on them. Some guys may have done better, but I did the best I could. They had a Fall Trans-USA series, which hardly any of the factories wanted to do. I won Millville and won a couple of motos here and there, but I missed taking the 1982 Trans-USA Championship by 10 points. That was pretty much the end of my factory rides. When you are 28 years old and coming off of a couple bad years, you are not going to get any factory offers.

“I STILL HAD THE RACING IN ME, SO I RACED SOME LOCAL CALIFORNIA RACES ON A PRIVATEER MAICO AND DID WELL. AT A LOCAL RACE, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM MAICO ASKED ME IF I WANTED TO GO TO EUROPE AND DO THE GPS.”

Billy having his oxygen uptake measured.

BUT YOU DIDN’T QUIT! I still had the racing in me, so I raced some local California races on a privateer Maico and did well. At a local race, a representative from Maico asked me if I wanted to go to Europe and do the GPs. They said that there would be factory bikes, a mechanic, a van, and they would get me to all the races. When I arrived in Europe, there was none of that. It was an ordeal just to get production bikes from Maico. I had to borrow a vehicle from Gary Semics. Maico put me up in a hostel for a while. I did what I could in Europe, but I eventually got hurt at a practice track, and that ended my European effort. I did a short French race series the following year, even though I said I was done. If someone offers to pay you to race, it is better than doing a nine-to-five job.

YOUR CAREER WAS INJURY-RIDDLED. The tib/fib breaks were very serious. I broke my wrist a few times. My career could be looked at as injury riddled, but I look at the positive side of my career. There were so many positives. There were some wins and a lot of good finishes. There were great times traveling around the world, being young and being paid to do what you love. This is something not many young people get to do. I still feel fortunate that I had that career and I am still able to walk, work and talk, so I am happy.

Billy’s bother Bob was a factory Husqvarna rider with Billy Clements (91), Mark Blackwell (62), Bob Grossi (6), Gary Semics (44) and Mike Hartwig (79) at Daytona in 1973.

CAN YOU SHARE A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR BROTHER, BOB, WHO PASSED AWAY NOT LONG AGO? Bob was my big brother, six years older. Bob was someone I looked up to, especially when I was young. He had talent, personality and people loved him. Girls loved him. He was fun to be with. He helped me out, especially with Husky. When I was 16, we borrowed my dad’s van and did the Trans-AMA support classes on a privateer Husqvarna. We were close. I respected my brother and I looked up to him, but through the years he was also plagued with injuries and unfortunately got into some addictions that pretty much ended his career a few years earlier than it should have. He had a severe concussion in his early days—and my mother said he was never quite the same.

Billy on a Yamaha TT500 four-stroke at Carlsbad.

HOW IS LIFE NOW? Things are good right now. I have a beautiful wife. We have been married going on 32 years. I have three daughters. They all live within a mile of us. Life is good. I am still working. Thank God I am healthy enough to work. I can pick and choose my jobs at this point in life. I had not done any races in 17 years, but I turned 65 this year and decided I wanted to start riding again. I bought a used KTM 450EXC and went on a nice desert ride with some buddies, and that got me well-enthused. Later I was invited to Diamond Don’s Vintage National in Jefferson, Texas, to be the honorary legend, so I figured, “Heck, if I am going to be there, I might as well race.” I got on a vintage bike and did okay. I did not win anything, but I walked away without an injury, and now I am looking forward to doing some more.

WHAT IS YOUR BEST MOTOCROSS MEMORY? Being part of a team and a group that looked after each other. To hang with these top riders, travel with them, not partying, just having fun. The times we spent together at Gary Semics parents’ Ohio farm were just great memories. We raced minibikes at night and enjoyed and loved what we were doing. It was the camaraderie that meant the most. That was the biggest part of motocross for me. It is probably why I kept going back. I missed being around these people. Would I like to have won more races or a Championship or two? You bet. I had some good races that stand out, but mostly I miss traveling with this great group of friends. It was quite a time to be a Professional motocross rider, and I’m certain it is not like that anymore.