Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
by Mike McGill
Nothing beats finding an old, hidden treasure that you hadn’t even thought about for years. Recently I was looking for something in the garage and I came across an old box of moto magazines that I vaguely remembered even having. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by my discovery. As I started rifling through them, my surprise soon turned to joy as I was finally reunited with my complete set of SC Racing 1988 Motocross Action Trading Cards. Yesssss! I originally came across these cards many years ago while browsing through a collectibles shop in downtown London, Ontario. I had never seen or heard of them before and snapped them up immediately. Well, years went by and I moved about half a dozen times; the cards got stuck in a box with some magazines and were forgotten. Until now! So I figured I might as well take the opportunity to share some of these gems with you out there in cyber land because I’m sure there are a few out there that will enjoy seeing them again as much as I did during my hunting trip in the old garage. There are 60 cards in the set so for the next few weeks I will share a few of the best and most interesting. The pictures, as far as I can tell, were all taken during the 1987 season. These cards are a little bigger than your normal hockey card, which is cool. I know that in the early ‘90s there were HiFlyer motocross trading cards issued. They have been well documented in other publications and websites but I have never really seen much about these SC Racing Cards before. They must be pretty rare and probably worth a small fortune.
Mickey Dymond was the heartthrob of American Motocross back in the mid-eighties. The girls loved him and he was a pretty darn good rider as well. He won the 1986 and 1987 125cc National Championship for Team Honda back then when they always won everything. He also hung out with the guys from Motley Crue and was just an all-around cool dude. He signed with Yamaha in 1988 and his career went pretty much downhill from there unfortunately. Injuries and a suspected lack of motivation plagued his tenure with Yamaha. He never came close to winning another National Championship. Later in his career he became involved in freestyle motocross and super-moto.
The pride of Sherwood, Michigan – six-time National Champion Jeff Stanton. Of course back in 1988 he was just getting started with his pro career. In fact ‘87, when this shot was taken, was his first year of pro. He won the AMA Rookie of the Year award. Obviously Stanton spent most of his career on Hondas so it’s kind of neat seeing him aboard a Yamaha in this photo. Always known for his strong work ethic, Stanton signed with Honda in 1989 and his period of MX dominance began. Not the most stylish or personable rider of his day, Stanton let his riding speak for itself. Stanton retired in 1994 at the age of twenty six. Has it really been that long? Note the familiar Arai helmet that he wore his entire career.
A lot of you will not even remember Midland, Michigan native Eddie Warren but I certainly do. According to the info on the back of his card his nickname was “Fast Eddie”. Having raced a lot in Michigan during the ‘80s I can vouch for that as I got to see first-hand just how amazingly fast this kid was. He was a sure fire bet to be a multi-time National Champion. His pro career got off to a great start as he won the 1985 East Coast Supercross Championship in his rookie season. He signed with factory Kawasaki and had mixed results for a couple of seasons before being released. He then moved to Australia to race. I never really heard about him again after that. Wonder what he’s doing now?
Airtime Guy Cooper. What a fan favourite this guy was. Hailing from Stillwater, Oklahoma, Guy had factory rides with Honda and Suzuki during his career and he won the 1990 125cc National Championship aboard a Suzuki. Although he never won an AMA Supercross race, he came close many times. His big jumping, go-for-broke style endeared him to the fans. I’ll never forget seeing him at the Pontiac Supercross many years ago when he decided to turn a jump that had only been doubled before into a triple during the main event. He basically had to go off of the track to get enough of a run to make it and he did it for about five laps in a row, the last time with one hand and the bike whipped sideways. Cooper still rides quite a bit as far as I know and can be found at a lot of the big vintage races during the summer. If you ever come across him in your travels go up and say hi. He’s always got time for his fans.
Canada even gets some love in the SC Racing set courtesy of Ross “Rollerball” Pederson, Canada’s greatest motocross racer. Ross was at the height of his powers when this photo was taken in 1987. He finished 8th overall in the AMA 250 National Series that year running only a partial schedule and even made the podium at Hangtown with a 3rd overall. He also finished a very respectable 9th overall in Supercross. This while running a complete Canadian schedule as well. They don’t make ‘em like “Rollerball” anymore. By-the-way, what kind of rear tire is that?
My personal favourite – Ronnie “The Dogger” Lechien. Ronnie only ever won one National Championship, the 1985 125cc, for Honda, but he was all over the top of the leader board during the ‘80s and was arguably the finest rider of his generation. He did it all without really working too hard at it but that was “The Dogger”.
I thought this was kind of cool. The photo on top is of course Dogger from 1987. The one below was taken recently but the similarities are certainly apparent. Same bike – Kawasaki. Same gear – JT. Same helmet – JT. Same sweet style compliments of the Dogger. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
