Brad with the winning certificate

In the late 60s, a skinny, long-haired hippy kid from Northern California started getting attention from the local motocross race fans. He was riding hard, hammering his bike like a wildman. But this young wildman rarely crashed.

Instead he won races. Against savvy vets and local fast pros. And he did it like it was natural. After the races, Brad Lackey would kick back in a lawn chair and turn on some Led Zepplin tunes, looking like it was all way too easy.

Brad's vintage 440 Maico

A bit later, Brad rode in some of the Inter-Am events in 1968 and 69, in the days before the AMA had a sanctioned championship series, and had his first opportunity to race with the all-powerful European MX stars.

Right about that time, a local CZ dealer named Lightning, saw something in young Brad Lackey that looked special and sponsored him on a CZ. In 1970, Brad took on the national MX circuit full-time. That's when the now-famous peace dove was taped to his handlebars.

In 1971, Lightning made a phone call to some nice folks who worked behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia. A deal was worked out, and the 17 year-old kid from California suddenly found himself in Straconiche, living and training in harsh conditions that would seem like scenes from a Rocky movie.

The winning Suzuki from 1982

He would wake up in an unheated storage room with no running water to face tough practice sessions. His bathing was done in a nearby creek The Czech trainers would fill the tank on his CZ motocrosser, remove the saddle and wave Brad off. When he ran out of gas an hour or so later, he would push the bike back to the pits and then do it all over again.

When cold weather hit, training would not stop. Instead, Brad would do long runs around frozen lakes, ski cross country and do brutal workouts. Between training sessions, Brad would put in stints working at the CZ factory. In the evenings, he would take his meager salary and buy beers for his fellow workers.

When his trainers were satisfied that Brad was making progress, he headed back home and proceeded to campaign in the National 500 cc class. At the end of the 1971 season, he came in second, just one point behind Mark Blackwell.

The famous peace dove

But that fine finish was just like a shark tasting blood in the water. In 1972, he not only won the 500 title, but did so in a totally dominating style. He literally lapped the field, finishing with 2030 points, compared to Gary Jones in second place with a mere 829 points. In the process, he dispatched motocross greats like Jim Pomeroy, Mark Blackwell, Jammin' Jimmy Weinert, Mike Runyard and Barry Higgins. Brad ended up with five wins for the season, compared to two for Higgins and one for the Texas flash, Wyman Priddy.

He also capped off that year by being the best American finisher against the great European stars in the Trans-AMA series. His sixth overall put him in front of many Continental stars who just a few years ago were lapping him.

Satisfied that he was the best American rider, Brad set his sights on a goal that no American rider had ever accomplished: World Champion!

Perfect 360 CZ side-piper

This began a decade long quest to become World Champion in the prestigious 500 cc class. Even though Brad competed in some US races on an irregular basis, his complete attention was on the battlegrounds of Europe In 1973, he hit the entire Grand Prix circuit and did it on a shoe-string budget. He was rewarded with a 13th overall among the best rider in the world. Not bad for a 20-year old rookie racer.

His first GP moto win came in 1975 at Luxembourg and he improved his world rating to sixth. While all this was going on, Brad still managed to sneak in some races in the US, with a National 500 race win and a solid showing in the Trans-AMA series.

Brad prowled the Continental circuits, accompanied by his wife, Lori. Together, They learned how to live, travel and raise a family in a motorhome. There were wins and heart breaks. But all the time Brad got better and better. He switched brands a few times and eventually hit his physical and mental peak when he signed with Suzuki in 1981 for a two year contract.

At the end of the 1981 Season, he thought he had the coveted title won, only to be taken out by the aggressive Belgian rider, Andre Mahlerbe. To this day, Brad looks back on that incident with a sour taste in his mouth.

1965 CZ twin-pipe... utterly flawless!

Vowing to make up for the disaster of 1981, Brad raced the 1982 season in a cold, calculating manner. With one race left to go, whoever won that event would be crowned World Champion. Brad and Andre Vromans were almost tied going into Luxembourg. What followed was a highly risky plan put into effect by Brad and the Suzuki team, and an incredible show of patience and pure guts.

After a few days of practice, the stopwatches showed that Brad was five seconds a lap faster than Vromans, but he knew that if he took the lead, the fiercely partisan local fans would do anything and everything to help their hero and make life hell for Brad.

So the plan was for Brad to simply let Vromans go. Let him get a nice big lead until the race was near the end, and then let it all hang out. This strategy would defuse the fans of Vroman and also let Brad relax.

For almost 25 minutes, Brad let Vromans pull him by about two seconds a lap. Brad's wife, Lori, was not aware of this strategy and thought Brad was getting soundly beaten.

A whole buncha bikes are resting in Brad's shop

Then, with a handful of laps left to go and with Vromans nursing a 27 second lead, Brad got the 'GO" signal and kicked in the after-burner. With less than one lap to go, Brad literally blew by Vromans, a gear higher on a bumpy straight. Vromans was stunned and his shoulders slumped in defeat.

The final moto was just a cruise for Brad, as Vromans knew he was beaten and Brad was The Man that day. At the end of that last, dramatic moto, thousands of people mobbed Brad and went nuts! It was pure and utter chaos and Brad was not even able to cross the finish line as the race fans swarmed the track.

At long last, Brad Lackey was the 500 cc World Champion.

One week later, Suzuki slashed their racing program and the new World Champion found himself without a ride.

With that under his belt, Brad decided to concentrate on racing in America, only to find out that while he had been racing in Europe, the American racers had improved a great deal. A new crop of racers had learned how to go fast and to train. He weighed a few deals and signed up for one ride at the Carlsbad Grand Prix with Yamaha, then retired.

Before the race talking with Todd Huffman

Just like that, an era ended.

Or did it?

About three years ago, the vintage racing bug hit and it bit Brad. He started racing for the pure fun of it again, on the bikes he grew up with.

So, in between a thriving t-shirt business, personal appearances and teaching a motocross school, Brad finds time to do what he always did best: go fast on a big bike. These days, you can find him straddling an absolutely perfect 450 Maico, and yes, winning.

We spent some time with Brad during the filming of a new vintage TV series that I'm involved with, and got to know him a bit better.

Start of the Carlsbad GP

Brad is now a bit over 50 years old and the shaggy hair and beard are now streaked with gray. But the body still looks trim and fit.

Unlike many retired racers, Brad still rides and races just for the pure fun of it. We caught up with him at famed Carlsbad Raceway during the running of the Christmas Grand Prix. And what was this? Brad was on a big 440 Maico! Not a CZ or a Suzuki or a Kawasaki, but one of the Phaffigen fliers.

Brad raced in the vintage class and felt the Maico was the perfect bike for that: "It rides like a Caddy. Plenty of good power, the suspension is nice and it goes where you point it. If I would have a bike like this back then, I think I would have been world champion a whole lot earlier.

After the race

Being an old Maico man myself, I wasn't surprised when Brad came in after practice with the trick-looking aluminum alloy tank leaking pre-mix all over the tank and his crotch. I assisted by using and old-school Maico trick. A long strip was torn off an old towel and tied tightly around the gas cap. Problem solved.

Brad went out and handily won the one hour GP, even though he didn't get a great start. Funny thing about watching him ride. Nothing flashy, no wild-ass slides and slithering around. Just efficient carving through the turns and picking the smartest lines through the bumpy straights. Methodical, smooth, no wasted motion.

He came up, rubbed some sweat and grime off with a towel and grinned: "That was fun!"

While he was getting his gear off, His wife Lori was taking care of a long line of customers who were buying Brad t-shirts and other gear. Brad didn't get much of a chance to rest, as most of the customers wanted autographs from the former champ, which he gladly did.

Whoa! A brand new old American Eagle 405

A few weeks later, we headed north to Pleasant Hills, California, with a film crew in hand, to complete the interview. Brad's home is packed with all sorts of cool memento from his days of racing, including, of all things, the bike he won the World Championship with in 1982. Yep, that big brute of a 500 Suzuki is sitting in a corner of the room.

In his garage, are a bunch of modern bikes, most of them used by his son, Logan, who is a pretty good racer in his own right. I expected to see some old iron in the garage and Brad told me to relax, as I would see some later.

After shooting a bunch of video and asking a zillion questions, we headed to Brad's t-shirt shop. It's a big building in a commercial area and a whole lot of shirts get built there.

When we walked in, a whole lot of oooohs and aaaaaahs camee from out group, because right inside the door was a flawless 1970 CZ 360 side-piper. We all gathered around, peering at the bike like kids in a candy store.

Brad just smiled: "If you like that one, you might like this one." And led us into his office. There, perched on a stand, was an utterly pristine 1965 twin pipe CZ. He told us that the bike had been built specially for him and never started. The bike was entered in a vintage/classic bike show once and won best bike. Wow!

After slobbering and drooling over this bike for a while, we went into the shop itself, which was packed with t-shirt equipment and a whole bunch of bikes filling up the whole length of a wall.

Brad's Harley is raw buffed steel with a clear coat

The collection of bikes was mostly old, some outrageous, and others a collector would go nuts to own. Everything from a CZ-powered Maico, to a virgin American Eagle 405, to a crusty Bultaco El Bandito.

Well folks, most of the rest of the evening was spent looking at the old bikes, telling tall tales, swapping lies and drinking beer. And, like they say, a good time was had by all. You can see and hear much of it when the TV show comes out. It'll be called The Motocross Files. Stay tuned to ORC for when the shows are set to air.

If you want to drop an email to Brad, or just pick up on a cool t-shirt or some of the other items he has for sale, here's the source: www.bradlackey.com