It's a huge task to tackle my black and white neg inventory. Boxes of washed out contact sheets with neg strips taped to the back in wax envelopes. But inside those envelopes lay treasures, memories, my little piece of MX history that I hope to share with you on this blog.
Here's a shot from the first interview I did at Cycle News, circa 1979. It's Keith Turpin (left) with his kid brother making camera faces.
Turpin was the child prodigy of mini MX. He was a very early recruit of Dave and Sandra Jordan's Kawasaki Team Green brigade. It was the era of 80cc mini racing and the factories were poised to grow that displacement model and engage loyalty from racing customers.
There are many theories as to what forces grew the depth and professionalism in motocross. My nod goes to Dave and Sandra...they were the king and queen of the first major amateur MX program and managed it well.
Turpin when on to a pro career with Kawasaki and then Suzuki. He suffered some major crashes; I remember going to visit him in the hospital (Pontiac?) after he broke a femur at the Supercross that evening. Keith told me he had encountered enough, it was time to get out.
Interviewing the Turpins was the start of something very big and special in my life. I had graduated from an obscure university in Wisconsin only weeks before...but at Cycle News East, I became an immediate insider with all things motocross.
How good could life be? I lived I dream that few would encounter. Motocross was the best of life.
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