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Charles Halcomb / videos / photos / blog

Nov 10

Buckwheat Interview (Hannah) lolposted in Supercross on Nov 10th 2010 at 9:21pm.

MXA MINI-VIEW: BOB HANNAH


    This man needs no introduction. He’s controversial. He’s interesting. He’s funny. And, he provides very good insight. 
 
MXA: What are you doing in Southern California?
Bob: My partner and I flew two Bush planes down here to take to Long Beach for an AOPA convention. It’s comparable to the Indianapolis trade show. We’re going to show a couple of planes down there. I’m also helping Eddie Cole from Matrix with some advertising shoots. 

So your life is full of flying these days?
Yeah, I’m flying, bicycle riding and staying home in Idaho. That’s all I want in my life. I’m way too busy at work right now. There’s more work than I know what to do with. We do a lot of advertising with the company, so a lot of people know us. I heard a year ago that 50 percent of the airplane dealers would be broke by now, but we’re actually up.

Have you been following any of the happenings in motocross lately?
Nope. I haven’t followed it at all. You’re going to have a hard time getting anything out of me!

Ok, well let’s say that you’re Chad Reed and you’re starting your own team...
Wait a second. I thought that he was quitting racing. Isn’t that what he’s doing? 

Now he says that he’s going to have his own team next year, racing both Supercross and the Nationals. It’s good to have him back on the starting line and equally good that he’s supposedly going racing outdoors. What are your thoughts on Reed’s decision?
I think it’s good that he’s doing a whole year. I can’t imagine any sponsor being happy with a rider that does a Supercross only deal. If I was riding I wouldn’t do Supercross only. Racing both indoors and outdoors is good for the sport. I’m thinking that Yamaha would hate it, but they let James Stewart get away with it. 

As a racer, were you preferential to one form of racing over another?
I didn’t care. As a racer I liked to race. What I don’t get is that nowadays many of the top racers make so much money and they just don’t care. If Bubba made $200,000 a year then he would have to race outdoors to make more money, but he makes so much money that he just doesn’t care about the outdoors. 


Hannah on a Honda.

Do you ever wish that you could race in this era, as opposed to the 1970s and ‘80s?
No, although the money sure is nice now! That would be the only reason that I would want to race now. However, I made good money in the day. I’m glad that I rode when I did. It was still fun back then. I think that a lot of these riders don’t know what it was like racing back then. I hear that at Supercross races Stewart’s camp hands out 100 tickets to sign autographs. I think that’s ridiculous! When the races were over I always tried to stay until the last guy that wanted an autograph got one. That was my rule. I didn’t hand out tickets! That’s crap! When I heard that teams hand out a select number of tickets for autographs I puked. I thought to myself, ‘Give me a break!’ I’m not trying to throw Stewart under the bus, but anybody that does that is full of crap. That’s sick. I stood for four or five hours after a Supercross race in Houston, until well after midnight, and I signed nearly 2000 autographs. Now 100 autographs? Ha! Maybe that’s why I had loyal fans. When I rode around the track the fans clapped. They didn’t say to each other, ‘Oh man, I almost got an autograph from that jerk, but I didn’t get a ticket!’ I guess the guys make so much money now that they don’t care about the fans. 

Is there any current rider that you think emulates you on the bike, or has a similar personality?
Let’s hope not! We don’t need another personality like mine. The rider might get black balled! I don’t know many of the riders anymore. Most of the guys hide in their motor homes, so I don’t get to see them. I tried to get an autograph a while back, but they already gave 100 out [laughter]. It’s all very political now. I think that some riders want to speak out and say what’s on their mind, but they don’t want to. I really don’t think that the times have changed very much. The fans haven’t changed. The only thing is that the riders have changed. People tell me that if I was riding now I wouldn’t be able to get away with the things I did back when I raced. Bologna! I would be able to get away with everything that I ever did.

Does that include the time you were in a dispute with Yamaha and wore a Bob Hannah jersey instead of the Yamaha jersey?
Oh yeah. There’s no doubt in my mind. If I was winning then nobody would say squat about it. The teams let these guys get away with murder, but I don’t know why. I remember some controversy about me signing autographs on some part of a fan’s anatomy and drinking beer after a race at the end of my career. The head guy at Suzuki asked me if more people liked what I was doing or more people disliked what I was doing. I told him that more people liked it, so he said, ‘Continue on.’ That’s all he wanted to hear. He told me that if I was going to drink beer then I should put it in a cup. Of course I was of legal drinking age. 


Hannah towards the end of his career (sans beer can and Sharpie).

So you think that the riders have changed?
Yeah, now it’s more of a rock and roll style. There are motor homes, big money, and they don’t like to mingle. Maybe they are just too busy or something. It’s not the same as the old days. However, there were guys like that in the old days. There were guys that cleared out of the track right after the race. Say I have 50 percent of the fans and Marty Smith has 50 percent of the fans. After a big GP race in Ohio I’m the last guy there signing autographs, but he gets in his car and left right away. In turn 10 percent of his fans that hated me would become my fans because we talk and I sign an autograph for them. I would drag them away. In a sense we had guys like that in those days, but I benefitted from it. What’s interesting is that when I quit racing I missed the fan interaction more than the racing itself.

Bob, it’s always great to talk to you. Thanks for your time.
No problem.
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