Dan Thordarson
drth
...@ca.rr.com
HBMC, Competition MC., East/West
Rode for 10 years and Raced from1975 to 1978
400Yamaha & 390 Husky
Open
Carried #8 Open Plate in 1978
Santa Clarita (Saugus), CA
Racing RC Pylon Airplanes, Speeds Reaching 190+ MPH
No
Last riding the family did was in the late 80's when my Boy's (Trevor & Kyle) were young and I was riding with a group of B-2 employees I worked with, the plant shut down and we all went our separate ways and so did the riding.
My biggest highlight was finishing 4th overall at the 1977 Four Aces Moose Run, my family and I always help work the Moose Runs as we had family that were members, this year I decided to race and when I came into the 1st check on the 2nd loop where my family was marking tanks they told me I was running 6th and I managed to pass 2 more bikes placing me 4th overall. Other highlights were racing with my friends like Mitch Payton, Dave Connor, Greg Humber, Lou Montrone and many others. Although I transferred to Amateur in my first 5 races it was tough going just barely getting high enough placings, once I was running with the amateurs I obtained my expert strip in my first 10 races finishing 1st in every event as an amateur, There always seamed to be a few really fast guys in the novice class!
I attended a European Scrambles in 1977 it was off of 395 heading north to Red Mountain on the east side of 395 (forget what the area was called) I was out practicing the course when I came across Mitch Payton and a couple of other guys,I stopped and asked what was going on? Mitch said we're trying to decided if we can clear this riverbed crossing ? It was about 20+ feet across and about 3ft deep, It had a flat run to it without any lip to get any help from. Mitch finally stated " I'll bet if I go flat-out in 5th I can clear it! we all egged him on and stating if he did it we'd give it a try! Holly Shit if he didn't make it! He had that custom 175cc 250 framed Husky going flat out and he CLEARED it! Mitch came back and said "Who's next?" One by one we all tried it and made it across! During my race that day I cleared that wash everyone of my 10 laps with my 390 husky Great Fun! I'm sure we all thought the same thing following Mitch's heroic river crossing "Damn I've got to try it now! Great memories!
