VintageDave393
10-08-2006, 08:48 PM
Greetings from San Antonio, TX. My name is Dave Garner and I have been involved with motorcycles since I was 9 years old. I started racing in 1971 at the age of 11. I was a motocrosser during the glory days of the sport and had the good fortune of seeing the sport develop from the ground up in the U.S. This year marks 35 years of racing for me.
I came to this site for a couple of reasons. One of my childhood friends was David Bailey. I have been profoundly affected by David's injury over the past 20 years. So much, that I stepped away from the sport in 1986 when he was injured and didn't so much as read a bike magazine for at least 10 years.
I had a life-changing experience in 2000. I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma at the age of 40. I had surgery, did a full year of chemo, and told myself that it was time to start living again. I decided to go back to the sport I loved when I was younger, so I found a 1982 Maico 490 and started racing vintage motocross. I found that the old skills were still there, at least mentally, and that the tracks were now littered with more guys my age than there were mini riders.
I decided that I needed a modern MXer to go along with my vintage racer so I started hanging out at Thumper Talk and reading about the 4 strokes that were new at the time. One member in particular was very knowledgeable and his name was MotoMan393. I followed his posts for a while and then realized that he was just a 17 year-old kid. I was struck by the similarity of his interest in the sport and remembered how I felt about bikes when I was his age.
Then one Sunday night I logged into Thumper Talk and saw a very disturbing header. "MotoMan393 passed away today". I began to read through the posts and found that his name was Garrett Michael Berg and he had died as a result of an accident at Splendora Motocross Park near Houston, TX. I had raced at that track only a week before for the very first time. At the same time I met some new friends at the races and one of them was Howard Lobel aka "Big Maico". Howard and I developed a friendship over the next couple of months.
Howard called me in November and asked if I would come to Houston and race at a benefit for a foundation that Garrett's family had started. I went, knowing that it would be a difficult weekend. There were lots of tears shed that weekend. Out of that weekend came a bond among the participants. We began to call ourselves "The Band of Brothers". Now each year on the first weekend of October, at Splendora Motocross Park, we organize the Garrett Michael Berg, Remembering Those Who Rode Memorial. This past weekend marked the 5th anniversary.
Saying all that, the reason I'm here at RiderDown.Org is to give back to the sport that I love. It has given me a lot and made me who I am today. It's the least I can do.
I came to this site for a couple of reasons. One of my childhood friends was David Bailey. I have been profoundly affected by David's injury over the past 20 years. So much, that I stepped away from the sport in 1986 when he was injured and didn't so much as read a bike magazine for at least 10 years.
I had a life-changing experience in 2000. I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma at the age of 40. I had surgery, did a full year of chemo, and told myself that it was time to start living again. I decided to go back to the sport I loved when I was younger, so I found a 1982 Maico 490 and started racing vintage motocross. I found that the old skills were still there, at least mentally, and that the tracks were now littered with more guys my age than there were mini riders.
I decided that I needed a modern MXer to go along with my vintage racer so I started hanging out at Thumper Talk and reading about the 4 strokes that were new at the time. One member in particular was very knowledgeable and his name was MotoMan393. I followed his posts for a while and then realized that he was just a 17 year-old kid. I was struck by the similarity of his interest in the sport and remembered how I felt about bikes when I was his age.
Then one Sunday night I logged into Thumper Talk and saw a very disturbing header. "MotoMan393 passed away today". I began to read through the posts and found that his name was Garrett Michael Berg and he had died as a result of an accident at Splendora Motocross Park near Houston, TX. I had raced at that track only a week before for the very first time. At the same time I met some new friends at the races and one of them was Howard Lobel aka "Big Maico". Howard and I developed a friendship over the next couple of months.
Howard called me in November and asked if I would come to Houston and race at a benefit for a foundation that Garrett's family had started. I went, knowing that it would be a difficult weekend. There were lots of tears shed that weekend. Out of that weekend came a bond among the participants. We began to call ourselves "The Band of Brothers". Now each year on the first weekend of October, at Splendora Motocross Park, we organize the Garrett Michael Berg, Remembering Those Who Rode Memorial. This past weekend marked the 5th anniversary.
Saying all that, the reason I'm here at RiderDown.Org is to give back to the sport that I love. It has given me a lot and made me who I am today. It's the least I can do.