Bob Dylan once sang: ‘The times they are a changing’ – and for those of us old enough to remember, the 60s was, indeed, a period of massive social and cultural change. When Dylan penned the lyrics to this protest anthem, the USA was suffering heavy casualties in the ill-fated war in Vietnam, a conflict that was creating a great deal of unrest back home, and anti-war activists were remonstrating at the senseless losses in what was deemed to be someone else’s war.

Among the unlikeliest protestors was a young, long haired hippy kid from Northern California by the name of Brad Lackey – who coincidentally was also fast earning himself a reputation as a serious motocross rider. Brad Gene Lackey was born on 8 July 1953 in Berkeley, California to parents Doug and Faye. At the age of nine, the young Lackey got his first motorcycle, a 50cc Honda step through, on which he took to the hills and trails around the family home, alongside brother Randy and father Doug. And perhaps it was this early exposure to motorcycling that gave Brad Lackey the head start in off-road riding, that would see him attain his ultimate goal – a World Championship medal – at the ripe old age of 29. Whatever, in November 1963, aged 10, Lackey entered his first scramble, a local meet organised by the City of Richmond and the Richmond Ramblers’ Motorcycle Club. “I finished first and still have the trophy,” recalls the charismatic Californian.

If the ‘Summer of Love’ and ‘Flower Power’ were synonymous with the San Francisco Bay area where Lackey grew up, so too did music and the message of ‘Peace’ become major influences in his life. During his early scrambling years the young Lackey famously rode with a ‘Peace’ dove strapped to the handlebars of his machine. Brad explains: “The Vietnam war was not at all popular during the time that I grew up and the area where I lived was very politically vocal – this was my way of expressing my views”

In between races, Brad would return to the paddock, slump back in a garden chair and listen to his favourite music. It was clearly a relaxation programme that worked well for the world champion elect as he took the American motocross scene by storm. “Being born in Berkeley,” Brad explains, “I naturally had a lot of San Francisco music and influences around – but my all-time favourite band had to be Led Zepplin. John Bonham used to come out to watch the MotoCross GP in England and we became friends and I still hear from his son Jason.”

On the track, Lackey’s early form earned him sponsorship through a local CZ dealership and, by the 1968/69 season, he was competing against Europe’s elite in the annual InterAm and Trans AMA series. The following season saw him claim several wins in the TransAm support series, where he often finished as the top American. That same year, Lackey was recruited directly by CZ as a full time factory rider.

Brad can still recall those early days. “The CZ team invited me to their factory in Strachoniche to attend a training camp with a bunch of CZ works riders, Marty Tripes included. Vlastimel Valek was our trainer. The Russians trained by riding with no seats and we rode and rode until we ran out of gas, and then we would push the bikes back. After training, they picked the top two riders – myself and Sonny Defeo – and they asked us if we wanted to ride half of the 250cc GPs on their factory bikes. We were still at high school, so Sonny’s father said; ‘no,’ but my father said ‘yes’, so I stayed.”

Later that same season, Lackey returned to the States to compete in the AMA 500cc nationals and finished the season in a very creditable second place – just one point behind Husqvarna’s Mark Blackwell. And for 1972, Lackey signed for the American Kawasaki squad to compete in the Nationals. It was to be a season in which the Californian annihilated the opposition to claim his first major, a win at Hangtown and also his first AMA 500cc title. To round off his season, Brad also claimed sixth spot in the Trans AMA series, beating many of the top Europeans.

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