cant think of the guys name....but i went to a riding school given out by Husky when I got a new bike back in the 80's...
Mike Melton Scott Harden Dick Burleson Terry Cunningham Kevin Hines Randy Hawkins Malcolm Smith And the list goes on and on....................................
An old husky freak votes Steve McQueen--My main man--for Lamons--for The great escape, for OAS--for his great wives--for the defination of cool. Dick Burelson--even though he knocked me out of a gold medal in a six day qualifier. Raced an enduro on the same number with my daughter who was on his tail after 76 miles when she plowed a stump. J.N. Roberts-- for being a stunt man in addition to a champion desert racer--and all his movies and magazine articals. John Penton--Won Jackpine Enduro and still holds the cross country race time-- and speaker at Michigan enduro awards. Malcom Smith-- OAS-- the reason I bought my first Husky-- A 450 WR desert master in 1972. Raced it for three years. Bob Popiel-- because he raced the Automatic and won Jackpine ahead of all the above riders--TWICE. I converted a desert bike with long travel into an Automatic and he complained that I had a better bike than he had to ride as a factory sponsered rider. I still have it in my garage where it mockes me to rebuild it every day.
Hello An input from Denmark. Steve McQueen, King of cool Malcom Smith, hit did a little of everything with a Husky, and did damn good! Bengt Åberg, See the clip in On any sunday, that guy had style and speed ! Thorsten Hallman, Håkan "Carla" Carlqvist, He was a cool/hardcore guy on a bike! Namur '88, incredible! It's hard to chose just one.
Hello I think Sven-Erik "Jösse" Jönsson or Anders Eriksson is the best Husqvarna riders of all time. Jörgen
My Dad was my first influence. He got his first Husky (a 400) from JN. Then "#8 in the desert" Morris Norman, (Kendall's Dad) taught him (us) how to ride. I was a Husky rider from the start and watched, cheered for, idolized and eventually raced against so many of them. I can't have a favorite. Memories of getting passed by DB at Alligator, or making Kevin Hines and his Dad sick with my bloody split lip in Columbia SC, or any meeting with John Penton or Malcolm. I could go on and on. There are just too many, too great to choose from. Although I have 12 bikes now, (I have the full blown Vintage addiction), 5 are Husky and since I was 4, we've never not had one.
Lackey, Mikkola,and don't forget Sugar Bear (Billy Grossi) Chuck Sun. Do you all remember where Mitch Payton (Pro-Circuit) got his start? Way back in "the day" my Huskies came from Dave Mungenast shop in St. Louis, Dave was and ISDE rider, and a lot of these guy you mention came thru there on their way to races.
Malcolm Smith... Duh! Lots of other excellent riders, but Malcolm was unbelievable. Just watching On Any Sunday shows you how good he was. The effortless mastery of the sport, his ability to totally dominate his competition and the enormous list of the wide variety of his accomplishments are incredible.
Bengt Aberg all the way, only person alive that could do a feet up full locker in 5th gear on a Husky. Unreal, ballet in fact. Mikkola second then me.
Rolf Tibblin, Torsten Hallman, Bengt Aberg, Heikki Mikkola, Hakan Carlqvist...Tough choice between Torsten and Bengt
All of the names you guys have thrown out are all great riders and Champions, but one guy that stands out for me was Dave Chase. Back in my days of doing Baja pits for Husky L.R, Scott, Brent, Garth, and Dan/Dan won races, but Dave was a SCORE Champ as well. So why Dave Chase, well he went from rider to mechanic building the bikes for Dan Smith and his H&H wins. When Dan went to trucks, from KTM, Dave took a new kid under his wing Danny Hamel. He taught Danny how to work on and save the bike. They won 5 H&H Championships, just as he did with Dan Smith. Dave went on to build the first XR440 Honda kit's, ran the shop at Pro Circuit and helped develop the Honda CRF's. We lost Dave a few years ago, way to early, but the guy sure could ride and build Husqvarna's. We miss ya Dave.
