Mike "Too Tall" Bell was one of America’s leading motocross and
Supercross racers of the late 1970s and early '80s. He rode for
Yamaha during his entire pro career. His biggest claim to fame
was winning the 1980 AMA Supercross Championship, but Bell
proved very versatile throughout his seven-year professional
career, winning a total of 20 AMA and Trans-AMA nationals.
Bell was born in Los Angeles on August 8, 1957. His father, Bill,
was an avid racer and well-known tuner who did development
work for American Honda on its four-stroke desert racing
machines during the late 1960s. Mike began riding at age 10 up in
the mountains outside Los Angeles where his family had a cabin,
but unlike many of his contemporaries who started much
younger, Bell did not start racing until he was 14. Once he got on
the track however, with a new Maico, it didn’t take long for Bell to
go right to the top of the highly competitive Southern California
motocross scene.
"Even though I didn’t start racing until I was 14, I knew how to
ride," explained Bell, who advanced from novice to expert in just
six months. "My dad didn’t want me to get into racing until he
knew I was ready for it. I think it proved to be a good decision. A
lot of kids were burning out by the time they were 16 because
they’d already been racing for so long and I was just really
getting into it."
Since Bell’s dad worked at a shop, it was hard to get him
enthused about spending his entire weekend around more
motorcycles, so the young Bell raced primarily in night motocross
events.
"I did a lot of riding under the lights at places like Ascot, Lyons,
and Irwindale," Bell remembered. Those experiences would serve
him well in AMA Supercross events after he turned pro.
Bell became one of the top club motocross racers in Southern
California as a teenager. He was making as much as $500 per
week in the club events and was in no big hurry to run the
nationals, where he might have struggled to make that kind of
money as he climbed the ranks. A local event at the legendary
Saddleback Park changed all that. AMA Motocross champ Jim
Weinert showed up for the race to get in some practice. Bell takes
the story from there. "Weinert got the holeshot and I was pretty
far back in the field," Bell recalled. "I moved up through the pack
and late in the moto saw Weinert’s green factory Kawasaki in
front of me. With two laps to..." full story on Motocross America