TOM MADIGAN
It was 1976, and Motocross racing in the U.S. was still catching up with its counterpart in Europe, where the sport had begun and was populated with Euro stars. An unknown factory rider for Yamaha in his first pro event swept past twenty-one competitors including the reigning American champion, Marty Smith, who registered a distant second. Journalists reporting the race spoke of the kid who came from nowhere and, like a hurricane, blew past the rider everyone thought invincible. The name stuck, and "Hurricane" Bob Hannah was introduced to motocross fans around the country and, soon enough, the world. This is the story of Bob Hannah, the first true Supercross star, told by the man who knows him best--a motorsport writer Hannah simply calls "Dad." The tale Tom Madigan tells is the life of an American original, a boy who went from riding dirt bikes in the desert with his father to taking the nation by surprise as offroad motorcycle racing's first American superstar. By the time Hannah retired in 1987, he had collected 70 AMA National wins, six AMA National titles, a MX des Nations title, and a legion of devoted fans. When he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999, he was second to none in total and consecutive wins. Today, Bob Hannah races airplanes--still flying, but now with wings instead of wheels. Richly illustrated with photographs that only the author could have taken, this is the definitive biography of the Hurricane.
