| July 21, 2024
Cycle News Archives
COLUMN
OCIR Hosts International Jump Contest
By Kent Taylor
Whose idea was it, anyway—this crazy notion of jumping our motorcycles? Who was the first daredevil who thought that these contraptions, which were designed to operate in direct contact with hard surfaces, should leave said ground and vault into the atmosphere?
Did Gottlieb Daimler, making his maiden voyage on the world’s first motorcycle, catch a little air? At the whopping top speed of seven miles per hour, it is unlikely that the engineer was thinking about a nac-nac. Still, one wonders if maybe he eyed a small hill and gave it a mischievous German grin?
However it happened, many riders enjoy the rush of jumping with their motorcycles and often like to observe those who do. Shrewd promoters connected the dots, and so it was that on October 28, 1977, a jumping competition was held at the famous Orange County International Raceway. Seven riders, by invitation only, would compete for a motorcycle jumping championship of some sort.
In 1977, a seven-rider invitational jump-off was held at OCIR in California. Competitors had to leap 110 feet (over cars) and look the best doing it to win. Little-known Bob Duffey won the $20,000 grand prize.
On hand were some of the top jumpers and motorcycle stuntmen in the world. From across the pond came French stuntman Alain Prieur, Czechoslovakian crazy man Karel Soucek and Great Britain’s Eddie Kidd. American entrants were well-known jumpers Gary Wells, Rex Blackwell, and Dick “The Red Devil” Stone.
These men were accomplished in their field. Eddie Kidd had once jumped a portion of the Great Wall of China. Gary Wells, who would later attempt to replicate Evel Knievel’s fountain jump at Caesar’s Palace, was considered one of America’s top jumpers. Soucek, like many racers from 1970s Communist countries, was a go-for-broke rider. He was, according to Cycle News “a daredevil who will do anything for the right amount of money,” including (successfully) riding in a barrel over Niagra Falls.
There was one more rider listed by CN as an alternate. His name was Bob Duffey. No explanation was given for why Duffy was an alternate, but the New Mexico native was determined to prove he belonged in this talented group of riders.
This was more than just a jump-for-distance contest. Rather, a complex and apparently controversial points system had been contrived. For his first leap, each rider would launch off a ramp and sail over 20 compact cars for a jump of 100 feet. The rider would then get a crack at a second jump, measuring 110 feet. Style points were awarded, though the manner in which they could be earned was not exactly clear. A regular landing was okay, but even better would be a landing inside a small white square painted on the ground. Judges “drawn from throughout the motorcycling world” would determine who would walk away with the lion’s share of the $50,000 in prize money.
The winner was given the opportunity to break the outright 120-foot jump record for an extra $5000, but Duffey botched the landing (pictured) and crashed, luckily without major injuries.
If a rider was disappointed with one of his rounds, he could toss out that score and take his best shot one more time with an optional third jump. That third jump score would be added to his other best jumping score. It would be a gamble, one that would come up snake eyes for Rick Blackwell.
Each rider took his turn at his first jump, and at the end of round one, it was Blackwell on top with a judges’ score of 9.8, with Wells in second place with an 8.6. The competitors trailing Blackwell were vociferous in their complaints about both the conditions of the launching ramp (“too slick”) and the inconsistency of the judges, with Brit Eddie Kidd giving the entire event a royal raspberry! “Rubbish,” he spouted when asked about the judges, who gave him only a 7.8 for his first jump effort.
It was Blackwell again leading the way in round number two, and after two jumps, he was in the lead with 18.4 points. Just four-tenths behind him, however, was Wells. Wells had nothing to lose, so he opted to jump a third time and earned an impressive score of 9.
Apparently fearing that another competitor would surpass him with a good third jump, Blackwell also attempted the optional extra run, but unfortunately for the Arizona man, the third time was not the charm. He “badly misjudged his speed and came down on top of the landing ramp.” The judges were tough on Blackwell for this egregious error and scored him a wimpy five points, far worse than the 8.6 jump he had thrown out.
The winner was the underdog, Bob Duffey. He had scored an impressive 9.6 with his second jump, threw out a poor first jump score, and netted a solid 9 with the optional jump, vaulting the friendly New Mexico resident into first place over Wells and Soucek. Blackwell’s poor final jump saw him tumble into last place in the standings.
The OCIR evening had one more thrilling event for the crowd. The winner of the contest was given the opportunity to break the AMA’s record for jumping and also earn an extra $5000. Duffey, in his white jumping leathers with the phrase “Fear No Evel” haughtily embossed across his chest, lined up to go for the glory, a jumping distance of 120 feet. Unfortunately, he landed nose-high and crashed in spectacular fashion, complete with a shower of sparks and smoking leathers!
Ever the showman, Duffey nixed a ride in the ambulance. “I walked in here tonight,” he told the crowd, “and I’m going to walk out of here, too!”
Frenchman Alain Prieur competed in the jump-off and finished fourth.
For his efforts, Duffey earned a cool $20,000, which was a whole lot more than most AMA race purses paid any winner that year. Again, Cycle News’ contributor Brian George doesn’t elaborate on why Bob Duffey bore the title of “alternate.” But what was clear was that Duffey had more than earned his place among these elite motorcycle jumpers. Duffey would go on to perform more than one thousand stunts in his life and even traveled with the Joie Chitwood show for a time. He loved the color purple and was a longtime member of the Christian Motorcyclists’ Association. At his funeral in March of 2023, grievers were asked to wear purple and to show up sober and straight—and no Harley-Davidsons!CN
