MAICO Days

 

The MAICO brand and Rex Staten just go together like a Secretariat and Willie Shoemaker. The combination just makes sense, and without a doubt, Rocket Rex piloted the Maico to steller heights. The shop that helped Rex along in his young career on a Maico was the innovative Holladay Cycle in Southern California. Rex got so good in the CMC Golden State MX Nationals, he even had a weekly open bounty on his head at Saddleback! Another amazing feat from the Rocket is he won 29 straight races aboard a Holladay Maico! Even more impressive, of the 95 races he entered in '73 aboard just the Maico, he won a remarkable 76 times for Holladay. The Rocket was literally on fire!

              

              

         

                      

Cool side shot of Staten having fun in his boots after winning two classes for the day! The 56 Ford pickup adds some vintage motif that begs a thumbs up too. Classic! If you happened to be at the races in the early 70's when Rex was there, you usually got the treat of the "Rocket Rex Show" with him riding a complete lap up on the seat. I have seen him do this at age 16 on his old OSSA at Deadmans Point when nobody in racing did this except for Doug Domokos who in 1970 at age 15 began his career showboating on two wheels.

"REX STATEN SHOW"

Another example of the Rocket showing off on his '73 Maico 400 at Deadmans Point track, during the race! He won all the races in 2 classes again, that's 6 moto's folks! Of note is the track background. Now, I helped build this place endlessly moving dirt and stacking tires as Dresslar changed the track routing every 2 weeks or so for the 300 plus riders in its heyday. Our work was never done.

You can see the tin fence in the background which in total completely encircled the 5 acre property. Well all of the fence posts were railroad ties, you know those tar soaked heavier that you know what things. Now the posts required a big and deep hole, like 2 feet deep, then back-filled with dirt and water, all done by hand some 500 times. Then the fencing was 12 foot long roof tin stacked 3 to 4 high every 15 feet. So if my calculation is correct there were some 1500 or more sheets of hot as hell sheet metal being handled in the desert summer of 100 plus degrees! And to add to the blazing sun and sharp slicing tin, 20-40 mph winds rolling in around 3pm. Can you see the recipe for at least some good finger slicing going on here? In retrospect, it was all fun and just so darned exciting on race day.

A little know fact about Deadmans Point Motocross. Once "the fence" was completed, this track became Americas first unofficial stadium motocross track in 1969-70. And Rex's antics when he showed up which was usually every weekend, added to the great family atmosphere among the thousands of weekend campers within and surrounding the track. It was quite a place...

This great and classic photo of the young 18 year old Rocket Rex in front of the famous Deadmans rocks pretty much sums up the fact he was headed for greatness! We all saw it unfold, we said it would happen and we believed it. And he did it. Yeah the Maico's broke often, every make Rex ever raced broke for that matter. But what the Maico did for Rex was to propel his talent and shear desire to win at all costs. The bikes handled so much better than the CZ's, Rex Staten couldn't help but become a household name in the ranks of American Motocross forever.

DMP owners Bobby and Kathy Dresslar on the last race weekend in 1973 being awarded a helmet plaque for 5 years of motocross racing and support from the racers and fans. I am still in contact with Bobby and Rex and its just a gas to talk old times at the Point.

The bookend T's (1968 & 1973) Bobby and Kathy Dresslar would hand out to racers and fans for Free! Images courtesy Eric Johnson & Scott Tremblay, 2015

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