Trail Rider Magazine

TrailRiderJANUARY2024

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14 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Vic: "Um yeah...the petroleum engineers in the indus- try weren't happy with any of his oil shootouts. Let's just say his methodology was unique, but his readers related." Paul: "Yes, but here I want to point out something, and I think you'll agree with me. In all of these stunts or radical approaches to stories, his goal was to draw a en on to Dirt Bike magazine. It's important to note that he was always promo ng the magazine, and he was never promo ng himself." Vic: "Duly noted, and very true. Unlike me, he was definitely not interested in self-promo on. I want to add something else to this, too. In all my me with Rick, I never heard him u er a bad word about any- one. Oh there were guys in the business he didn't like, and he would tell you so, but I never heard him dispar- age anyone's name, not verbally, and not in print." Paul: "Unless he was joking, and usually the jokes were on us. I heard the name 'Pinhead' and 'Pencil-neck more than a few mes." Vic: "Yeah, we did receive our fair share of abuse." Paul: "But it was all in fun, and again, it was all to draw a en on to the staff, and the magazine, not to individ- uals. Vic: "His allegiance was to the readers of Dirt Bike magazine. Every month, Rick shared the tribula ons, the frustra ons, the comical adventures, and the joy of the challenges of offroad riding and racing. He amused, entertained, informed, exposed, and a er a fashion, educated his readers, and built up a huge fan base that stretched across at least a couple genera- ons." Paul: "The folks who read the magazine never saw what went on behind the scenes, Man, many mes I thought he was such a pain in the ass, with his ed- itorial mee ngs and his careful cra ing of exactly how each issue was put together. In the beginning, I thought it was so much trouble, but then a er a while, I realized it was part of his gi and genius. It meant everything to him that there was something for every reader, every issue. No ma er who you were, you could usually find something you liked every month, even if the cover story was about a Maico 440 and you really didn't care a hoot about Maicos. More o en than not, you could find an ar cle in the magazine that seemed like it was wri en just for you." Vic: "A quote popped into my head yesterday when I was thinking about this. It goes something like, they won't remember you for what you said, or what you did, but they will remember you for how you made them feel. That resonated with me because I realized that Rick--just like Bruce Brown before him, with On Any Sunday--had his own way of valida ng this crazy sport of ours, he had his way of making all his readers feel like they were part of an extended family, that what we did for fun had meaning. That it wasn't just you and your friends riding around in circles in a vacant lot, that we were all a fraternity of dirt bikers, and you could find that family everywhere you went if you just poked around. And when you got there, you were part of that family too. "You know, recently a new buddy of mine (turns out he was a dirt biker back in the day and a DB/ Hunky fan) stopped by the hangar and we were talking about what Dirt Bike magazine meant to him. He told me, 'Vic, that magazine gave hun- dreds of thousands of young men, and some intrepid, spunky girls, a chance to dream every month. A fair number of these dreamers never had the good fortune to ever own a dirt bike, but they loved Super Hunky and his magazine. When you facilitate the dreams of a mul tude, when you empha cally and powerfully make them feel spe- cial, you are simply unforge able. Long live Super Hunky!" Paul: "Well said. Let's leave it like that." Vic: "I'm gonna miss the old rascal." Paul: "Me too."

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