Trail Rider Magazine

28 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Potomac Vintage Riders Potomac Vintage Riders Banquet & Swap Meet Banquet & Swap Meet York,Pennsylvania York,Pennsylvania By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart Thanks to AHRMA Mid-Atlan c's Bill Nazelrod and Dave Kutskell, the Potomac Vintage Riders' annual banquet and swap meet has been a winter hit for many years. There's nothing be er than ge ng together with like-minded friends and catching up a er the holidays. The guest list over the years has been nothing short of star-studded, with greats such as Gary Bailey, John and Jack Penton, Rick "Super Hunky" Sieman, Warren Reid, Sue Fish, among many others. This year was no ex- cep on, with my personal teenage hero, Tommy Cro , invited as the 2026 Guest Speaker. As an older guy, over the years, I've been fortu- nate to meet a number of my heroes. It's always a treat, and mee ng Tommy Cro was no excep- on. In the mid-70s, Factory Honda had it going on with Marty Smith and Tommy Cro gracing the pages of all the moto mags of the day. As we shook hands, I told Tommy how I'd cut out pics of him and Marty and thumb tack 'em to the wall of my bedroom. Those two were immortal during my mid-teenage years. What I didn't know about Tommy Cro was that his motocross career started with Hodaka, racing Carlsbad when he was 12 years old, in 7th grade. Tommy Cro 's first "Hodie" was the ever-so-pop- ular Super Rat 100 (arguably one of the loudest, most ear-piercing motorcycles ever produced with a shriek of satanic propor ons). Tommy earned a factory Hodaka ride at 16, with Cro being the only rider on the team, racing a series of Combat Wombat 125s and then the Super Combat. During the early 70s, the evolu on curve of dirt bikes was steep, and unfortunately, Hodaka couldn't keep up with the other Japanese bikes of the day and soon succumbed to the compe on, with their final year of produc on being 1977. Another lit- tle-known fact is that Tommy rode for the factory Harley-Davidson team, quite successfully I might add, for a short period in the early 70s. It was during his years with Honda that most remember Tommy Cro and his wins, man-han- dling the bikes over the rugged natural terrain courses of the day. With a natural gi of gab, Tommy shared his High School glory days, recall- ing how Honda offered him a factory ride in 1975, back when Team Honda was at the top of the food chain when it came to factory rides. In fact, Tommy Cro and Marty Smith a ended the same Southern California high school together. Tommy relayed how Honda's Team Manager visited the

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