Final week I acquired along with round 1000 shut associates to say goodbye to Malcolm Smith. His household put collectively a beautiful tribute at Malcolm Smith Motorsports, the bike store that Malcolm based in Riverside California. In an unbelievable effort, they cleared all the showroom of bikes, ATVs and side-by-sides and introduced in seating and an enormous projection display screen that allowed a few of Malcolm’s closest associates to talk. The occasion spilled out into the parking zone and dominated a lot of the block. Malcolm touched the lives of 1000’s in a technique or one other. He impressed quite a lot of us in “On Any Sunday.” For others, he offered schooling and an escape from poverty via the Malcolm Smith Motorsports Foundation.
Mark Mitchell and Adrian Cotton began issues up, then Joel Smith, Malcolm’s oldest son, gave some opening remarks. Then Bud Feldcamp, Troy Lee, Don Mackey, Mucho Invoice Wheeler, Frank Esposito, Ray Mungenast, Scot Harden, Mitch Boehm, Roger DeCoster and at last Alexander Smith all spoke.
All of them had nice Malcolm tales to inform. Probably the most entertaining was Bud Feldcamp, who was co-driver when he and Malcolm received the Baja 1000 and 500. He informed of a race the place Malcolm broke down close to the end in a VW-powered buggy and really talked a spectator into giving up the motor from his Baja Bug and put in it on the path. The throttle linkage apparently didn’t work, so Malcolm needed to drive it huge open all the way in which in, turning the ignition swap on and off to handle pace. He received.
I’ve Malcolm tales of my very own, after all, collected over the past 40 years or so. Most are very laborious to place into phrases. I tried to convey what he meant to me within the February, 2025 column in Dust Bike. Right here it’s, with apologies to Frank Capra.
SADDLE
A life with out Malcolm
It was about 1 a.m. after I staggered into Martini’s bar. I didn’t have any cash, but when Nick was in a great temper, he may let me keep some time. There had been instances when he kicked me out earlier than I may even sit down, however this time he simply sighed and shook his head.
“You really want to get your life collectively,” he stated. “What would your parole officer say if he knew you have been right here?”
“I’m good, actually,” I stated. “I don’t even need a drink. I simply need somebody to speak to.”
Nick appeared skeptical. Enterprise was gradual and he was bored, so he simply began wiping the counter. “You had that dream once more, didn’t you?” he requested shortly. “I can at all times inform. You get all melancholy and act such as you wish to change.”
He knew me properly. “It was extra vivid than ever,” I stated. “My life was nice! I had a home, a household and this nice job. I used to be a well-respected journalist.”
“What was it, some form of bike publication or one thing?”
“Yeah, similar to earlier than,” I stated, straining to retrieve the small print. “It was simply superb. I had all these filth bikes in my storage. The producers would simply give them to me to journey and check. And, Nick, I acquired to see the world. I’d journey to unique locations, journey costly bikes, go to factories like some form of VIP.”
“It’s such as you’re another person fully, huh?”
“No, that’s simply it,” I stated, slowly standing up.” It’s me on this dream—me! However, with a distinct backstory. The massive distinction is that I used to be impressed early in my life, and that modified all the pieces. You could possibly hint all of it again to 1 character that’s at all times within the dream.”
“Malcolm, proper?”
“Yeah, Malcolm,” I stated. “Generally I dream about after I was a child and I noticed him in a film. He wasn’t a star or something. Simply the other. He was an actual man, pleasant and accessible to everybody. However, he acquired to do all these issues, like journey bikes in unique locations. In my dream, I wished to be similar to him.
“In different goals I’m all grown up and I get to go driving with this Malcolm man. At one level, we’re each driving within the Peruvian Andes, excessive above the Amazon rainforest.”
Nick let a chuckle slip out. “The Peruvian Andes, huh?”
“Yeah. Malcolm and I are on this wild 10-day bike race, and regardless that he’s virtually 20 years my senior, he’s blowing my doorways off. However, as an alternative of rubbing it in, he’s giving me recommendation, like how you can save my brakes, preserve vitality, and stuff like that.
“Then he seems in different elements of my life. At one level, we’re in Mexico driving a bit of the Baja peninsula that he and his buddy Jimmy had solely surveyed from the air. We have been the primary to truly go there on bikes. That was one very attention-grabbing factor about this character. His life was full of one journey after one other, however that didn’t appear to matter to him. What he actually loved was sharing these adventures with different folks. In my goals, I acquired to be a kind of riders, time after time.”
Nick simply smiled. “So, the actual distinction on this alternate universe boils right down to only one man? You assume that if this one man truly existed, he may have had such a profound affect in your life that your present ‘state of affairs’ may have been averted?”
“Yeah, that may be kinda far-fetched,” I stated, sitting again down. Then Nick opened his mouth huge and emitted a noise that sounded precisely just like the alarm on my telephone. I jumped off the bed. It was a dream inside a dream? Actually? What sort of loopy nonsense is that this?
Actual life, it seems, is alternate universe quantity three. My life is fantastic similar to the one I informed Nick about. I acquired to do all these issues, together with these experiences with Malcolm Smith. On this actuality, although, Malcolm had simply handed away after a protracted sickness. I actually don’t know the way issues would have performed out in a world the place he wasn’t there to encourage me and supply an instance of how you can behave. I’m simply glad he was.