1971
1973
1974
1977
1978
1979
1993
1998
2000
2002
2007
Roger DeCoster recently said you were probably the toughest competitor he faced. Would you say the same thing about him?
I think so, yes. We raced against one another for so long. It was quite a rivalry: There were others -Lackey, Graham Noyce- but they were my chief rivals for one year each. Roger and I had a long time together. My favourite race was Luxembourg 1974 - the last GP in ’74. Roger and I were tied for the championship. Whoever won that day would win the title. I wrapped up the series in the first moto when Roger's bike broke. When I’m finished the race, I rode back to the motorhome and Roger was inside, waiting to congratulate me with a bottle of champagne. I don’t remember much of the second moto!
Did you have a favourite track?
Payerne, Switzerland. It was all natural. No bulldozers. I won every race I entered there. There were two sets of natural double-jumps. I was the only one to find a way to jump both. Lots of people crashed trying to follow me!
Do you have any advice for young motocrossers?
Always more training, yes. But mainly what I see are racers looking for material things - the motorhome, the cell phone, the girl - rather than needing to win. And someone else always prepares the motorcycle. Dad prepares it when they're young, and later they have a mechanic prepare it. I’m not sure if they know the bike well enough. Do they really know how to fine-tune the suspension, for example?
One last question. The most successful of today's racers become quite wealthy. It almost seems unfair that your generation of motocross stars didn't get to share in the big money. Does that bother you?
No, no! Motocross stars still make only a fraction of what hockey stars make. Whatever they make now, it's no problem. It's all good for the sport.
I think so, yes. We raced against one another for so long. It was quite a rivalry: There were others -Lackey, Graham Noyce- but they were my chief rivals for one year each. Roger and I had a long time together. My favourite race was Luxembourg 1974 - the last GP in ’74. Roger and I were tied for the championship. Whoever won that day would win the title. I wrapped up the series in the first moto when Roger's bike broke. When I’m finished the race, I rode back to the motorhome and Roger was inside, waiting to congratulate me with a bottle of champagne. I don’t remember much of the second moto!
Did you have a favourite track?
Payerne, Switzerland. It was all natural. No bulldozers. I won every race I entered there. There were two sets of natural double-jumps. I was the only one to find a way to jump both. Lots of people crashed trying to follow me!
Do you have any advice for young motocrossers?
Always more training, yes. But mainly what I see are racers looking for material things - the motorhome, the cell phone, the girl - rather than needing to win. And someone else always prepares the motorcycle. Dad prepares it when they're young, and later they have a mechanic prepare it. I’m not sure if they know the bike well enough. Do they really know how to fine-tune the suspension, for example?
One last question. The most successful of today's racers become quite wealthy. It almost seems unfair that your generation of motocross stars didn't get to share in the big money. Does that bother you?
No, no! Motocross stars still make only a fraction of what hockey stars make. Whatever they make now, it's no problem. It's all good for the sport.
(ABOVE) HEIKKI MIKKOLA AT HIS HOME TODAY NEAR HELSINKI, FINLAND. AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE "FLYIN' FINN" IS NOW AN ORGANIC FARMER IN THE SUMMER AND A HUNTER IN THE WINTER. (RIGHT) MIKKOLA ONLY WON THE 500CC USGP AT CARLSBAD ONCE IN 1978, THE YEAR BEFORE HE RETIRED FROM MOTOCROSS RACING.
("This interview took place primarily in English, though occasionally Mikkola felt more comfortable responding in Finnish," said Tom Andrews, who teaches creative writing at American Academy in Rome, of his conversation with Mikkola. "I would like to thank Pasi Kaarto of the Institute for Art and Design in Vantaa for serving as liaison and translator." For his next assignment, Andrews is working on a novel about St. Augustine. That’s all we really know about Tom.)..X
Thanks to Racer X for their permission to publish this interview.
(Jan-Willem van Essen)
Thanks to Racer X for their permission to publish this interview.
(Jan-Willem van Essen)