Bob Hannah

However, mechanical issues lead to a disastrous 24th place at the opening round at Hangtown.

This put him in a points hole that he couldn't overcome, and he finished third for series.

In the 500cc class, Hannah went into the last round just six points behind Marty Smith for the championship, but his motorcycle’s throttle cable malfunctioned while leading the first moto and left him unable to finish, ending his chances for the championship.

Robert William Hannah (born September 26, 1956) is an American former professional motocross racer.

He was at the forefront of a surge in American motocross competition in the late 1970s and early 1980s that saw American riders overtake and surpass the previously dominant European motocross riders.

A few weeks after his high school graduation, Hannah borrowed a friend’s 250cc CZ motorcycle on a challenge and won his first and only amateur motocross race on July 7, 1974, at Indian Dunes near Valencia, California, after which race officials told him he would have to move up to the expert class.

In his next race, Hannah finished fourth.

It would take several months before he won another event.

Mick McKee, whom Hannah credited for starting his professional career, took the young rider as a student and put him through a system of daily muscle and stamina-building workouts along with weekend trips to area motocross tracks to analyze, evaluate and improve Hannah’s evolving technique.

McKee also introduced Hannah to Steve Hurd, a local motorcycle dealer, who sold him a new Husqvarna motocross bike and became a sponsor and parts supplier.

Hannah worked as a welder, saving his money for six months before he could afford to purchase the Husqvarna.

He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1975 to 1989, most notably as a member of the Yamaha factory racing team.

He was one of the most successful motocross racers in AMA history, with 70 AMA race victories and seven championships.

Hannah was a brash and outspoken personality whose wild riding style, seemingly on the verge of losing control and often with his feet off the foot pegs, earned him the nickname, "Hurricane Hannah".

His physical fitness, fierce determination on the race track and a hatred of losing, reshaped American motocross by boosting the speed and competition to higher levels.

Hannah’s hard work and training soon began to pay dividends over the spring and summer of 1975.

At one point, he won 18 straight races in ten days by competing in two classes at each event.

It wasn't long before Hannah caught the attention of Suzuki who brought a $700-a-month offer to test and race small displacement works-bikes.

Remarkably, just 13 months removed from his amateur debut, Hannah entered his first AMA National event in San Antonio, Texas, at the 125cc Cycle-Rama on August 25, 1975, finishing in sixth place.

However, at his next AMA National in New Orleans, Louisiana, he got a severe case of heat prostration and ended up in the hospital.

In late 1975, Yamaha, having lost veterans to other teams, offered Hannah a contract.

Hannah took the unsigned $1,000-a-month offer to Suzuki hoping that they would match it.

Suzuki declined and Yamaha, in December 1975, announced that the virtually unknown Hannah would be joining the team for the 1976 season.

Hannah began his rookie year by dominating the 500cc Florida Winter-AMA series, which was one of the most prestigious American motocross series of the era.

In winning all five events, he became the first rider to sweep the series, inspiring Cycle News editor and contributor Jim Gianatsis to popularize the nickname “the Hurricane” for Hannah.

He had an equally impressive start to the 1976 AMA 125cc motocross season by winning the first race at Hangtown against Honda's defending National Champion, Marty Smith.

He won five of the eight 125cc Nationals that year en route to his first national championship.

Hannah participated in his first Trans-AMA series winning the final event of the series in Phoenix, Arizona.

He was also a member of the American team at both the Motocross des Nations and Trophée des Nations.

However, Team USA fared poorly with Hannah himself remarking later that “I don't remember a single damn thing about those two races.”

While successfully chasing the 1976 125cc title, Hannah had sporadically raced in both 250cc and 500cc displacement classes, even winning his first 250cc National at Appalachian Highlands Motorsports Park.

But, in 1977, Hannah was determined to fully compete in them all.

For the Florida Winter-AMA series, Hannah rode a production Yamaha YZ250 to win eight consecutive motos in taking the 250cc title.

He won the AMA Supercross Championship in impressive fashion, taking six of the 10 rounds.

As defending 125cc national champion, he won three of the six rounds.

Hannah never really had a chance at the 1977 250cc National title.

The AMA - fearing a Hannah sweep of every championship - started holding 125cc and 250cc events on the same day causing Yamaha to defer Hannah to the 125cc class when the two conflicted.

Hannah was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2000.

Hannah was born in Lancaster, California on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

He grew up riding in the rugged Southern California deserts with his father, but because his father thought motocross was too dangerous, he didn't begin to compete in motocross racing until he was 18 years old and living on his own.