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Richard Thorwaldson is survived by his wife, Patricia, daughter, Marcy,
son, Richard Jr. and several grandchildren. The family has a memorial
website at
http://www.richardthorwaldson.com |
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By Jody Weisel
I suppose if you are around long enough, everyone you know will leave
this mortal coil before you. And so it is with Rich Thorwaldson (1946-2004),
who succumbed on June 20 to injuries sustained in a road racing accident. In
the formative days of motocross when we were all newcomers to the sport,
Thor was an established veteran of motorcycle racing. He had cut his teeth
in the desert and dirt tracks of California, and came to the AMA National
Motocross Championships in 1971 at the ripe old age of 25. Most of us young
bucks, back in 1970 and 71, thought that Rich was the ancient mariner. He
was an adult. He lived an adult life. He had responsibilities. He was
already a successful racer. He was the oldest guy we knew. We were ragged
teenagers, armed with vans, long hair and a willingness to hang it out for a
few minutes of every moto. To Richard Thorwaldson motocross was a job...a
job he loved |
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| I looked up to Rich Thorwaldson. He was the most
professional motocrosser of the 70s. We called him The Wedge. When I first
met him he was on the Suzuki team, paired with Mike Runyard, riding the
infamous TM-models. Rich was a class act. He was quiet, reserved and,
although he never said a bad word about anybody, you didn’t have to be a
mind reader to know what Rich thought. Although Rich was a factory rider and
one of the most consistent riders on the circuit, he never got much press or
acclaim. He was steady, reliable and indestructible. A RECORD TO BE PROUD
OF Rich finished second in the 1973 250 Nationals (behind Gary Jones) and
won the Pocono 250 National that year. Rich tied for third in 1974 250
National Championship (with Jimmy Ellis). Rich was fourth in the 1972 500
National Championships and finished second in the original 1974 250cc
Supercross Series (and was sixth in the 1975 500cc Supercross series). He
was First American at several Trans-AMA events (with finishes as high as
sixth place). Thorwaldson spent four years at Team Suzuki, but was replaced
in 1975 by an 18-year-old kid named Tony DiStefano.
Upon retiring, Thorwaldson founded Thor Racing. I used to stop by his
shop off the 91 freeway to get swingarms for my bikes. There was a time in
the late 70’s when half the bikes on the National circuit had Thor swingarms
on them. I never really lost touch with Rich, but when he moved from SoCal
to Northern Nevada to open up a Honda dealership, I only saw him at the
occasional vet race. He was fast at 25 and he was fast every year after
that. His Honda dealership became a business success. |
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| A LIFE WELL LIVED When I first heard that he had
crashed at a road race and was in a coma, I was disheartened and later I was
saddened by his passing, but my sadness is metered by the fact that Rich
Thorwaldson did what he loved his whole life. He was a flat tracker, a
desert racer and a factory motocrosser. He will live on in the memories of
everyone who ever saw him race or even looked at a photo of number 26 on his
Suzuki (or number 11 on a Maico). We will always have The Wedge in the back
of our minds...he will always be young (Except to me, for me he will always
be the oldest guy I knew who was racing a motocross bike back in ‘71. Yikes,
he was 25. |
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| Richard Thorwaldson is survived by his wife,
Patricia, daughter, Marcy, son, Richard Jr. and several grandchildren. The
family has a memorial website at
http://www.richardthorwaldson.com |
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