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My Monark Story Part II Somehow in early spring of 1972, my dad got the number of Inter-Trends Distributing company in Burbank, CA. Inter-Trends was owned by a Swedish couple named John and Ursulla Olsson. The MCB name tag was gone. They were the new importers for the newly dubbed Monark of Sweden brand. My dad called John to inquire where he could find a dealer in our area to see this bike that Torleif Hansen had so highly recommended. John informed my dad that there were no dealers yet in Illinois, Indiana or Wisconsin, and that the first container of bikes was on the water from Sweden and due to arrive in May. My Dad then asked John what were the requirements to become a dealer. John said 4 motorcycles and 10% of the 4 bikes value in spare parts inventory. Supplied with that information the wheels started turning in Wally's head! "Hmmm... If I could find 3 other buyers I could get a bike for Scott for cost and be on the inside track for these bikes!" My dad owned a TV repair shop and realized there was no way he wanted to run a motorcycle dealership.
It just so happened that in late 1971 at the Elkhorn Inter-Am while hanging out in the Husky pits my Dad met a motocross enthusiast and Volvo
mechanic named Hans Dammstrom who was originally from Sweden. Hans worked at Wigglesworth Volvo in Libertyville, Illinois. His son Rolf was around my age (15) at the time. They kept in contact and he somehow convinced Hans to set up a retail operation and he became the first Monark shop in Illinois. He named it Ramco Enterprises I think the name was derived from his son Rolf (R) (a)nd daughter (M)arta plus (Co)mpany.and he basically ran it out of the back room of the Volvo shop. So 4 Monarks were ordered and we were in business! I was slated to get one and so was Rolf. The other two were available and they had to sell them fast to cover the bill. I do not remember who got the other two. After setting up Hans, Wally also contacted a Yamaha dealer in nearby Hobart, Indiana to take on the line and now 2 dealers were in place. The actual shipment of Monarks arrived around June 1st 1972. The bikes were uncrated and set-up at Hans' shop and we were thrilled when we brought it home to our house. (here's a picture of that first bike)
We broke the bike in on a Wednesday practice day at Elkhorn. I was blown away at how light it was compared to my DKW. Especially with the Ceriani
forks instead of the leading link style on the Deek. Remember I was very tiny..only 5ft.1 and 90lbs. so I really had to work that DKW around whereas
the Monark was really easy to ride. I was so psyched up to race it! The plan was to enter the bike on June 17th at one of our other local
tracks; Motosports Park in Byron, Illinois. Because of the popularity of Motocross was growing so fast they had to add B and C classes in the 125 and
250 cc classes....Joe Vincer the track owner decided that in order not to have so many classes run on one day and have to shorten the motos before
dark, he would split the weekend up and run the 100cc, 125 B&C , 175, and 250 B&C classes on Saturday. Then run 125 A, 250 A, and Open on Sunday with 2 longer motos. Instead of the 3 moto system that was used in 1971. Previous to this race I had been on my 100cc DKW and had never finished
higher than 4th overall. I think I had about 4 or 5 trophies total earned in the100 class. I had never ridden the 125 class so we decided on the 125 B
class on Saturday. Ironically my Dad and Mom were locked in to a commitment to a wedding and could not go so I rode out to the track with Hans. It was
pretty exciting to see the stares from the other riders when the shiny blue and yellow Monark rolled up to the starting line. What a race and what a
bike! I won both motos handily and when the trophies were handed out Hans snapped a picture of me holding it proudly. That picture would later be seen by literally hundreds of thousands of dirt bike riders around the world as Lynn Wineland of Calif. District 37 fame designed the famous Monark "Out of the Box winner" ad and used my photo holding that trophy for a visual. The ad ran in Dirt Bike, Motocross Action, Popular Cycling, Cycle News and some regional papers for almost 2 years. Here it is:  I still get occasional calls and e-mails from people who go through old back issues and see that ad and wonder if it's me. Back to the debut. We stopped at a gas station on the way home and called my Dad and told him the good news...My Mom said he was in tears of joy hearing about it and was so excited that we decided to come back the next day and enter me in the 125cc A class against the top level riders of the area. Normally you needed to trophy 3 times in the B class to establish whether or not you were qualified to ride in the A class but promoter Joe Vincer, after seeing me ride on Saturday waived that rule. (Ironically it was Joe who just 18 months before told me to stay off the track until I got faster!) Sunday morning was full of enthusiasm as we prepared for my 125 A debut. The other guys were definitely bigger and more experienced than I was, and I do remember a few dirty looks at this newcomer to the class. While it would be great to say that my "A" class debut was a Cinderella story and that I won....it was not to be. I ran solidly in the top five and was gaining on the leaders when the exhaust pipe bracket broke and the expansion chamber portion fell off. I was left with the chrome header pipe still in place. What a racket that bike made!! Hans and my Dad started an argument because I wanted to keep going and so did my Dad, but Hans said that without back pressure, the rings could expand and cause a seizure and they did not want any damage to the engine, so my Dad waved me in. I was bummed but still happy to have shown everyone that I belonged up in the A class. The following week was spent welding up the pipe and beefing up the bracket to keep it on. We also made a decision to take the 100cc cylinder and head off my DKW and bolt it on the Monark so I could race both 100 and 125 classes depending on the schedule.
The next race was at my home track Elkhorn, Wisconsin and I made my debut in the 100cc class. What a day.... 1st overall! Following that race just two weeks later at Elkhorn was the Inter-Am where my Dad set up the first Monark display (insert attached 72 Monark display) My 1972 season (see results attached 72 ) was fantastic as I won a few races and finished top 5 in over half of them on my Monark and the reputation of the bikes as winning machines began to grow. I finished 3rd overall in the Slo-Pokes Grand Prix series and received a special plaque as well. We learned a lot about the Monarks that year and keeping them together was a serious task week after week. There were three main problems.
The 1973 season saw the emergence of the GS model. It addressed all the problems encountered with the 1972 bikes. First was a special engine that Monark purchased exclusively from Sachs called the GS "GelandeSport" Which means cross country in German. It was developed for the ISDT team at first and featured 25 hp via blue printed porting, milled head, larger 28mm Bing Carb, better shifter mechanism, internal rotor Motoplat, stuffed cases and cranks, Leleu hubs, one piece down pipe, plastic fenders, and Trelleborg tires. GS barrels had a small hole drilled in the top of the cylinder and head for wiring them together and sealed to comply with ISDT rules not allowing part changes during the competition. (see Model Differences ) In 1973 they were only available as a special order..one per dealer for sponsored or "pro" riders. Hence the term GS Pro came into being. Dealer cost was $1165! In order to get one a shop had to show that their rider was worthy of a GS by showing race results.
1973 ended with 17 wins, 8 2nd's and 4 3rd's out of 46 entries . 63% on the podium. Again a great season but still some anger for not winning that GP title! 1974 was the season I will never forget. I was a senior in High School and I had been approached by E&J Cycles of Lake Geneva to be a team mate of Wisconsin star Eric Skrudland. Eric's dad John opened up a new dealership in Lake Geneva Wisconsin that carried Hondas, Yamahas and Monarks. John offered me a contract to race exclusively for them in the 100cc class. Here's the front side of the contract and here's the rear. $10.00 a race plus bike parts and custom E&J cycle leathers from Carl Berggren at Torsten Hallman Racing! My job was to win the 100cc title and support Eric in the 125cc class. ( Eric was so fast he didn't need much support!) Here I am following Eric at Aztalan Cycle Park in Wisconsin.  I finished second to him quite a few times but it was cool to be 1 and 2 in those E&J Cycle uniforms. Brent Euen had also moved up to the 125cc class and was sponsored by E&J as well that year although he went to the Honda Elsinore right away. Our 1974 Monarks were GS engined with Pro-Fab swingarms, moved up Koni shocks, aftermarket downpipes, and later in the year we used 35mm Betor forks for more travel and less flex. (use Little Switzerland 125 GS photo) Koba shift kits were the rage...they improved Monark shifting to 80-85% accuracy, compared to stock. Geoff Burgess developed a porting design drilling two holes in the back of the piston and a finger port in the cylinder that really made even a GS more powerful. Eric started out the season on Monark but by mid season he joined the Elsinore brigade as well as the aftermarket companies like FMF and DG were really making some great products to improve the 125. Plus the trannies were awesome! It was Eric's switch to Honda that allowed me to secure Marty Smith's bike after Marty went to Honda.It was basically the same bike that Marty rode at St. Louis World Cup but with an even stronger engine (use Marty Smith bike pix) Over the winter of 73, Monark built a special GS barrel with 2 extra ports . The bike had turned down Ceriani forks and custom side plates, Pro-Fab swingarm and custom pipe. Eric was originally slated to ride it and I think he did for a few races but gave it up for the Elsinore. I stayed with Monark and was rewarded with the bike and raced it for the second half of the season in the 125 class. That bike was special and incredibly fast! I once drag raced FMF owner Donnie Emler on a dirt road in front of the old FMF shop in Harbor City, CA and beat him on his trick XR 75 framed 125cc Elsinore engined pit bike. Donnie went nuts as he swore he had the fastest 125 ever built. He begged me to tear down the engine on the spot to look inside. Under my Dad's orders I refused.(my Dad did not want anyone to see the trick porting for fear that Monark would be upset if Penton guys would get their hands on it) Penton was still miffed at Sachs for selling GS engines exclusively to Monark. My main rival in the 100cc class was a Penton rider from Wisconsin named Tim Miller. Tim and I battled it out so many times during the 1973 season, and the start of 1974 was no different.The Slo-Pokes GP season was13 races and you could count your best 12. In September with the end of the season still a month away, I was approached by a wealthy businessman named Jack Von Mettenheim who offered to pay my way to California for the winter of 1974 as a training partner and mentor to his son Kurt who was riding Husqvarnas. He wanted me to go right away and I said no, please wait a month....not until the Championship is decided as I had promised E&J and myself that I wanted that title! After 12 races I finished 1st 4 times and 2nd 4 times behind Tim.I had two 4ths and a 5th which I threw out. It all came down to the last race at Maplehurst Cycle Park near Antioch, Illinois. Tim and I were virtually tied. Whoever beat the other would win the title! All through the season it was Penton-Monark or Monark-Penton. On the hot, dusty, hard packed tracks it was that 55" wheelbase Penton that seemed to track straighter and Tim would get me. Conversely, I favored muddy and tight technical tracks as I felt with my 52" wheelbase I could knife under that Penton all day long. Plus we had a secret advantage..... I liked mud! For some reason (probably because I was so short when I learned to ride that I learned to keep my feet on the pegs at all times) I felt really at home in the mud and when it started raining and other riders started moaning...my Dad would always talk up about how great it was and hoot and holler like an Indian rain dancing around me and my buddies in the Monark pits. He was actually doing psyche jobs on everyone else! So on the final race of the GP season we woke up to rain. I was overjoyed as I knew I had the advantage...especially when Tim said on the starting line "well it looks like your day today" I knew I had him beaten right there. I did wind up winning that day although I had a heck of a time battling with nerves and a new kid in the class named Cory Anderson on a 100 Suzuki who rode like a wild man! I finally won the title I had strived for for 3 years! I raced one time with that #1 plate on the bike in Illinois and then I headed west to California with Von Mettenheim to try my hand against the big boys from the CMC at Carlsbad and Saddleback. I rode the Marty Smith bike (insert Carlsbad shot)and had several great outings and a tremendous amount of fun as an 18 year old hanging out and racing 2 -3 days a week, all expenses paid. During that time after the drag race with Emler my dad came out to visit and he and Donnie became friends. We realized that the Monark days were over and that we could make some money selling FMF pipes back in the midwest. We became the first FMF distributor outside of California by ordering 100 pipes (10 a week because we couldn't afford to buy more than that at a time! ) . FMF's main pipe builder was a brilliant design guy named Dave Miller who had a penchant for mating engines from one brand into frames of another. He had bikes like the Penda which was a Penton with an Elsinore. I approached him about building a Monda for me for the 1975 season. He happily dove into the project and the Marty Smith bike was torn down to the frame and I took the Sachs works engine home and left the frame and a Honda engine with Dave. He finished his end of it and made a custom pipe to boot and shipped it back to us in March of 1975. My dad and I finished it in April just in time for a debut ride at the season opener at Maplehurst Cycle Park. The bike weighed 167 pounds and was a rocket ship but alas we were beset with teething problems with the sprocket being on the other side and not really getting the swingarm to line up right so after two rides the Monda was retired. That was the last time I really thought much about Monarks for 20 years.  In part 3 I will tell the story of how Monark came back into my life! |
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