Riding Hard Against Drugs
By Mark N. Lardas
Roger DeCoster is one of biggest names in motocross racing. Born in Belgium in 1944, he began racing dirt bikes while in his teens. Soon he was so dominant in European motocross that he expanded his horizons, seeking to conquer the world.
By the mid-1970s, he had won so many national, international, and world championship racing medals that he was running out of wall space to display them all. He is to motocross what Babe Ruth is to baseball and Richard Petty is to automobile racing—The Man.
He stopped racing in 1980, after winning a final world championship. He remained in the sport, managing motocross teams, writing about motocross, and promoting the sport. But the team he is proudest of leading does not race for medals.
It is DeCoster’s Kids, a group of professional motocross riders who help Roger pass on the secret of their success—stay focused on what you are trying to do, and stay away from drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and involvement with gangs. Along with singer Michelle Winters, the riders tour schools across the country, giving motocross demonstrations linked to an anti-drug message. The show is loud, proud, and lots of fun for both the riders and the students watching.
DeCoster drew inspiration from friend and fellow motocross enthusiast from Belgium, Bob Sparenberg. Sparenberg ran a similar drug-education program back in the late 1980s. Sparenberg joked about being a B.A.D. Boy—a “Belgian Against Drugs.” The two immigrants to America clicked in the early 1990s when DeCoster learned what Sparenberg was doing. DeCoster got . . . well, hooked.
“I fell into it,” DeCoster told Listen. “I was impressed by everything. I thought it was a good opportunity to get involved.” Soon he was lending his name, and support, to the program. “Motorcycle riders have a reputation as rebels,” DeCoster said. “I thought it was a way to be rebels in a good way—rebels against drugs.”
“I want to do whatever it takes to keep people away from drugs,” Decoster explained. “It is difficult, due to peer pressure, especially for kids not in sports.”
Ever since then, DeCoster and his Dream Team have been taking this message to schools, wrapping it around an exciting display of motorcycling skill.
Team members are every bit as enthusiastic as DeCoster and Sparenberg. Take Steve Isenhower. He lives for motocross. He races supermotocross bikes, works at North County House of Motorcycles (a Suzuki dealership in Vista, California) between races, and helps with DeCoster’s kids programs whenever he can. “Bob Sparenberg came in needing some sponsorship and support. Suzuki likes the drug-free message. We helped get the team’s bikes ready.”
Isenhower did more than just that. “I have a 6-year-old son and one on the way,” he said. “I want to be a drug-free father, so I got involved.”
Now when Isenhower races he has a special bike. “My front plate says ‘No’ instead of a number,” he related. “The front bumper has a sticker that says ‘Say No to Drugs.’”
I set up a pavilion at the races where I am competing. People notice the messages and get curious. When they come by, I give them an anti-drug message.”
For Dave Bonometti, another Dream Team member, being part of the DeCoster’s Kids program feels like a dream. “I first read about it in 1994, in Dirt Bike magazine, when I was 14 and in school.” Bonometti had motocross in his blood, even back then. He wanted to be a motocross racer. “I took the article to school, and tried to get them to invite DeCoster, but they said no.”
Bonometti, as DeCoster observed about dirt bike riders, was a bit of a rebel. “I always thought bikes were cool, even when I was a little kid, but I really liked dirt biking because it was more me, and different from what everyone else was doing.”
In school Bonometti stayed away from something else everyone else was doing—drugs—because of motocross racing. “I was 100 percent clean because I thought it affected your performance. I did not think you could race competitively
and do drugs.”
In 2000 Bonometti turned pro, started competing in freestyle motocross, and got a real shock. “Lots of the other guys were on heavy stuff. To me, it took away from the glory of riding.” Bonometti stayed drug-free, though. “I got picked on, but the promoters liked me. It was easier for me to get sponsorship because I was drug-free.”
Then his racing career stalled.
At loose ends, he learned that DeCoster’s Kids was recruiting a driver. “I jumped at it.” Now he does part of the riding program at school visits. “It’s what I like to be doing with my life.”
Like Isenhower, Bonometti is a dad. “I have a 5-year-old daughter. I will be performing at her school next week,” he said. “How cool is that? I am hoping to make a difference in kids’ lives.”
Why are folks like Isenhower and Bonometti so revved up about participating? Both have reasons that strike close to home.
Isenhower explains what motivates him. “My father got addicted to prescription drugs. He could not shake them. As I grew up I watched him die from that addiction. He was 52 when he died. It made me want to stay drug-free and healthy, and to encourage others to do the same.”
As for Bonometti? “I have seen what drugs can do. I did not do drugs when I was a kid because I was focused on riding,” he explained. “But every single friend was doing them. They got hurt by them. I am hoping I can save kids from going through what happened to my friends—the addictions, withdrawals, overdoses, and accidental deaths.”
As Roger DeCoster says: “We want to do whatever we can to keep kids off drugs.” Who knows? Maybe someday soon a group of motorcyclists will ride into your school and spin up some hard-riding reasons to stay off drugs.
|
