Riding with Steve McQueen
By Jim Pomeroy as told to Shawn McDonald
It was in the winter of 1971/1972 and I was down in California, doing Research & Development work for Kawasaki with Brad Lackey. Steve wanted to check out that new 450 Kawasaki of Brad’s, and he noticed I was there and asked me to come along with all of them to Indian Dunes. I was really stoked. I couldn’t believe it.
That was when his son Chad McQueen was a little boy, and his daughter was actually the faster of the two. They were racing on the little mini bike course. That was really funny.
Steve first tried out the 450, and then my Bultaco. Afterwards we were all sitting around talking, and we couldn’t get a word in because he was asking us all these questions. We were the ones who were supposed to be the fans, and he reversed the roles.
We went back to the picnic table after riding, and there was Ali McGraw. Pictures and movies don’t do her justice. I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. I was 18 years old and I drooled over her for a long while.
I rode with him a couple of other times in the desert with Roger Ridell. We would go out to El Mirage, which was east of Palmdale where there was a 10-mile dry lake and big sand hills to ride up and down on. Roger was one of the people who helped make the movie On Any Sunday with Bruce Brown.
Steve was a damn good rider. He was better than an intermediate, I would call him an expert rider. He wasn’t as fast as the level that Brad and I were racing at, but we were a lot younger and we didn’t have any other distractions, like making movies. All we did was ride, ride, ride. Considering how little time he had to ride, he was a damn good rider and very smooth. I think he’d be as good as Malcolm Smith if he could have ridden as much.
Steve was just a totally normal guy. We would just sit around and bullshit, and every once in a while we would ask him a question about making the movie Le Mans and going to different places in the world. Brad had been to Europe and I was really interested in it, but Canada was the limit of my international travel.
Steve was really into his kids, and would watch them ride and like any good dad would give them pointers on how to ride better.
For some strange reason he was more a fan of us than we were of him. I mean he knew exactly who we were, and it made me feel really important for this international star to be asking these two 18-year-olds questions.
One time we went down to where they did that last scene on the beach and in the dunes in the movie On Any Sunday. They took me all around the area, including the famous creek crossing. Roger’s Husky broke down and I had to bring him back, so we spent all day for about two and a half hours of riding.
I knew that Steve smoked the ganga, but I didn’t. I was really square. I wasn’t stupid, but was definitely nave back then. I never saw him smoke in front of me, but we definitely shared some beers after riding, like everybody else. Drinking a beer was pretty wild for me. It didn’t take much to make me happy. I actually didn’t like the taste of it back then.
I got to meet some, how would you say, starlets at Roger’s house. One of them was Playboy Playmate Ann Pennington, and she really had the hots for me and that was really cool. Roger would always have people coming and going from his house just as Steve did, the starlets and occasionally young racers like Brad and I.
That was really cool, riding with Steve.
By Jim Pomeroy as told to Shawn McDonald
It was in the winter of 1971/1972 and I was down in California, doing Research & Development work for Kawasaki with Brad Lackey. Steve wanted to check out that new 450 Kawasaki of Brad’s, and he noticed I was there and asked me to come along with all of them to Indian Dunes. I was really stoked. I couldn’t believe it.
That was when his son Chad McQueen was a little boy, and his daughter was actually the faster of the two. They were racing on the little mini bike course. That was really funny.
Steve first tried out the 450, and then my Bultaco. Afterwards we were all sitting around talking, and we couldn’t get a word in because he was asking us all these questions. We were the ones who were supposed to be the fans, and he reversed the roles.
We went back to the picnic table after riding, and there was Ali McGraw. Pictures and movies don’t do her justice. I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. I was 18 years old and I drooled over her for a long while.
I rode with him a couple of other times in the desert with Roger Ridell. We would go out to El Mirage, which was east of Palmdale where there was a 10-mile dry lake and big sand hills to ride up and down on. Roger was one of the people who helped make the movie On Any Sunday with Bruce Brown.
Steve was a damn good rider. He was better than an intermediate, I would call him an expert rider. He wasn’t as fast as the level that Brad and I were racing at, but we were a lot younger and we didn’t have any other distractions, like making movies. All we did was ride, ride, ride. Considering how little time he had to ride, he was a damn good rider and very smooth. I think he’d be as good as Malcolm Smith if he could have ridden as much.
Steve was just a totally normal guy. We would just sit around and bullshit, and every once in a while we would ask him a question about making the movie Le Mans and going to different places in the world. Brad had been to Europe and I was really interested in it, but Canada was the limit of my international travel.
Steve was really into his kids, and would watch them ride and like any good dad would give them pointers on how to ride better.
For some strange reason he was more a fan of us than we were of him. I mean he knew exactly who we were, and it made me feel really important for this international star to be asking these two 18-year-olds questions.
One time we went down to where they did that last scene on the beach and in the dunes in the movie On Any Sunday. They took me all around the area, including the famous creek crossing. Roger’s Husky broke down and I had to bring him back, so we spent all day for about two and a half hours of riding.
I knew that Steve smoked the ganga, but I didn’t. I was really square. I wasn’t stupid, but was definitely nave back then. I never saw him smoke in front of me, but we definitely shared some beers after riding, like everybody else. Drinking a beer was pretty wild for me. It didn’t take much to make me happy. I actually didn’t like the taste of it back then.
I got to meet some, how would you say, starlets at Roger’s house. One of them was Playboy Playmate Ann Pennington, and she really had the hots for me and that was really cool. Roger would always have people coming and going from his house just as Steve did, the starlets and occasionally young racers like Brad and I.
That was really cool, riding with Steve.
