O’Neal USA’s Fifty Years of Racing Heritage
Share
By Donn Maeda
Photos courtesy O’Neal
This year, O’Neal USA celebrates its 50th anniversary. Founded by Jim O’Neal in 1970, Jim O’Neal Distributing was a way for the then 24-year-old to support his racing habit. Motocross in the United States was still in its infancy, and five decades later, O’Neal USA has grown into one of the sport’s premier apparel manufacturers and has a rich racing heritage that includes many of the biggest names in racing…
It was a tumultuous time when TransWorld Motocross was shut down by its new owners just shy of its 20-year anniversary, but this month, Swapmoto Live enjoys its eighth month in business and I wouldn’t change a thing about the way this year has gone. Motocross is all I have ever known and dirt bikes have provided an amazing life for me and my family.
I first caught the off-roading bug 37 years ago when my dad brought home a 1982 Suzuki ALT 125 three-wheeler for my 14th birthday. Sure, my big brother Ross thought it was goofy because he was a professional motocross racer, but to me that little yellow trike was a gift that changed my life forever. I’ll never forget the afternoons I spent cruising around in the canyon near my house with my eldest brother Jon on our three-wheelers…having a hobby that none of my other friends did made me feel cool and gave me self-confidence that I had previously lacked.
When the day came for me to finally purchase my first pair of motocross riding pants (to go along with my hand-me-down Bell Moto 3, JT boots, and Scott goggles, from Ross), Jon took me to the local Cycle Rider store in Pasadena and my eyes grew wide as I eyed the rack full of brightly colored nylon pants. Having ridden previously only in jeans, I was super excited to get a pair of real riding pants. After trying numerous pairs on, I chose a yellow-and-blue pair of O’Neal USA Ultralite pants. I was stoked! When I got home, brother Ross was disgusted with my choice since he was sponsored by JT Racing. It didn’t matter to me, though; I was so excited about my first piece of new riding gear that I may have even worn them to sleep… Eventually, I added an O’Neal five-snap visor to my helmet, as well as the extra-large curved O’Neal sticker to my helmet, just above the visor. All the cool guys had them.
The O’Neal brand will always hold special significance for me because of that original pair of pants, the memories I have of O’Neal riders I both idolized as a youngster and interacted with later in my career, and lastly because of the friendships I’ve formed with the O’Neal family and many of its key employees.
_________________________________________________________________
“It’s funny, in 1970 I wasn’t really sure I was ‘launching’ anything,” remembers Jim O’Neal with a chuckle. “I had been racing TTs and desert races for about eight years. Back in the ‘60s, you had to take street bikes and just about any way you could turn them into dirt bikes. By 1970 I was racing everywhere I could and motocross was evolving big time in Southern California and across the US. I was even sometimes racing five different races in a week locally…three night races at local tracks as well as racing on both Saturday and Sunday on the weekends!
“In 1970 my wife and I were married and starting our family. I was working three jobs and racing whenever I had the chance. It was construction work during the day and I was doing both delivering pizzas at night and stocking shelves at a local liquor store at night. At the time me and most of my buddies were modifying bikes so we could go faster and get the bikes set up right so they could withstand the punishment that these MX tracks were putting us through.
“When the company started it was really more about me in a van after a day of construction work, going from shop to shop locally and asking dealers to carry some of the new products I was offering for sale. My work van was a modified bakery delivery truck. It had a Gruman box, slider side doors and a shifter on the floor. I had shelves in the back of the truck that was really made to hold bread. I modified the bread shelves into stocking shelves and would stock, sort and sell products right out of the van. I guess you could call the van our first office. I would also sell products out at the races and sell products right there at the track to other racers. It was really small to begin with but really a great time to be involved with the business and the sport.
“The biggest product I was selling at that time was Preston Petty Fenders. As the business grew, I would have a couple of buddies drive the bakery truck and call on local dealers while I went and hit the road to expand our sales territory and race a bit. I would travel out of state and I would go race the Edison Dye Inter-Am series. Edison really started motocross in the US and he was bringing over the Europeans to race here as well. I also raced the AMA Trans-Am series which was really the first big AMA series of races. It was kind of like the Nationals but also was hosting a bunch of European riders as well. I was lucky enough to get some top 10s in the Trans-AM races and several top American finishes. I would load my riding van with 500 Preston Petty fenders and my motorcycle and hit the road. A few times I sold out of the fenders before I made it to Colorado.
“I called the company Jim O’Neal Distributing. I didn’t name it that because I thought one day it would be a great name for a brand or anything. It was just my name and the easiest way for me to open up the business and the banking account and get things going. When I grew I expanded, holding inventory in both the van and I took over the garage at home in Reseda, California, as my warehouse. It was a single car garage, about 200 square feet. Some four decades later we made it to just over 66,000 feet of building for the business!”
_________________________________________________________________
Eventually, I outgrew my little Suzuki trail trike and my dad got me a potent Kawasaki KXT250 and I set my sights on racing. For some reason, Kawasaki made its first racing 250 in both green and red. As luck would have it, I got a red one. When I first started racing, I couldn’t afford a whole new set of gear, so I bought a Hallman (now Thor) Kawasaki jersey. Of course, they didn’t make Kawasaki jerseys in red, so I settled on a green, white and blue one. Combined with my yellow and blue O’Neal pants and my yellow JT V2000, I looked every bit the part of the beginner that I was. On a side note, I had grown quite a bit since buying my Ultralite pants but they still fit thanks to the thin elastic stripe that ran down the outside of each leg. For the record, I may or may not have been the innovator of the wider stretch panels that modern-day riding pants have! (Take a look at the width of the stretch panel at my calf…that was the original width of the elastic!)
Though I was a three-wheeler racer, I idolized motocross racers, and especially those who my brother Ross worked with in his capacity as a suspension specialist for KYB. Ross would tell me stories about the racers, and one who I really took a liking to was Team Suzuki’s Eric Kehoe. Looking back now, one of the reasons I chose to cheer for Kehoe was that he was an O’Neal rider, and his kits were always super clean.
“I signed with O’Neal in 1982 I believe,” remembers Kehoe, who is now the Team Manager of Team Honda HRC. “I was coming off a couple of seasons that were filled with injuries but Jim O’Neal came to me with an offer when the other clothing brands were writing me off. I rode for O’Neal through ’88 or ’89, and I always felt like I was a part of the team because Jim would include me in all of the ads and catalogs. I remember Jim being very involved in all of the day to day stuff, which was good because you could always go straight to the guy who was making all of the decisions.
“One thing I remember about Jim was how strict his contracts were. You had to have a sticker on your helmet or your visor, or you’d get docked pay or fined. (Laughs) There was one race where I crashed and broke my visor off, and Jim was threatening to penalize me because I broke off the part with the O’Neal sticker! I spent a good part of my pro racing career in O’Neal riding gear, and I have nothing but great memories of those times.”
_________________________________________________________________
“Our riding gear was really built out of necessity, ” remembers Jim O’Neal. “We were racing and most of the apparel was like heavy leather pants with thick leather padding. Heavy leather gloves. Heavy thick jerseys that were almost like rugby jerseys. Some of the protective stuff was modified padding and equipment from baseball or football. All of the gear was hot as hell to ride in. Heavy and hot! You have to remember; the bikes were changing rapidly as were the tracks. In those early days, we couldn’t really buy stock bikes and just race. We all modified our stuff and soon we started modifying the apparel. That’s really where it all began.
“The sponsored riders were required to have large logos from the OEMs on their pants and jerseys. Big logos. So we started printing jerseys and customizing them for shops and riders with names, numbers and sponsored logos printed right on the jersey. Consumers also wanted the factory look and wanted to have the same jerseys as top sponsored riders. I know it sounds simple today but back then there were not a lot of places to get these things done and have them look pro.
“I remember we started making pants with Maico, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki and Honda on the leg. Before I knew it, it was like a must-have deal for a lot of the shop and OE sponsors. They wanted their logo out there and we were supplying. We did a lot of research and development. We were playing with custom materials for apparel. We had some of our friends working at local aerospace facilities that would help us with special protection materials and lighter stronger parts for some of the bikes. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun making products better and better.”
_________________________________________________________________
As a young, impressionable teenager who loved magazines, I was always wowed by the antics of Dirt Bike Magazine test rider Jim “Hollywood” Holley. Jim was exceptional as contorting the bikes into strange positions in the air, and he also did CRAZY stuff, like jumping over cars, or even over CHiPS star Larry Wilcox on a dual-sport bike. Holley started off as a very successful local pro, winning the CMC Golden State National Championship in 1979 before making the jump to the AMA MX Nationals in 1980. “I had always seen and known Jim O’Neal because we both lived in the Valley,” says Jim Holley. “Finally, just after I won the Golden State Nationals and was going to race the Nationals, Jim said, ‘Hey why don’t we get you into O’Neal?’ and put together an offer for me.”
Holley went on to accomplish quite a bit in his professional racing career, including landing a factory Yamaha ride and winning the 1985 FIM World Supercross Championship Rodil Cup, as well as multiple Mickey Thompson Off-Road Grand Prix Championships. And through it all, he was in O’Neal. “I rode with O’Neal through my entire career, right from the start,” says Holley. “Jim and the crew are like family to me. We own several properties together and have done lots of business together these days.”
My first up-close encounter with Holley was at a Friday night race at Ascot in 1988. I remember being blown away that a factory rider was at the same local race as me, and I marveled at how powerful his YZ250 sounded as he did numerous practice starts. During the last practice session of the night, I heard a bike screaming up to me in one of Ascot’s slick corners. It was Jim. As he passed, he hollered and – unbelievably – reached over and grabbed my front brake. Being a total beginner, I fell flat on my face, completely puzzled about what had happened. “Jim Holley is a dick!” I told Ross, back in the pits. “He grabbed my front brake and made me fall!” Ross laughed pretty hard, then explained that Holley had likely seen MAEDA on my jersey and mistook me for him. Ross and Jim were buddies, after all…
“The thing I can say about riding for O’Neal through the years is that they always want to make you happy,” says Holley. “But Jim is very strict! In the contract, if it says you have to have the crossbar pad and the sticker, you’d better do it or there will be deductions! (Laughs) He is a businessman and he takes it very seriously. We’re great friends and I know what makes him tick. He was always very frugal and by the book with business. But at the same time, when we are working on a remodel together, say on a property that doesn’t really warrant the nicest sink with a garbage disposal in it, Jim will say, ‘Nah let’s put in the nice one. We’ll make it back in the end.'”
_________________________________________________________________
“One thing is for sure. Some of the guys were really really loyal to us for many years and still are. I have always appreciated that type of loyalty and still do! Some of the guys have been wearing our gear for 30 or 40 years! I know sometimes other companies in the industry are or have been owned by a big distributor or some investment group or something. A lot of these companies aren’t even around anymore. But sometimes these companies offered riders big money to get in their gear. We were always a little smaller and had to stay within our budget and sometimes we couldn’t match offers for gear from larger companies. Some of the riders didn’t leave us the following year for a few bucks more. Dubach, my good longtime friend Holley, LaRocco and some of my Baja buddies and other friends have remained loyal the entire time to us and still do to this day! Many of our longtime riders I still get the chance to see at the track and ride with them today.
“I also remember Mike LaRocco came to us when he was at a pivotal point in his career. Ziggy was just starting the Factory Connection team. Mike was moving to Honda and really was looking to build the next chapter in his career. We were also going through some changes with our business and expanding the O’Neal product line and we promised Mike, ‘Let’s work together and build a career, not just a year…’ Mike was all about it and was loyal for many many years thereafter. Ziggy and all the guys were great to work with. We won a championship working together (Travis Preston) and it was wonderful being a part of the beginnings of Factory Connection and what would become such a prominent team.
“We used to laugh at Mike. We would bring him new gear to the races, and he would just leave it in his truck and wear our old gear. Finally, the art guys got all over Mike and said, ‘Hey we need you in the new gear tonight. We are shooting photos and ads…’ Mike always said, ‘What’s wrong with my old gear? It’s holding up great! I will change to the new stuff when I need to.’ Mike just loved the way the gear was built so tough and worked so well for him. I always enjoyed that about Mike. He didn’t give a shit about the new color or fresh fashion. Mike was there to go as fast as he possibly could and compete. He would train like a madman, was like 15 to 20 pounds bigger than most of the young guys on the starting line and he couldn’t buy a start for the life of him! But Mike could fight like hell and pass guys lap after lap! Mike could get a last-place start and work his way up all the way to a podium finish. He did it in Supercross and he won the US open on a tiny track where starts were so critical. Mike was just an animal!”
_________________________________________________________________
One of the first Supercross races that my brother Ross took me to was at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1988, and we went extra early because he had gotten me a pit pass so I could roam around while he worked. As we were walking towards the stadium, Doug Dubach walked past, dressed in a full O’Neal kit that he complemented with a gnarly mullet and a pair of blades-style shades. I thought he was the shit! “Hey Ross,” he said, and my brother replied, “Doctor D!” That’s when I noticed the “Dr.D” butt patch on his pants, and I thought he was even cooler. Mind you, I was sporting a pretty gnarly mullet myself, complemented by a pair of teal-framed Oakley Blades. I was pumped! My excitement was dampened a few minutes later when we walked past a Honda privateer named Fred Andrews, and I heard him refer to me as the Asian Terminator. Haha!
These days, I am proud to call Dubach a good friend. We’ve spent plenty of time around each other, especially since he founded Dubach Racing Development and I began my career in moto-journalism. In fact, Doug took me to Loretta Lynn’s Dude Ranch in 1997 when I made a not-so-spectacular run at the Vet Class. Without Doug’s guidance and encouragement that week, I’m sure my 15th overall would have been much worse. Haha! Like Jim Holley, O’Neal is all I can ever remember Dubach racing in.
“When I first turned pro I was one of the poor folk and I would race in whatever was on sale at Racer’s Pit Stop on Chapman,” remembers Dubach. “I would be wearing Sinisalo pants with a Fox jersey…whatever I could get away with. I made my first money as a pro racer when Gear Racewear sponsored me in ’83, but I switched to O’Neal at the end of ’85 right when I got my first bit of Yamaha support. I remember going up to meet with Jim O’Neal to negotiate my contract, and having to listen to four hours of Baja stories. (Laughs) Through the years, as I got faster and my results got better, I had to listen to less and less Baja stories and finally one day I was able to just sign my contract and send it in. (Laughs)
“I’ve always really liked Jim. Even to this day, I see him out at the tracks riding…he’s out there in it. That’s what makes it so cool is that he is a real deal, unlike some of the posers who come in just to make money off the sport. Jim started off as a distributor selling Preston Petty fenders and supporting the sport, just like guys like Tom White.
“I’m a loyal guy and I’ve never felt the urge to leave, even when they had doormats sewn on the thighs of their pants,” jokes Dubach. “It’s been great to build a career with Jim and to see how far things have come for the brand. A funny story…and I think it’s indicative of how far O’Neal has come. We got a care package the other day and my son Carter who is like any other teenage kid and wants to be in all the coolest stuff, he was stoked and laid out all his gear on the floor and was taking pictures of it to post. Now, I can’t say that when he was on PeeWees he was all that excited about the new gear he would get. Now O’Neal stuff is for the cool kids, I guess.”
_________________________________________________________________
One thing that has remained consistent throughout O’Neal’s 50 years is Jim’s love of riding. Through it all, he has stayed on a motorcycle and has passed his love for two-wheels down through two generations. “My grandson Braden is racing now and he is really fast and really talented,” says Jim. “His younger brother Preston is starting to ride more seriously and is going really fast too. In fact, Preston just won recently in his class at your Swapmoto Race Series. Both of my sons grew up racing and I am still racing in Baja at every 250, 500 and 1000. For sure racing and riding all the time has been something I have enjoyed my entire life. I really am so lucky to take home a check each week and get the opportunity to ride all the time with friends and my grandkids.
“Basically all of us at O’Neal ride; some more often than others. The designers ride quite a lot. We can always talk about racing, riding and product development and there is no misunderstanding. Everyone gets it. There is no doubt many ideas and product enhancements come from racing. In Baja when you are riding hundreds and hundreds of miles you have severe changes in temperature, water, sand, silt and all kinds of terrain. Cold and hot riding conditions and every second counts! It’s like every Baja race I compete in and pre-run for is a torture test for products. Not so long ago I logged in and tracked more than 20,000 miles in a pair of our RDX boots. I hammered those boots! Every ride, every track day, every day pre-running and every Baja race, every practice. I also worked with Dubach on the same boots. Really Doug is great with feedback and product testing.
“We also have great input from the guys we sponsor and support and have had this for decades. Dean Wilson is currently in the gear and he is really great about communicating his thoughts and input on the product. Dean, my grandkids and the younger guys are all about the lightweight fitted performance of our Mayhem line while many of my Baja buddies swear by our Hardwear line of gear. Making products that perform in all types of conditions and all types of racing is really where we are focused now. We really have a proper line of gear no matter what class you are racing or what kind of riding you are doing. We have a set of gear that works for everyone.”
_________________________________________________________________
Another rider who comes to mind when you think of O’Neal in recent times in Mike LaRocco. The Rock signed with O’Neal in 1997 at the same time he joined forces with Factory Connection’s Rick Zeilfelder on the then-fledgling Factory Connection Honda team. Though he was a proven champion, LaRocco was at a low point of his career following several seasons of bad luck, bad bikes, and bad injuries. The ’97 season, it turns out, was the start of LaRocco’s second coming, and a multi-year run at the front of the field in O’Neal gear. One of the most memorable photoshoots of my career was with LaRocco at his home in Indiana. Mike was never known for being flashy; instead, he was famous for his poor starts and heroic charges through the pack. His quiet demeanor and tendency to keep to himself actually made him really intimidating, and I was pretty nervous about spending time with him for the magazine feature I had decided on. To my surprise, he was super fun to work with and when I got to South Bend, Indiana, he told me about a jump he had built at his parents’ home. “I think if you stand in the right place, you can make it look like I am jumping over the house,” he said, with a hint of a smile. If you’ve ever been around Mike LaRocco, you know that getting a smile out of him is something to write home about!
“I had a terrible season in ’96 on that bad-running Suzuki,” remembers LaRocco. “I was in MSR gear and they signed Greg Albertyn for the ’97 season and I was kind of offended, so I went to look elsewhere. Fred Bramblett was my agent and we met with Frank Kashare and Jim O’Neal, and they wanted to invest in me for the long haul. That was right about the time in my career that I went from just worrying about results, to building a brand. Fred and O’Neal taught me a lot about the business side of things. I wasn’t in a good spot at that time, and hooking up with those guys who wanted to build me up…that really helped me out. I was really self-centered and all that I cared about was racing. They taught me to build my own brand, I guess, and I would say that they definitely helped extend my career.
“I remember the gear was always super comfortable and it lasted forever. They used to give me new gear to wear before I had worn the old stuff out. (Laughs) I started wearing knee braces in ’96 and I always struggled to get enough room in my knees. They used to make me size 36 pants but take the waist into 31. I’m grateful for the time I spent with the O’Neal brand; like I said it was really good for me.”
_________________________________________________________________
As 2020 approaches, things are great for the O’Neal brand. With multiple lines of apparel available for riders and racers of all shapes, sizes, ages and disciplines, the apparel brand that started in the back of Jim O’Neal’s van has established itself as one of the major players in the sport and has earned a reputation as the most durable gear you can buy.
“Of course, I am very proud,” says Jim. “We have some great people here and most all of our people have been with us a long, long time. A lot of them for decades. I am happy we get the chance to have great people in the company that work hard. I am also happy to be riding every chance I get still. I really love riding and racing Baja and riding with my friends, family, and grandchildren.
“As I said, when I started the company, I called it Jim O’Neal Distributing as that is what it was really. It was me, distributing products. It soon after became O’Neal the brand. I think we always wanted to do great things but more importantly, we always wanted to and still want to build a great product. That’s really what we try to do every day and I am happy to be doing what I love and riding and racing after all of these years.”
_________________________________________________________________
Thanks for allowing me to tell my version of the O’Neal story, Jim. Like I said earlier, it was O’Neal from the start for me…
- swap
