The industry has lost another one of its larger than life heroes as Mike "Too Tall" Bell has passed away. Following his racing career, roles at White Brothers and Oakley saw him entrenched in the industry and enhancing the lives of everyone he came in contact with.
"Mike Bell was definitely one of the good guys," says Todd Huffman, producer of The Motocross Files. "Very nice guy, easy to talk to and humble... I was fortunate to interview Mike a couple of times and do his Yamaha Wall of Champions video. I had plans to include him in a future season of our series "The Motocross Files" but for now this will be as close as I get.... a short film about Mike's big win against the legendary Bob "Hurricane" Hannah in 1978 at the LA Coliseum...it almost didn't happen.
A few years ago we were producing a special on the greatest supercross races of all time for CBS Sports and this one made the list from fans' surveys. It was approved to shoot, we shot it and showed the rough edit to Executive Producers who canned it! They said it was "too old" and "no one wants to watch that old stuff." So it sat for a few years. When Yamaha's 60th Anniversary came around I brought up this unfinished short film to Bob Starr at Yamaha and he said "Yes! Let's finish it". So, thanks to Bob and Yamaha, the motorcycle world and Mike's family have what was perhaps Mike Bell's best motorcycle career memory."
Race In Peace Champ