Friends, fans and industry associates of Tom White packed Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino on November 11th to celebrate his life and ride a lap in his honor. It was billed as a memorial, and yet it felt like anything but.
That’s because everywhere you looked, Tom White was there, his memory and his good will coming through in the voices of the people whose lives White impacted.
Friends, fans and industry associates. It’s an interesting characterization, because you almost couldn’t be one without being one of the other two. Certainly Tom White had many friends outside of the motorcycle industry, but if you were inside it, it is likely that he considered you a friend.
And you sure as hell were a fan.
Hundreds of them packed the Glen Helen Raceway’s barn to hear one of White’s dearest friends, long-time Motocross Action Magazine editor Jody Weisel, offer a tribute that was heartfelt and happy rather than somber and sad.
“When Tom was diagnosed with cancer, he told me, ‘I’m never going to REM again,’” Weisel said. “’I’m not going to go out in public anymore. I’m not going to see a bunch of people because I don’t people feeling sorry for me, because I don’t like that. I can’t do it. I’m just going to hide away.’ And I said, ‘Yeah. That’s a great idea. Do that.’ So… the next weekend he shows up at REM. [laughs], and he was amazed by the outpouring. Some people talked about the cancer, but most people just talked about what he meant to them, and what a good guy he was. And I think that one of the things Tom took away from that was that he really was loved by everybody. He appreciated it, and he wasn’t afraid anymore.
“One day Tom came back to REM, and he was feeling sick,” Weisel continued. “He said, ‘When I get better, I’m going to race.’ I said, ‘Tom, you’re 68. You’re never going to get better. You’re just going to get 69, and 70, and on and on and on. If you want to race, race now. [laughs].”
Weisel recounted how, a week later, White came out and did an “un-race” gathering of vets at the REM track.
“Tom rode great,” Weisel said. “He did all the laps, and he had a wonderful time. A week after that, he went out and raced his motorcycle. And I think if I took away anything from the Tom White experience with cancer, it’s that you’ve got to live while you are dying. You’ve got to do the things that you want to do. Tom made a list of the things that he wanted to do. He said, ‘I’d rather live for two months and live life to the fullest than live six months in pain.’ He wanted to race. He wanted to ride his dirt track bike. He wanted to see his granddaughter born. He wanted to go on a road ride. And in-between chemo and feeling bad, he was able to go and do every one of those things. So, when he died, I didn’t really feel like it was a loss.”
Weisel said that the message he wanted to leave everyone with was this: “Dying is never about the people who are dying. It is always about the people who are left behind. They have to go on. Live life to the fullest while you can. And when you die, make sure you take care of all of the people you’re leaving behind.”
Few who knew Tom White would ever be able to deny that he took care of them in some way or another, or that they looked up to him. Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. Motorsports Racing Division Manager Keith McCarty was a long-time friend of White’s.
“Tom and I were good friends,” McCarty said. “He was a neighbor. I lived about a mile from him. I honestly looked up to him. He has done so much for the motorcycle industry, and it seemed like everybody that he met was his friend. Just look around and you can see all of the things that he had done and all of himself that he gave. There just aren’t many like him. It’s sad to lose somebody so important.”
Former factory Husqvarna motocross racer and fellow AMA Hall of Famer Mark Blackwell agreed, recognizing that White did so many things for the sport.
“Everyone that I’ve ever met that knew Tom had nothing but great things to say about him,” Blackwell said. “He seemed to be loved by everybody. I guess for me probably the single biggest thing he did was preserve our sport’s early days [through White’s efforts with his Early Years of Motocross Museum and his work with the Trailblazers Motorcycle Club]. As far as his museum, I’ve been around the world to visit Husqvarna displays and museums all over the world, and his is by the far the finest in the world. I just hope that his family will be able to preserve it. Tom just really and truly loved this sport, and was always wanting to give back and to preserve the history of it. I know that means a great deal to me and many others that are still involved in our sport.”
Many of White’s peers in the industry today are much younger than he was, people that he mentored, shepherded or generally just pointed in the right direction by offering his assistance. FMF Racing’s Don Emler Jr. considers himself grateful to be among them.
“Actually, when I first started working for my dad [Don Emler] right out of high school, one of my first meetings was to go down to White Brothers and have a meeting with Tom,” Emler Jr. said. “My dad just turned me loose and said, ‘You go down there and handle the meeting.’ I was 18 years old, and I was super-nervous to go and meet with Tom, because they carried our products, but it was a really cool experience to get to meet him. And look at what he did with his business, his parts distribution, and when he started making his own exhaust systems, look at how he did with that. He really saw the future with four-strokes and what they were going to do [in the market] even when we weren’t focused on that yet. Even after he sold the company, he just loved being out there. I can remember racing Mammoth, and when I pulled off the track, Tom would be the one interviewing me.
“Now, 18 years later, this year was really special for me because Tom was really instrumental in helping me get my dad nominated for the AMA Hall of Fame,” Emler Jr. continued. “Tom helped me get all the forms figured out to get my dad nominated. Tom just kept telling me, ‘If we can just get his name on the ballot, I know he’ll get inducted.’ Tom kept putting the right pressure on people to get my dad nominated, and the next thing I know we’re standing there, watching my dad get inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame. It’s just unfortunate because Tom wasn’t there to see it. That was bittersweet, but it is really special for me to know just how much of a hand Tom had in that.”
It’s only fitting that one of Tom White’s last rides was aboard a flat tracker, the Indian Scout FTR750 that he had purchased mere weeks before his passing. Gene Romero, the 1970 AMA Grand National Champion was on hand at Glen Helen, and he remembered White’s days as a professional flat track racer.
“Tom was really a good racer,” Romero said. “He was a little on the aggressive side, but one thing I will always remember about him is that his equipment was always outstanding and very sano. He was a real pro, and he was always willing to help people. He showed up in his van once and helped me out of a jam by announcing at a flat track event I was promoting up in Fresno this one time. That’s just how he was. Naturally, everybody misses him. He left a real tattoo on all of us—not just a mark, but a tattoo.”
And when you can inspire a man who inspired you, you know you’ve done something right in your life. Five-time Motocross World Champion Roger DeCoster was a hero and friend to White, and yet “The Man,” made it very clear that White’s bravery in his last days were a good lesson to us all.
“Even at the very end he still did not complain about anything,” DeCoster said. “He was matter-of-fact, and he was planning what he had to do, but he never said, ‘Why me?’ We all complain about things that we shouldn’t, and Tom was the best example of being positive no matter what.”
And that’s another underlying message that White left us all, “Stay positive.” It’s certainly something that his family has continued to exhibit since his passing. White’s daughter, Kristin Anderson was the model of her father’s strength as she greeted the throng that came to pay their respects to White and his family.
“We’re humbled by the turnout, but it’s not a surprise because we know that he had a really big impact on the sport,” Anderson said. “Seeing everyone here really helps us kind of fill the void that he left. He has had so many whose lives he touched.”
American founding father Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Tom White must have been a fan of Franklin’s, because he had done an amazing job of preparing his family, friends and associates for the inevitable time when he would no longer be among us. Anderson agrees wholeheartedly.
“He was definitely a planner, and he definitely prepared us for what we are experiencing,” Anderson said. “I think that has really helped us. He wanted us to celebrate [not mourn] him, and that’s what we’re doing.”
That planning includes a way forward for the Early Years of MX Museum and all of the charitable efforts that Tom White greatly assisted through it.
“We are keeping it open, and everything will be run as normal,” Anderson said. “Our next event is Thanksgiving morning, and it was one of Tom’s favorites. From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. we host 100 Marines. That’s our first event, and then we will continue to do the Bikes and Burgers right before the second Anaheim Supercross. We will still be raising money for all of Tom’s favorite charities, and that’s our way to remain connected to him and honor him and honor all of the great philanthropic work that he used to be so proud to do. Again, thank you to everyone who has reached out to us. It has been so humbling. I made an Instagram post the other day, and we’ve had so many people reach out to us from across the world—from the industry to celebrities to news people—all telling us how he has touched their lives. We’re just thankful for that as a family because it helps us to feel and keep his memory alive.”
Maybe Pro Circuit owner and founder Mitch Payton, whose products were distributed first by White Brothers than before anyone else, said it best.
“Tom was just a really good guy who loved motorcycles,” Payton said. “He was just a great guy. This is what he really loved. The spirit he had is just something that I’ll really miss.”
Won’t we all.
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