Joe Oviedo, '72 CZ250

 

I had the opportunity to meet Rex Face-to-face in 1976 at Diamondback Park in Florida during the old AMA winter series. He was running the Harley-Davidson motocrosser that had forks on the front AND the rear. As I recall, he broke and in spite of running hard, did not finish well that day, but we could tell that he was clearly exhausted from the Florida heat and humidity, as we approached his van for an autograph. In spite of being tired, he was very friendly and patently answered our questions and gave us an autograph.
I also saw him as the Yamaha factory rider and will never forget his wild riding style.

Paul D. Simmons

 

My Fondest memory of Rex is when I was practicing at Saddle Back MX track for the National Mini Cycle Nationals in 1975.  I was 10 years old.  He looked like a giant to me.  From time to time he would pass me on the track while I was on my yamaha 80.  I thought, Wow a real motocross racer!  But the biggest highlight for me is when I was going over the last jump where the finish line was and Rocket Rex Staten literally flew over my head and landed on the embankment of the track and kept it full throttle an never let off.  Thank you for the memory Rex!!!

 

I just wanted to thank Rex for being a great down to earth guy! The memories I have when I was a kid in the mid 80's! I had a 1982 YZ80 that you went out of your way, and picked up my bike and rebuilt the top end for me. Than we went to the races in Vegas and I got too meet Jeff Ward. I was the kid you had too hide in the tralier under the tarps so we didnt have too pay a extra fee. My family and I sometimes even mention your name from time to time. WHAT AN AWESOME RIDER!!!  Jeff Ward was one of my favorite riders , but you were always my favorite #1!!!!  Longest wheelies I have ever seen. So funny, on Arrow Hwy riding wheelies on the street, and when you would win races at Speedway near Orange show, ride a wheelie all the way around the track!!! Thanks for being a awesome rider, and the memories will last a life time. As I grew up, I picked up motocross racing, but shattered my right shoulder and broke left wrist badly, so I have too slow it down.

 

Shawn Hess

 

I went to Sequoia Jr. High in Fontana, CA with Rex. He asked me to go steady. I said no because at the time, I was "ga-ga" over some other guy. Rex kind of got a little mad (or maybe embarrassed) so we didn't talk a whole lot after that. But, the only memories I really have is after school, I'd see him out in the open fields when I'd ride my horse. We used to race (horse against bike) all the time. The only time I could beat him was if I picked a spot that was soft or sandy and we didn't race but what you might call a "sprint".  I visited him and on a couple of occasions stopping by his house in Fontana on my horse and talking with him out in the garage while he was working on motorcycles. Later, after we graduated I saw a box van with "Rocket Rex Staten" on the side of it and I was really surprised and I didn't understand what it meant until I realized he was professionally racing. Much later we went to the fairgrounds in Victorville and watched RR jump a whole bunch of vehicles. His jump was successful, but the landing went wrong. He was okay though. After the races there, my then very young son Mike Childress went up to get an autograph of him and Rex’s Mom told him that his real name was Leonard!

 

Lori (Smith) Tracy

 

Without a doubt, Rex changed the face of South African MX. The first race meeting that Rex raced in SA was at an International meeting at SYRINGA SPA. We had heard so much about him and could not wait to see him come up against Grant Maben our local champ. Grant was sort of of like the local Marty Smith and we never believed anyone in the world could beat him. During practice we were keeping an eye on Rex as he cruised around feet up and looking around checking out the track. On his third or fourth lap someone put a stopwatch on him and found he was about 6 seconds faster than the lap record...Oh well, so much for the South African Challenge. We had to wait a few years for Jim Tarantino and Larry Wosick to come along before anyone challenged Rex. At that time in SA, if you were a white male you had to go in the Army for 2 years. When I had done my 2 years Army stint, I tried to get back racing the nationals. Rex was now racing full time here. We were so slow that Rex fitted an air horn to his bike and would honk the thing when he was lapping us!

 

Without Rex raising our standards who knows if we ever would have had Rob Herring, Greg Albertyn, Grant Langston or Tyla Rattray.

 

John Robertson

www.buzzworks.co.za

 

The first time I was exposed to Rex Staten was at the Orange Show Stadium
races. He was riding that Yamaha TT500 most of the races and kicking the
guys on the 2-strokes butts most nights. One of the last few races they had
a jumping contest and several riders were involved I am not exactly sure
what the distance to beat was when it was Rex's turn to go but I do remember
this, Rex came flying around that corner (on a 2-stroke this night) hit that
jump and went flying, he landed and barely had enough room to stop without
leaving the dirt. They measured his jump and the distance came back 86 feet.
I think the longest jump in previous competitions was 82 or 84 feet. I
remember thinking that no one was going to beat that distance that night.
Marty Raymer had different plans however, he hit the lip of that jump (I
think he was on a Maico 490, although I could be way off on that) and went
flying, just like Rex, 92 feet. After the contest we went to the pits, Rex
was standing in the pits talking to Marty about the jump and you could see
on his face that he was just as excited for Marty as probably Marty was. He
handed out stickers to all the fans after that, sporting a huge smile. I
took my sticker home and it got stuck on the back fender of my YZ80 the next
day. Rex definitely got a fan for life that night. Like the other stories on
your website, Rex may have been I tough guy on the track, but he was all
class off the track.

Thanks, Dean Clore