Mike Hartwig, who was a factory Husky rider, was one of the originals of motocross racing's Michigan Mafia.
Early motocross hero Mike Hartwig grew up riding motorcycles in his hometown of Hadley, Michigan, just east of Flint. He was racing and doing well in flat track races of the area. The godfather of the Michigan Mafia Bart Markel even rode with Hartwig a few times when Mike was just coming through the ranks. Markel’s mechanic Ed Warren would later become Hartwig’s mechanic when Hartwig went pro. By the early 1970s Hartwig was showing equal, if not more ability, in the burgeoning sport of motocross. The young rider was at a crossroad.
By 1973 things had come to a head. Hartwig won the novice pro short track races at Daytona in 1973, but he’d also scored a fourth in what was then called the Daytona Moto-Cross, the predecessor of the Daytona Supercross.
“It just came time to make a decision which way to go with the schedule conflicts and things like that,” Hartwig said. “I enjoyed both kinds of riding, but we decided on motocross. I liked the physical part of motocross.”
It also helped that the factories came calling in motocross. Hartwig had done well in the Florida Winter Motocross Series in 1973 and was picked up by Husqvarna to race the nationals.
Hartwig was chosen with Jim Pomeroy, John DeSoto and Brad Lackey to the 1973 Motocross des Nations team. Lackey didn’t show due to contract issues and the short three-rider team still managed a solid result.
Mike Hartwig in the early 1970s.
“It was the biggest international race I was ever a part of. Bengt Aberg had broken his arm and Husky gave me a prototype 360 to use. The configuration of the bike was completely different from what I was used to. I blew a shock out in the first moto. In the second moto I broke a rear wheel. I had to finish for our team to be counted in the points, so I stopped so they could change my bike’s rear wheel. It paid off because we finished fourth in spite of all the problems.”
Today Hartwig is self employed. In the winter he teaches skiing and the rest of the year he logs and has a landscaping business. He no longer rides dirt bikes because of a bad back, but he enjoys riding a road bike that he does as many daily chores on as possible in the summer. He comes to Daytona every March and especially enjoys going with friends to the short track races.
Rider Files 