| April 14, 2024
Cycle News ArchivesCOLUMN
The Vice President’s Son Is A Racer
By Kent Taylor
If you are not a Minnesotan (emphasis on the “ohhh”), the name “Walter Mondale” likely won’t stir up any fond memories—unless you are a Republican and/or a Ronald Reagan groupie. Mondale was the 1984 Democratic Party’s choice to unseat the incumbent Reagan, a task he failed in the most spectacular fashion. While “The Gipper” won a record 525 Electoral College votes, Mondale netted just 13 of the same, carrying only the District of Columbia and his home state of Minnesota (by a gnat’s lash of just 60 votes) in the general election. It was a splendid time to be a gloating Republican in America, and the thrashing delivered that night in 1984 spelled the end of Mondale’s more than 20-year career in public service.
But the senator from the state of 10,000 lakes (and locals say that’s an understatement) deserves to be remembered for more than this presidential beatdown. Mondale served his state as both Attorney General and as a United States Senator. He was Jimmy Carter’s Vice President and after winning the party’s nomination for himself in 1984, he boldly selected a woman, Geraldine Ferraro, as his running mate. But best of all (at least from the perspective of off-road riders), Mondale’s son Ted was a motocross racer!
Cycle News interviewed Ted Mondale in 1977. Mondale was the son of former Vice President and presidential candidate Walter Mondale. Cycle News ’ Gary Van Voorhis caught up with the veep’s son at a Gary Bailey Motocross School in early 1977. Ted, known as “Teddy” by his fellow students, was just another rider at Bailey’s school, and the strict former Bultaco racer-turned-instructor likely gave no quarter to the young Mondale, no doubt telling him that your daddy isn’t out here to protect you, so you better use that front brake—and you damn sure better not follow the rider ahead of you!
Not only was the vice prez not there to watch over his son, but the school was also apparently without any Secret Service presence of any sort, at least, none that were visible to Van Voorhis. Mondale was just another 19-year-old kid, learning how to keep pipey 1970s motocross bikes singing in their narrow powerbands as they bounced across bumpy MX tracks, well before the term “prepped” was ever used to describe a motocross course.
Ted Mondale was an avid motocrosser whose bike of choice was a Yamaha YZ125. Walter Mondale grew up in a working man’s family. He would attend law school, but only after having enlisted in the U.S. Army and using the GI Bill to help him pay for his education. Ted apparently had no free ride either, as he told CN that he had to buy his first motorcycle with money earned from a paper route. Ted was 12 years old when he began riding, and for a short time, even his papa found himself bit by the motorcycle bug.
From the story, he seems to have worked hard to keep himself clear of his father’s shadow; it also appears as if he didn’t try to bully his way into a privileged position of any sort—he even worked a regular job at Blalock Cycle, a longtime (since 1947) dealership in the D.C. area.
Mondale was just a teenaged MX racer—which also meant that he had a slightly wild side! The Mondales were the first vice presidential family to live in a house located on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory, and the large home, with drumskin-tight security on the perimeter and ample lawn space, served as a perfect testing ground for Ted and his YZ!
“I’ve done a few peace sign wheelies on the lawn for the folks [who were] waiting for the tours to begin,” Mondale told CN . “And,” he added, “maybe [for] an admiral’s wife or two! It was all in fun!
“When my father was a senator, I would have to set my bike up by running it up and down the street a couple of times, quick like, before the police came to see who was making all the noise. Now at our new house, I can race it back and forth across the lawn as much as I want, and nobody really bothers me.”
“Of course,” he adds, “the fence and the guards at the gate might have something to do with it!”
Ted’s motocross career didn’t carry him into the pro ranks. Like his father, Ted Mondale would eventually go to law school. Also, like his father, he was a public servant, holding a seat in the Minnesota State Senate from 1991-1997. In 1977, he told the American Motorcyclist magazine that even though his future plans were still uncertain, he did have one job title, and he spoke of it with pride.
“I’ll probably study law or political science,” Mondale said, “but I’ve also thought about anthropology. Heck, that’s a couple of years away. If you have to classify me as anything right now, I’m a motorcyclist!”CN
