By 1982, Edward Lojak Sr. from Tarentum, Pa., had enough racing success for an entire career. That year, the 22-year old was the overall champion of the AMA Hare Scrambles National Championship Series and the Grand National Cross Country Champion for the third straight season. He also was the top American at the International Six Days Enduro when the United States team finished second in Czechoslovakia at what many consider one of the most difficult ISDEs of all time.
For his many accomplishments, the AMA also honored Lojak with the 1982 AMA Amateur Athlete of the Year Award. It was a career-defining moment, but Lojak was hardly done.
He would go on to win two more overall championships in the AMA Hare Scrambles National Championship Series and an impressive six more GNCC titles.
No other rider has more than five overall motorcycle titles in the GNCC series, which also features ATV classes.
It was a style of riding, Lojak said, that appealed to him.
“Back in the day, we actually got four, sometimes six hours of racing in GNCCs, and it was just something I enjoyed doing,” Lojak said. “My uncles rode Blackwater [the famously difficult off-road race in West Virginia that was promoted by AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Dave Coombs Sr.], and one day Dave Sr. came into the shop and said he was going to start a series. We got hooked into that series, and Dave’s vision took it bigger than any of expected.”
Lojak’s uncles, who in 1973 started the shop that Lojak now runs, were the influential force behind his racing.
“My uncles, Ron and Joe, were really into it and they got me riding and racing,” said Lojak, who added that his father, while supportive, chose to “work 16 hours a day, seven days a week” rather than ride motorcycles. “I give all the credit to them. If it wasn’t for those guys, I would never have done any of it.”
Lojak said some of his earliest memories are watching his uncles ride Honda 305s in the woods.
“Ron was super fast, and it was all about speed, while Joe was all about being smooth, and I guess I just kind of combined the two, and it worked,” Lojak said.
Lojak was born Dec. 18, 1960. He started riding at age 8 and started racing at age 10. He ultimately reached the highest level of off-road racing in America, riding for Team Husqvarna from 1976 to 1988.
Lojak’s uncles were Husqvarna dealers before he started receiving factory support. That came, Lojak explained, after his introduction to AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Legend and eight-time AMA National Enduro Champion Dick Burleson.
“I was maybe 15 or 16 and Uncle Ron invited the Husky team to visit the shop, Dick Burleson and the rest of the team,” Lojak remembered. “We go to a local race, and I’m winning. I’m thinking, ‘wow, I’m beating Dick Burleson!’ Then coming into the last lap, he just blew by me and was gone. I realized then that he was just holding back watching me, but also that I had a lot more work to do to get to his level.”
After that, Lojak said that he and his uncles started traveling more, going to compete against riders on their home turf.
“We would go to where the fast guys were,” Lojak said. “We would race against guys like Frank Gallo from Ohio. I learned a lot about racing from him. He was the kind of rider you could just race with and learn from because he would always hold his line and run a clean race. I have a lot of respect for Frank.”
Tim Christy, now the shop manager for Lojak’s Cycle Sales, was Lojak’s mechanic for much of his racing career. Christy said that much of Lojak’s speed came from his keen vision.
“He was a talented rider, and had a lot of drive and determination at a very young age, but I think one of the reasons he had so much speed is he just saw things so much better, if that makes sense,” Christy said. “He could pick lines and set up for them so much earlier than anybody else, and most of the time, they wouldn’t even see the lines he would see. Sure, he was fit and fast, but I think his vision really set him apart.”
Lojak again gave credit to his uncles.
“My uncles taught me to never just follow the same line as everyone else, whether we were trail riding or racing,” he said. “If we gained time by going over a log, we went over the log. There’s also a big mental piece to racing. I think that part is easy, and maybe that’s just natural. I rode and trained with a lot of guys who worked way harder than me and they would be real fast at home but they would get to a race and, I don’t know, something just wouldn’t click for them.”
Lojak might have won even more if injuries hadn’t slowed him down a couple years.
“There were a lot of broken bones and other things,” he said. “I always pushed it, though, which wasn’t always good. I was the type of guy who would cut the cast off in the garage when you weren’t supposed to. I’m paying for it now. The knees are the worst, though, because they get so bad it affects how you ride a motorcycle.”
Today, Lojak doesn’t ride, but he remains active in the off-road racing community, as well as running the shop, which sponsors several off-road racers.