On Track: Seaside brothers dominate state motocross.

Photo by Randy Tunnell: Fast Guys: Cody and Daniel Washington Jr., are piling up the trophies.

Blame Evel. In the 1970s, motorcycle maestro Evel Knievel, America''s greatest daredevil of all time, inspired thousands if not millions of American youth to either beg for a dirt bike with knobby tires, or to convert their bike so they could jump curbs and walls, or race up ramps made out of stolen plywood and cinder blocks. The luckiest ones got real motorbikes.

Evel was doing crazy stuff back then, jumping over pits of hissing rattlesnakes, pools of sharks, a row of 13 Mack trucks, and in probably his most famous stunt, an ill-fated, soaring leap over Idaho''s Snake River Canyon in the wondrous Skycycle. He made it across the gaping chasm, but a strong wind caught the parachute and pulled him down to the river. He survived, of course.

One of those millions of American kids keeping track of Knievel''s derring-do in the ''70s was Seaside student Daniel Washington. Knievel was pretty much his hero, and he didn''t have to look far for fellow devotees. Back then Seaside had a mini bike club called the Spartans, so a cadre of Knievel fans was already in place. They raced with the Fort Ord Varmints and the Salinas Ramblers.

Washington started racing with them, and was hooked. "That pretty much did it," he says.

That "it" is now a room in his Seaside home packed with motocross racing trophies. They''re not Washington''s, though he''s raced for years. These tall, ornate trophies-row upon row of them-were won by his sons, eight-year-old Cody and Daniel Jr., 15.

Daniel Jr., who goes to Seaside High School, is the 2002 state champion of the California Motorcycle Association (CMA) Pacific Coast Series in the 80cc (motor size) division. His little brother Cody is the 2002 champion of the same series in the 50cc division. Both took first in the Pacific Coast Series Northern Division in 2003 in their respective classes.

Being good at motocross is one thing. There are plenty of kids in California who race. The thing that makes the Washingtons stand out at the track is they''re African American and they''re from Seaside, a place not known for its abundance of dirt racing tracks.

Asked how to find them at an upcoming race, mom Claudia Washington says, "We''ll be the only black family there. We''re easy to find." That''s a fact that''s not lost on Daniel Sr. "In racing we''ve been pretty much accepted. We''ve gotten some pretty strange looks. They figure, ''That''s nice, a black kid is racing.'' But my kid won by a mile."

Motocross is an expensive sport and the Washingtons have to scrape to be there at all. Until recently, when he bought a new Toyota pick-up, Daniel Sr. used to haul his boys and their machines to races in a run-down ''82 Toyota pick-up, a modern-day jalopy out of Steinbeck''s Grapes of Wrath. Worse, the competition-kids the same age as Cody and Daniel-seem to have whatever gear they need.

"There are kids who have three bikes," Daniel Sr. points out. "I do the best I can. Our resources are low compared to some of the kids we race against. I think that''s the reason there aren''t a lot of minorities racing. But if you give them the resources, some can excel."

With cash tight, one of Daniel Sr.''s childhood friends, Steve Minafo, helps out with what he can. He bought a 250cc motorcycle for Daniel Jr., and he often pays for the fuel and hotel rooms at races.

One recent afternoon, Minafo, the Washingtons and a neighborhood friend, Evan Parker, who races with the Washington boys, went out to their practice track. It''s set up with multiple banked turns, but is only about one-fourth the size of an official racetrack. At the track, Parker warms up the bikes for his friends.

"It''s fun," he says, as the other two chase each other through the sand and dirt. "It keeps you out of trouble."

Cody, who will be in third grade this fall, adds, "I like it when we win trophies."

This year it looks like the Washingtons might add a few more to their already massive collection. Cody is in first place in the CMA Bounty Hunter Series racing in the age five-to-eight beginner level series in the 65cc division. Daniel Jr. is holding at first in the 125cc youth bracket and sixth in the 125cc novice levels. It''s a nine-race series ending in November with a championship race at Grizzly Stadium in Fresno.

Although he''s too young to be racing the big bikes, after Daniel Jr. has had enough on the 125cc at the practice track, Cody gives the big machine a spin. At 210 pounds, the bike is not only taller than he is, but weighs quite a bit more than his 52 pounds. Someone has to steady the bike for him to scramble on. When he''s seated, the bottoms of his feet dangle two feet off the ground. He''s not even close.

Finally set, he barrels off, a little kid controlling a machine larger and heavier and more powerful than he is, a monster he tames to his will. Watching him zoom off, his dad says, "Once you''re on it, as long as you don''t fall, you''re OK." It''s quite a stunt. Evel would be proud.