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Roger de Coster: five times FIM 500cc Motocross World Champion, the Belgian rider took part in the ISDT in 1964 in Erfurt. There he met the American riders for the first time:
“These were my first Six Days, I was riding a 350cc Jawa. We went there with Fernand Dhéry, an old Motocross guy from Liège, Joel (Robert) also, and a couple of other guys. We arrived at the East German border – you know, at that time it took half a day to cross the border – and in front of us, there was an English van. It was the Triumph factory van, carrying the motorcycles of the American team. That year the American team was: Steve McQueen, Bud Ekins, Dave Ekins, Cliff Coleman and John Steen. We were in the line waiting, and we got out of the car, and walked around a bit. Just behind us there was a big Jaguar, with Bud and Dave Ekins, and Steve McQueen. This was the first time I met these guys.
At the Six Days, we were also frequently together because we slept in a school dorm in Erfurt. The school was closed for a week. Everybody was eating in the school cafeteria; the table setup was made by country and we happened to be seated next to the USA team, and that’s where our friendship started.
During the race, Steve McQueen crashed on the third day, if I remember well. That was the end of it for him. Joel also crashed and broke, but others got Gold medal, Dave Ekins got Gold, I got Gold… Of course everybody stayed until the end, and we had good moments together…They gave me their phone numbers and said whenever I would come to the USA: "Call us up.".
A couple of years later I went to the US for the first time. In California I was driving on a freeway, took an exit and went to a telephone booth, around nine o’clock at night. I called the number: it was Bud Ekins’ home and I was not even half a kilometer away from his house! I ended up staying there – actually each time I went there for the TransAm races on the West coast I always stayed with Bud Ekins. Bud was Steve’s best friend, and Steve was always at Bud’s house chatting and drinking beer. Once I was racing in the US and I hurt my knee. Steve brought a chiropractor who put my knee together.
I also took part in the following year’s competition at the Isle of Man. I broke down on the fifth day, the ignition was out and we could not fix it; it had been raining the whole week.
In East Germany the local team had complete motorcycles hidden along the course and also spare parts all over the place… Especially at that time the Six Days were a kind of “Who could cheat the best”.
