Motocross history is filled with examples of creative ideas that were heralded as groundbreaking, but, because of the rapid rate of change in development, sank into the swamp of forgotten technology. Although some ideas are best left abandoned, others were truly innovative (if not ultimately successful). MXA loves to reveal motocross’ tech trivia. Do you remember this idea? Scott EFS electronic Roll-Off goggles.

Dr. Bob Smith started Smith goggles in his kitchen in 1965, and by 1974 the company was big enough to form a joint venture with Scott Goggles. When Scott went bankrupt in 1981, Dr. Bob Smith bought it. In five short years, from 1979 to 1984, Smith made history with Turbo Fan goggles, which had a battery-operated micro fan in the frame to ventilate the goggles and the Roll-Off system, which provided a continuous strip of film that could be moved from roll to roll via a pull cord. Because of the Roll-Off patent, only Smith and, by proxy, Scott could make Roll-Offs.

In 1991, Scott came out with the Scott EFS electronic Roll-Off system for the Model 89 goggles. It used the battery pack from the Turbo Fan goggle to operate an electric motor that would reel the film across the lens with no need for the pull cord. Instead, an electronic photo cell started the electric motor when you waved your hand in front of it. When it worked, it was phenomenal, but it didn’t work every time; and, often it would work when you raced into a shady area or when you threw your EFS goggles into your gear bag. Scott tried to fix it with an updated push-button model, but by that time, EFS was deemed a failure by the buying public and was discontinued.

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