Ouch. Thank you for the correction. I think I liked the gossip version better
Ouch. Thank you for the correction. I think I liked the gossip version better
I flew down in Art's plane that day so my mind was not exactly on Marty. And had to face the flight back .... I still have nightmares.
If Art comes over here I'll be in deep shit. Let's go get him
Ran alot against Marc in OpenGP. He was on a built CB1100F (CB900 bodywork) & me on the GPz1100. That was about early 83' thru 84'....
recall seeing Pat on teh SUZ a few times, but he was mostly off running the GP's & IOM at the end of his career when I was racing. [/quote]
I don't remember Harry, when I switched off Goodyear slicks (when they went away), had to switch to dunlop. Remember a guy named Dennis something in the Dunlop truck every race.Harry Hunt was the Dunlop tire guy, should get some credit. Also sold Krober tachs and ignitions. Of course you know what we all nicknamed him ... Dunlops were THE tire then, this was a year or two before Goodyear had anything. Some Michelins. The very first Michelin slicks were all white, would have been perfect for racing that Hudson Hornet
Remember Richard, but no recall racing what?
Sounds like you are a leetle bit later ...
Exactly. Marc was a died-in-the-wool RD 400 guy. Grind them cylinders ! Replace them pistons ! new seals every week !
Harry Hunt was before Goodyear. He had a shop south of SF, you went down 101 past the horse race track then turned right, went back in a few miles, nice little industrial park. Harry sold Dunlops, Kroger tachs, Kroger ignition, and made the only aluminum disks anyone ever ran successfully. They worked good on 250's but melted on the bigger bikes. Sponsored Jerry Greene when he won the junior race at Laguna. The last tires I bought from him were a KR-83 / KR-84 pair, if that tells you anything
Tire truck ? Tire truck ?!? What the hell is that ?
Art. Rickman Honda and Ducati that I can think of but probably other stuff as well. You don't know Art Chambers ?
I love you. I'd love you a little more if those went back just a couple years earlier. Everything I had went west when I trusted a "friend" to store a couple boxes while I moved. They sold it all. What didn't sell, they threw away.
arty That's a.m., btw To be perfectly fair, Art's flying is not that bad. When compared to his driving, anyhow. :wow
I recall the Harry Hunt name, just not details.Sounds like you are a leetle bit later ...
Exactly. Marc was a died-in-the-wool RD 400 guy. Grind them cylinders ! Replace them pistons ! new seals every week ! You'd have to threaten him with a gun to get him on a worthless overweight pig four-stroke earlier in his life
Harry Hunt was before Goodyear. He had a shop south of SF, you went down 101 past the horse race track then turned right, went back in a few miles, nice little industrial park. Harry sold Dunlops, Kroger tachs, Kroger ignition, and made the only aluminum disks anyone ever ran successfully. They worked good on 250's but melted on the bigger bikes. Sponsored Jerry Greene when he won the junior race at Laguna. The last tires I bought from him were a KR-83 / KR-84 pair, if that tells you anything
Dunlop had those stinking trigonic race tires before that. Had them on my Maico, that stupid thing threw me on the ground more often than a bucking horse. They were a dumb dumb dumb idea.
Tire truck ? Tire truck ?!? What the hell is that ?
For some strange reason I always thought the name was "Richard." I don't know why?
Thats' mostly before my time; I was dragracing a 65' GTO in the early 70's & chasing pussy mostly.I love you. I'd love you a little more if those went back just a couple years earlier. Everything I had went west when I trusted a "friend" to store a couple boxes while I moved. They sold it all. What didn't sell, they threw away. With friends like that ...
If you have any shots of an RR250 or a Vincent in an XR frame or an XR roadracer, a real one that predates Vance, I'll be over at your house tomorrow around 7:00.
Shee-oot. Sorry to hear that. I look around here and realize that if I ever have a serious problem ? Just stuff me into a cardboard box and drop it over the ocean, may as well avoid the pain. You do not want to go into a Chinese hospital.
I hate eleven. Elenoah hates eleven. Does anyone not hate eleven ? Does it still have the spring underneath, and it's always all broken up and gravelly ?
In 73 - 74-ish, there were some pretty cool Kawasakis at Laguna. Maybe they ran once or twice at Ontario in AFM, too. That was the fubar 750, it was pretty neat but I haven't seen anything about it ever since. Those were the Yvon Duhamel days ... he could fall off a rock. What an idiot.
That's cool ! thanks !
Crunchy Granola ! It was humiliating racing against a twelve-year-old
Getting a little professional already, I seeand who the MC was
Works fine here. Seems like almost everybody is different from 1980 already. Mostly Art and Marty left. I thought Marty went to that big racetrack in the sky earlier than this ... he always had that huge shit-eating grin. Glen Shopher is the only other familiar name. All the classes are different, too. Generational turnover ...
Art needs to get his butt over here. He's not talking to me, I must have hurt his feelings or something. I thought he was running a Kenny engine. Damn you, Kenny, no one gave you permission to leave
I made him a clutch about then with a couple more plates and a spur gear drive. It was a nice clutch, too nice to waste on a race bike. And oh yeah, a gearbox. If I never needed a lawyer Art would have had to spend a lot more money ...
I loved 11. If you ignored the wall on the exit, it was a great place for "braking wars" w/your competitors. 11 was a straightforward 180, exactly even on entry & exit. It was hard to f-up. I used it as a measuring stick for slow speed quality of my riding. I only bailed there once in 83' on the K291. Got a pic someplace, can't seem to find at the moment; check my gallery/album here...:laughing
I was phototog'ing that day, pits & T2. I got dozens of pics of Roberts, Askland, Burrito Romero & others. I also went to Laguna & did same that year.
You're sick
You ain't just whistlin' Dixie ... kids these days. We had to walk two miles to school, in the snow. Uphill both ways. Barefoot, with bobwahr wrapped around our feet for traction ...
Ooh. Where's your house, again ? Got any AMA officials on the pit wall, one in a Stetson with cowboy boots and the other shoeless, kicking Aksland's crew off the wall ?
I am not sure (damned brain failure) but were they 750's then or still 700's ? They weren't common yet, no one in AFM had one. Then Barbic got one, then just about anyone could. Remember Tom something, big tall gawky guy, running a TZ-750 ? Not to put him down, nice guy, but by then just about anyone could buy a world-beater.
Your memory is as bad as mine, but KR passed half the field by lap three and everybody but three guys by lap six. He backed off a touch then and took two or three more to get Romero and Aksland, then turned it down to 8/10 for the rest of the race. You could hear him go around the track, not by the bike but by the "oooh!" and "aaah !" of the crowd. That's not an exaggeration, it's the truth. He passed Aksland in 8-9 and I've always thought of his quote later in life - "When you pass someone, pass them in the fastest part of the track as hard as you can, so they'll get scared and leave you alone after that." My friend was up in 8-9-10 with Mert and Dick Mann, their jaws were dropping down. The competition in road racing was pretty shitty at that time (Aksland ain't no Dick Mann, Gene Romero in his prime, Gary Nixon, Calvin, even DuHamel) but it was an absolutely brutal ride. Anyone who saw that knew he would take the european titles as well.
Was it really ? damn, I could have sworn earlier. What's the second thing to go ?
NiceI am posting these awesome photos of Marc with his permission
Thank you. )
Just wanted to say thanks for all the nice comments. I don't remember most of that time; 40 years ago is just a blur except some of the high notes...You're sick
Eleven was too tight to be wide and too wide to be tight, the pavement was always broken up and full of potholes, it was too slow to be fast and too fast to be honestly slow like seven, and worst of all, it was right in front of the pits so if you did
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/album.php?albumid=69&pictureid=289
God and everybody would be laughing ... breaking bones is okay but being laughed at by your peers, well ...
To be fair, my original racebike was a 125 Maico that had plenty of horsies but a 10 rpm powerband. Worse, it had those trigonic Dunlops that were really really pointy. Either you tiptoed or you laid it over but in between there was nothing.
After I got the 250 and rounder tires, eleven wasn't as bad.
You ain't just whistlin' Dixie ... kids these days. We had to walk two miles to school, in the snow. Uphill both ways. Barefoot, with bobwahr wrapped around our feet for traction ...
Ooh. Where's your house, again ? Got any AMA officials on the pit wall, one in a Stetson with cowboy boots and the other shoeless, kicking Aksland's crew off the wall ?
I am not sure (damned brain failure) but were they 750's then or still 700's ? They weren't common yet, no one in AFM had one. Then Barbic got one, then just about anyone could. Remember Tom something, big tall gawky guy, running a TZ-750 ? Not to put him down, nice guy, but by then just about anyone could buy a world-beater.
Your memory is as bad as mine, but KR passed half the field by lap three and everybody but three guys by lap six. He backed off a touch then and took two or three more to get Romero and Aksland, then turned it down to 8/10 for the rest of the race. You could hear him go around the track, not by the bike but by the "oooh!" and "aaah !" of the crowd. That's not an exaggeration, it's the truth. He passed Aksland in 8-9 and I've always thought of his quote later in life - "When you pass someone, pass them in the fastest part of the track as hard as you can, so they'll get scared and leave you alone after that." My friend was up in 8-9-10 with Mert and Dick Mann, their jaws were dropping down. The competition in road racing was pretty shitty at that time (Aksland ain't no Dick Mann, Gene Romero in his prime, Gary Nixon, Calvin, even DuHamel) but it was an absolutely brutal ride. Anyone who saw that knew he would take the european titles as well.
That would be turn 2
