Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kenny Roberts at age 58

He's 61 years old -vid must be old.
I met him at Daytona about ten years ago , a buddy of mine is a professional road racer [josh hayes] Josh rode with Kenny's son Curtis both rode for Erion racing at the time.
Kenny is as nice a guy as you'd ever meet .
We were in the Erion garage slot at Daytona when I spotted him -he smiled and I whispered to my friends son [motorcycle nut-14yrs old ] do you know who that is ? he didn't .
I told him it was Kenny Jr and Curtis dad -Kenny Roberts -world champion Grand Prix racer -Kenny saw his face light up and nearly laughed. I pushed him towards Kenny and said go over there and I'll take your picture --Kenny shook his hand and put his arm around around his shoulder and I snapped their photo.
The guys talking in the vid -Kevin Swanse [sp?] and Valentino Rossi both world class racers and champions.
Road racing is as exciting/fun as anything I have ever done. Pinning the throttle on a yamaha r1 -banging gears at redline towards a sharp corner hammering the brakes so hard that your azz is floating off the seat then sling it in there with several other bikes is addicting. Gets my heart beating fast just thinking about it .

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His son is Miguel -also a champion racer and nice guy.

Another great rider is Freddie Spencer. King of the wet track. I remember him winning a GP by a stupid margin in the rain, more than a minute I believe.

He rode an experimental Yamaha OW69 at Daytona on some test rides in the early 80's. It was a 750cc 2 stroke and he couldn't keep the back tire from breaking loose,even on the straightaways.
My Pop actually got to talk to him about it.
When I raced motorcycles I never got to meet him but I saw him do a trials bike course in Florida.
He is pretty much the only one of my racing heroes that I never got to meet or race against.

I still think Dave Despain put it best when describing Super Bike racers, "They bring the family jewels in a wheelbarrow".

Roberts, Spencer, Duhamel, and many others were just fearless.

Here you go Anaconda, see if you can find yourself in the spectators. Some old school racing at Laguna Seca '79.

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jc-dB4DB7dg[/video]

That reminds me of a guy that rode everything and did more on his own dime than anyone else in that time. I attended one of his classes on going fast and it turned me into something with potential.
Steve Wise was one of those guys that carted his boys around in a wheel barrow.

Lawson took flat track dirt racing to the asphalt.

That pic demonstrates it.

While all of the European riders were looking for the best line down low, Lawson took the high line and drifted the ass end of his bike around the curves.

It hung 'em up.

Eddie Lawson -,Kawasaki made an Eddie Lawson replica of that bike -a friend bought the one that came to the Ms. coast --he liked to drink and ride .
Guess what happened to the bike. laf.

Used to go to the Indy Mile & the Columbus race in the late '70's - mid-'80's..........by then, Harley was ruling the flat track mile's & Springsteen was flying high.

Roberts was always the best rider on the track, but during that time, the HD's just had too much torque...........Roberts would pull up in the corners & fall back on the straights.

Roberts was the most talented road racer I ever saw but some of the guys riding the Superbikes today are pretty unbelievable too.

As Mickey Coleman mentioned, the Isle of Man is incredibly scary to watch.........can't even imagine riding it.

MM

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_B9ulrY69Sk[/video]

My racing was confined to The Drag Strip.You have to have super reflexes and be in great physical shape to Road Race.Kenny da Man!!!

The Isle of Man racing is one of the more insane things to have ever been conceived by Anglo Saxons.

That is an understatement. My Pop was like Hitler about me working out and being in shape for almost a decade.

Bart ,

Did you race AMA or WERA ?

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I'm not one to say very many things should be outlawed but Isle of Mann is beyond dangerous.
I remember -maybe 20 years ago two brothers were both in the race ,one wiped out and was killed and his brother came by and realized that that was his brother under the sheet.

I raced AMA Supercross and outdoor events after I turned professional.. Before that I raced NMA and went to the NMA Nationals in Ponca City Oklahoma. At one time I accumulated more points than anyone ever to qualify for the Amateur Nationals. That year I did well enough for Yamaha to give me a shot at the big time. I admittedly wasn't ready for pro motocross/supercross threw at me but I eventually did very well.
I'll add that I'm lucky that I didn't have any serious injuries.

I grew up racing motocross in the late 70 and early 80s. I certainly followed KR and have a great respect for his talent. He and Freddie Spencer could make those bikes fly!

Tenfour.

I was a top amateur M/X'r [local stuff not national],,always wanted to be really good at motoX but I was just never able to get going like some guys I knew and rode with.
Being 6'2 -190lbs didn't help either.
As far as injuries I did OK -minor stuff broke arm -collar bone -mild leg break .
My goal was to ride until I was 60 ,but I broke my back about eleven years ago at age 43 . I sit here now with a pillow behind my back for lumbar support .
Still have the monster the ended my riding 2001 Honda cr 500.

I've been sitting here watching racing clips on youtube.

Some coverage of an Isle of Man race stated that 7 people had died that week.

3 racers and 4 spectators.