“After the race in 1975, I said they didn’t pay me enough to ride that thing and this year will be no different,” said Roberts about being reunited with his machine for this year’s event.
Considered unrideable by anyone but Roberts in his prime, the bike built by Kel Carruthers is powered by the 125bhp, 750cc four-cylinder two-stroke engine from the Yamaha TZ750 road racer. Like all trackers, it has no front brake, but can reach speeds of 250km/h (150mph) on the Mile’s straights.
In fact, it was considered so dangerous that the AMA banned it from competition. Roberts agreed with the ban although it caused a huge outcry in the bike press, most notably from Cycle World editor D. Randy Riggs who rode Steve Baker’s TZ dirt tracker, and argued that if it was okay for Harley dominate flat-track, why couldn’t Yamaha?
“You had to throw it sideways to get it slowed for the corners,” said Roberts looking back on the 1975 race. “There weren’t a lot of riders who could throw it sideways at 150mph.”
“They don’t pay me enough to ride that thing!” Kenny Roberts one exclaimed
about the TZ750 of Yamaha. In a sport where Harley dominated, flat track, and
in particular the mile, Kenny was cashing in and winning. But when the AMA
stepped in and banned it, Yamaha was only left with a less powerful, but easier
to ride motorcycle, that wasn’t competitive. But they still had Kenny, and the
Grand National Champion, and future World Champion would go on and continue his
winning ways. And in 1976, on the 4th of July, at the New Mexico State
Fairgrounds, I saw him ride his new bike, and why he was a true champion. No he
didn’t win the mile race that day, I don’t even think it was a podium finish for
him, but the way he rode made him a hero in front of all who watched.
If you never saw flat track racing, it is very basic. Go fast down the
straight, hitting over 120 mph, throw the bike sideways having no front brake,
cross it up and the accelerate down the straight and repeat for 25 laps. Hank
Scott won that day on a Harley, but the action was with Kenny putting on a
riding clinic for all to see. While all the others took the lower groove, Kenny
rode up high in the corners in the soft dirt, never slowing down, and passing
them all on the high side. But then losing them again on the straights due to
being underpowered. Even going down once in the first corner at speed, getting
up and still challenging. He didn’t follow the tried and true path, he blazed
his own. Watching him ride that way was a day I will never forget. Using the
tools provided, and making an uncompetitive bike competitive. The true mark of
a champion....
While others learn to race the traditional way, Kenny went looking for new
ways to win. Bound by the same rules and regulations, he used his talent and
drive to overcome obstacles. He may not have won every race, but back then to
win the #1 plate you raced both dirt and street, today it is broken up into
different series, more racers, more races, more TV time, which means more money
for all. The urge to merge all the forms of racing in one championship made a
rider specialize in all forms, not just one. One week sideways at 120 in the
dirt, the next week knee dragging on pavement on the track. Where Kenny used to
slide his rear tire, much to the amazement of the competition, who had never
seen it done on asphalt before. Now they all do it, but back then.....maybe you
see why he was called King Kenny!
Being part of the human race, God desires us to have an urge to merge with
him. He wants us to be part of his family, to have personal fellowship with
him, to rise above religious practices and to become a part of our life. He
created us as a physical being with physical urges, emotional with emotional
urges, and also a spiritual being with spiritual urges. Each one different and
each one separate. But when the three come together in Christ, something
happens, and no words can describe it. From sexual urges to bond with a mate,
to the emotion of knowing you are loved and love in return, and finally having
the holy spirit in your life, each bring us closer to God and a relationship
unique to us. If God was just a physical thing, we would never know the great
feelings of his forgiveness, if only emotional, the knowing of the depths of his
spirit, it would all be an up or down emotional ride. But when under the
spirit, we blossom both physically and emotionally, we see Jesus in a way that
those who only study the Bible miss. We go beyond the feelings that dominate us
and have the same spirit that Jesus has, and access to the inner workings of the
kingdom. We become one and a part of the family of God, with all the right and
blessings that go with it. We see ways to live, just like Kenny did to win,
when we live in the spirit. We enjoy true worship in the spirit, more than the
music and prayers, more than a good sermon, we are invited into the pit area
with Jesus, to go where only the religious cannot, and get a front row seat. We
are there, while others wonder what is going on. I’m sure the view from the
stands that day and our conversations were much different than the pit musings,
or the urges on the track. Being part of the team allows us access to all the
things of the team, and we look at things differently when on the inside. The
way God wants us to, from his point of view, not the world’s.
Jesus lived by the means of the father, and we are to live by all the same
means in Jesus Christ. In everything we do, just as he and the father were one,
we too can enjoy the same fellowship. It is an intimacy that goes beyond words,
for if it were finite, then you could define it, but how do you define an
intimate God using finite words? I will never know how Kenny felt riding the
highest berms at speed, but I can know the highest God and experience true
Christianity. Seminaries can teach, we can study, but we never truly know Jesus
until we give it over to his spirit, and let him drive us. Simply put, it is
the will of God that we know Jesus, and since God is a spirit and must be
worshipped as such, he left his spirit to comfort, counsel, and guide us. All
the tools we ever need are provided. And despite the governing bodies of
denominations and religion, we are guaranteed a podium finish when the race of
life is over. In it to win it, or just to say you competed?
And in Christ Jesus we win it all, without bending or breaking the rules.
Smoky Yunick may have had the best damn race shop in town, and almost fooled
them with his 7/8th’s Chevelle, In Jesus we already won, we just have to compete
and complete the vision given us. No judge to qualify us, we go in welcomed and
rewarded. Something we could never pay Jesus enough to do for us. So hang on
for the ride, and if you are close to the action, can smell the castor, feel the
grit of the dirt, and wipe the burnt rubber from your eyes, you have the right
seat. All others spectate, the rest of us have our urge to merge satisfied. We
all were created from the dirt of the earth, maybe that is why dirt track racing
is so basic and appealing....it take us back. In Jesus, we go ahead. All
without being told what to do by anyone....sign me up! I’m glad I did!
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com
Considered unrideable by anyone but Roberts
in his prime, the bike built by Kel Carruthers is powered by the 125bhp, 750cc
four-cylinder two-stroke engine from the Yamaha TZ750 road racer. Like all
trackers, it has no front brake, but can reach speeds of 250km/h (150mph) on the
Mile’s straights.
In fact, it was considered so dangerous
that the AMA banned it from competition.
Roberts agreed with the ban although it caused a huge outcry in the bike press,
most notably from Cycle
World editor D. Randy Riggs who rode Steve Baker’s TZ
dirt tracker, and argued that if it was okay for Harley dominate flat-track, why
couldn’t Yamaha?
“You had to throw it sideways to get it
slowed for the corners,” said Roberts looking back on the 1975 race. “There
weren’t a lot of riders who could throw it sideways at
150mph.