Random 1980s racing pictures

[onformula1]

John, I was wondering if you read the thread on this board that Chris White's daughter posted a few years back. Sorry I am on my phone and can't link to it right now.

She was looking for info and pictures and you have a lot more than we could supplier her.

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[onformula1]

Link

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...-KXT250-Tecate

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[3WW Star-John_Neary]

@onformula1 - Yes i saw her post a while back and i have posted pretty much every picture i have of Chris and made sure to mention him in the shots he is in if she happens to drop by or see this thread while doing a search of his name. I honestly cant share any personal stories or anything about Chris because he was always a really quiet, soft spoken guy and while i was around him almost every weekend for a couple years i do not think we spoke ten words to each other.

I finished second to Chris in 84 at the San Jose Nationals in the open class while riding our 495 and that was about the best race result ever for me up till that point and was i proud of myself that i kept him in sight the whole 20 laps. He was a factory guy and i was a pudgy 14 year old that everyone called "Piglet". :P

He and George had a lot of close races back in the heyday of Thursday Night racing at Corona Raceway when they would both race the MX and oval the same night and would have their own battles a half lap ahead of everyone else.

Chris on his #40 Tri Z and myself on my tecate (center) at Porterville 86



best two grand ever spent (from 3&4 wheel action sept 86)


heading to the 250 class win at Ashtabula, 86

[onformula1]

I tried to email her a few days ago so will see.

How fun was that Tecate?

I can't believe they sold it to you any idea where it is now?

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[bkm]

for bkm - from August 86 3wheeling

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Yes yes yes, thank you so much. This answers a lot of questions for me. You the man John. Btw, how bad ass waa Jimmy's old bike? I would love to know where it is today?

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

I honestly forget who we sold it too but it was either a very low hours practice bike or a race bike meant for local events. His factory national bikes always had some or all of the paint removed from the engine and the bike i got had a solid black engine plus the bike i got had re valved stock suspension and not anything fancy or trick.

As weird as this sounds it was the only 84/85 gen Tecate i ever rode and i bought it from Jimmy in early 86 because i did not like my 86 Tecate and i had sold off all my Hondas. I am not sure why Jimmy picked me but it was like "hey Killer, come here. I need to sell this so tell your old man 2 grand." So it kinda just fell into my lap.

The only trick parts it had that stood out was a Calfab fuel tank (that leaked, why you can see part of the paint had to be sanded off) and Calfab swingarm. Rest of it was the normal parts you would expect on a mildly hopped up Tecate. It was clearly fast as i would catch Jimmy on his 86 factory bike every lap at Porterville with its huge straights. I did nothing more that put my numbers on the front number plate, add a Maier rear fender and took it racing. It makes me wonder how i would of done on a Klemm 200 Tecate if had one two years earlier because this bike was dialed for me from the moment i threw a leg over it.

Here is Jimmy on what i believe is the bike he sold me(my dad and his friggin red ink pens),notice all black engine and white airbox and the same Calfab fuel tank.



Only semi good photos of my 86 Tecate, was a fun bike stock but i did not like it as a race bike.

[barnett468]

.
Ahhh, ha, ha . . You have discovered yet another photo with me in it [number 49 on my helmet] and one that I was once again fortunate enough to be near the front on the start [but not near enough, lol] . . Your thread is making me extremely happy I assure you.

What are the odds of someone being in the same place at the same time that I and some others here were 30 years ago and then being in the same place at the same time 30 years later and actually having photos of these events that just happen to show us in them.

The photo below is a great photo and a great example of just how hairy and basically dangerous the starts were at many of these races . . They jam 20 or more people into a turn that is only wide enough for maybe 4 because of the rear axle width and everybody wants to get there first . . It’s definitely not for the faint of heart and one mistake by a rider can easily take several others out.

Did you ride this Pomona race?

Do you know who number 19 on the Kawi next to Jimmy is, and number 7 on the Honda [Marty Hart or Dean Sundahl?] and number 5?

If you blow the photo up and look closely, you can see the number 19 Kawi next to Jimmy bottoming out the front suspension because he is on the brakes so hard . . The Honda next to 19 is doing the same thing and it looks like his rear wheels are even off the ground slightly . . The guy right behind him in the lane next to him with number 5 on his helmet has his front wheel in the air [you can tell by the height and angle of his gas tank] because he most likely ran up on the right rear wheel of the guy in front of him, lol.

For the Kawi guys that might be interested, the bike I raced was the pre production test bike which we had over 100 hours of testing on . . The only thing I replaced after the test were the rings [and maybe the piston] and the chain and brake pads . . The transmission gears and cylinder and clutch and wheel bearings, and forks and springs and rear shock etc were all left as they were and the ONLY part that ever failed was the clutch, which fortunately wasn’t during a race . . The swing arm was a stock one I modified to be around 3/4” longer . . Harry Klemm ported the STOCK Tecate cylinder and modified the head and gave me a pipe and it had a Mikuni carb and stock air filter.

It also had the same flywheel which never failed and which was the same type Donnie Luce and Chris White ran which never failed either, lol.

Basically, the bike that I raced was the least modified of any bike on the circuit and is a testament to not only the quality of the Tecate, but also to it’s ability to be competitive at the highest levels of Professional 3 Wheel Racing with only basic, minimal mods [providing one can ride it at that level], and in fact, there was not a single “works” part on any of the Tecate’s that were raced, although there were a few on some of the Hondas.


“The Tecate…The Most Powerful 3 Wheeler On Earth.”


OMG…There he goes again!

[atc007]

"hey Killer, come here. I need to sell this so tell your old man 2 grand."


That's called respect. And you had earned it John.. Maier will make us a white front fender, I have to buy 5,No go on the CR shrouds,but DC does have them. However only listed in red.. I haven't signed up with them,so I'm not sure about getting different colors from them. I have a couple "big square" Fr reservoirs, haven't had time to see if they are still fresh and good,or needing rebuilt......I had never seen Rogers bike with a #10 on it that I remember..

[barnett468]

Here is Jimmy on what i believe is the bike he sold me(my dad and his friggin red ink pens),notice all black engine and white airbox and the same Calfab fuel tank. The only trick parts it had that stood out was a Calfab fuel tank (that leaked, why you can see part of the paint had to be sanded off) and Calfab swingarm. Rest of it was the normal parts you would expect on a mildly hopped up Tecate.

It was clearly fast as i would catch Jimmy on his 86 factory bike every lap at Porterville with its huge straights. I did nothing more that put my numbers on the front number plate, add a Maier rear fender and took it racing. It makes me wonder how i would of done on a Klemm 200 Tecate if had one two years earlier because this bike was dialed for me from the moment i threw a leg over it.

If you are referring to his 84/85 250 bike, I was out at Saddleback testing one day and he was there practicing, so I asked him if he I could ride his bike, so we swapped bikes and I tried to keep up with him on the small practice track at the back of Saddleback and that thing felt faster than my race bike, so I asked him what was done to it and he said it had a stock, unported, Tecate cylinder that I think he said was just cleaned up, and Bassani pipe.

I have known Bassani from around 1974, because the shop I worked at, which was Norm Reeves Honda/Kasaki/Bultace/Bsa/Triumph [they didn’t care what they sold, lol], used to loan him all the Honda and Kawi bikes he built pipes for, and I know he is a great pipe builder, but it just seemed unlikely to me that just a Bassani pipe alone would run just as good as a complete Klemm top end and pipe but who knows for sure . . Jimmy certainly could have been pulling my leg, but as I mentioned previously, the Tecate IS, “The Most Powerful 3 Wheeler In The Universe.”.


Oh my...there goes my kidney!

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

@barnett468 - I am glad you are turning up in so many of these shots, i am just getting into my stacks of old magazine so ill keep an eye out #29 and #49 on any helmets and bikes i spot. In the Pomona pic #7 is Eddie Sanders and just on the other side of Jimmy with the lightning bolts on his helmet is Mike Bergman. Cant really name the others by just their helmets and shoulders. If i am i that mess of riders i cant tell. :P

Yeah my Jimmy bike was not ultra tricked out, even had a old style round barrel Mikuni (we normally always use Keihin or Lectron) but it was really fast, faster than his 86 factory bike since i was about 20 pounds heavier than Jimmy at Porterville and still i was gaining on him on the straights.

@atc007 - Yea Roger was always 159, shot of his Honda with the CT airfoil



That is awesome news about the fender, ill buy two of them if none are yet spoken for. PM me your paypal info or whatever when you are ready to order them. I got a list of little things i wanna do to my Rotax and the fender would not even go on in till all those are done (front end is coming off so i can do something about that chipped fork paint) so no big hurry.

I already spoke to DC about the radiator shrouds and that is taken care of.

[atc007]

I have one of Rogers old 85's .. No foil on it.....I'll be in touch..

[onformula1]

Yes yes yes, thank you so much. This answers a lot of questions for me. You the man John. Btw, how bad ass waa Jimmy's old bike? I would love to know where it is today?

That's so cool, I picked up a few tips with a couple of those pics for your build.

[onformula1]

I have one of Rogers old 85's .. No foil on it.....I'll be in touch..

Post some pictures of it?

[3WW Star-John_Neary]

Some random pics

Local race at Indian dunes on my 200x (#10). The Kawasaki is Paul Woods on his custom made KDX200.



I can remember when it used to still rain here in California, Nickolson 185 at a local race.



185s at Riverfront Raceway,my road race helmet and way, way to far forward handlebars are amusing.



Crashing out of a good finish at the Off Road Nats in 83 after hitting the stalled rider you can just see behind me on the large over/under table top thing they had made just for that race.



Staging at one of the Pomona Mickey Thompson races in 84, i like this shot cause you can see the extra long single side radiator on Dean's #3 factory Honda when they first started messing around the the watercooled engines.



George #59 at the Score Off Road Championship in 81, it was his first big race.The #55 Kawasaki was a cool bike, it was a KX420 converted into a three wheeler and the guy led the race for a while before crashing out. I wish i had more pictures of it.



KTM 495 at Fremont Raceway in 84, #126 is Charlie Sheppard and it was the first time i had ever raced him. His Dad Elmo was sure Charlie was gonna wipe the floor with us and he bet my Dad a tidy sum of cash on who would win. Charlie's funky little flat track bike was no match for the 495 on a 1/4 mile TT track and the race was not even close. They where good sports about it and we all remained friends, i bought all the hopup parts for my Tecate 4 from Charlie years after this photo was taken.


Paul Woods at Big Bear.


Tommy on the factory Honda 200cc two stroke followed by Paul Woods and myself at the off road nats in Des Moines.


Always liked the red Tecates.

[phantomtracer]

John, do you have more info on Paul woods and his bike?
Also, wondering about the Kawasaki from I think Lee Rodgers?
I remember seeing these bikes in the mags and getting excited about the prospect of Kawasaki producing a race bike.