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I've seen some fascinating stories here and there on this site over the years, and in visiting the video for the National Motorcycle Museum, it brought back a ton of memories of past experiences in the sport, starting with my late big brother in the 60's.
Please post your story, whatever it may be! Pics are encouraged, but not necessary!
My bro was a bit of a wallflower, pretty much an introvert who wasn't at all athletic, but somehow a couple of his buddies got him interested in motorcycles. The only guy I can think of was a guy named Randy Skiver, who went on to ride nationals in a number of different venues, particularly flat track and road racing. He started as a motocrosser and started winning from virtually Day 1.
Randy raced for Curtis Racing early on, with plenty of racing pics of him here:
Randy flat-tracked with Kenny Roberts, Ted Boody, Jay Springsteen, Mert Lawwill, Chuck Joyner, Mike Kidd, Gary Nixon and the rest of the crew from the 70's. We kept distant tabs on him, but once he hit the national circuit he wasn't around all that often. He had his share of national wins. He was a hometown boy who pretty much owned every track from Canada to Castle Rock, including Graham, south of Tacoma, near Shores stomping grounds.
.
Randy would come by and shame my brother into getting a bike and riding himself, occasionally lending a bike for him to ride.
My siblings and I were all really active in school and sports, but my brother, Mike, who was the oldest, just wasn't into any of that. So one day my Dad bought my brother a new Honda 90 trail bike, just to support him, and that got it started. We had an empty lot next to our house, next to the forest on the end of the street, and Mike built a loop to ride day and night, which he did. That's when I started riding as well. I was probably around 12 or 13. I know I got my big game hunting permit at 14, and this was before then.
He modded the bike and raced motocross with it a number of times, around 1968-69, before putting the motor into a custom frame, and eventually upgrading that to a full-on flat tracker. He raced with Skiver and others, a guy named Bob Young among them, at an indoor horse arena called Gold Creek, north of Seattle near Everett, every weekend. Skiver most always won the A Main, and my bro was usually in the B Main, collecting his share of trophies as well, in both the A and B Mains. Randy had no mercy on Mike if they were both in the A. I spent a lot of Saturday nights at Gold Creek.
As time went on my bro ventured into bigger events, both motocross and flat track, never really rising to the top. But we constantly had the latest bike-du-jour, with Hodaka's, Jawa's, CZ's, Bultaco's, BSA's, and even a Triumph along the way. Most had never heard of the other brands back then, when everyone referred to EVERY bike simply as a 'Honda'.
"Oh, your brother rides a Honda?"
"No, it's a Triumph, like it says there on the tank..."
I remember when my brother picked up a Honda 450 for the road, and that was considered a really big bike. Eventually he picked up a Honda 750, and I can remember him doing burnouts from our carport, down the driveway, and into the street, rear tire smoking along the way. I do remember I was 15 around then, because one time he was going to hangout with friends in another town, so he rode me there and had me ride the 750 back home by myself using the back roads, which I'll never forget. I wasn't licensed to drive. He put a lot of trust in me, considering my relatively low seat time on the road. He and I made occasional speed runs, me the passenger, and I remember plenty of 100+ mph runs on remote highways at night. My open-helmet face shield would flatten out against my face in the wind. 100+ MPH was pretty fast on a bike 50 years ago! The 750 ruled the day, and it was a legend at that time.
Mike kept telling me I should race bikes, but I was more into skiing and other sports. Unfortunately he passed in 1978 in a car wreck in which he was the passenger. But I ended up with his Honda 175 at the time, which I rode all over the place on the street.
From there I decided to buy myself a 'real bike', and picked up a 1978 Kawasaki 750 triple, a 2-stroke with tuned porting and expansion chambers. Couldn't keep the front end on the ground. Got a serious ticket on the freeway with the bike, so told the judge I'd sell it and buy a new car, which I did.
A Corvette.
I moved to Central California in 1980, and soon met a guy at church named Ron Ely, a former racer who grew up riding with Rick and Roger Mears there in Bakersfield, CA, and was still good friends with them and their clan, the Mears Gang. Ronnie was a terrific guy that we lost a couple of years ago. His son, Rob, was racing then, motocross and flat track, but mostly flat track, and I put him to work for me during the off season. Rob's riding buddy was national flat tracker Steve Monger, who later hung with the Bostrom brothers, Ben and Eric. Ben would drop by occasionally while he was still coming up through the ranks. Steve Monger's most notable national moment was when he crashed into the hay bales at over 100 MPH at the Sacramento Mile when it was on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Chris Economaki interviewed Steve after the crash, and Steve was fine 'and smiling'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bostrom
I bought tires for my 4wd directly from Roger Mears when I needed them, which was totally cool because they were siped and take-offs from their desert pre-runners. CHEAP.
I occasionally pitted for the guys, depending on where they were racing. Steve and I ran down to Ascot, CA one night, and he placed in a national event. I'll never forget doing a rear sprocket swap while he was in the staging area waiting for his race, which was next. We decided he needed a little more gear.
Here's Ascot, for those unfamiliar:
I hadn't ridden for a few years, so bought Steve Monger's Kawasaki KX250 from him so I could maybe start racing. Plenty of practice later, I was racing the 'famous' Sprockets Park outside Bakersfield, raced on occasion by guys like Malcolm Smith of 'On Any Sunday' fame, as well as others, including the Mears brothers. The Mears Gang hosted a truck event one year before they shut the park down.
I hung out with several of the guys in this pic. Malcolm Smith is in yellow:
.
I started racing motocross in 1983 after getting married, racing Sprockets and elsewhere, but got serious and bought myself a Yamaha YZ-250 in 1984 and again in 1985. I raced something called the Golden State Series which took you up and down California. Raced places like Carlsbad, Ascot, Hungry Valley, Santa Maria, Hanford, and others, in addition to our new local park, White Wolf Raceway. Even did a 'stadium event' at Mesa Marin raceway there in Central California (pic below).
.
Because I had a lot of time on a microphone, I quickly found myself announcing races as well as racing them. Sometimes I just announced, but doing both proved a huge challenge at times. I did local races, the California Police Olympics, and some national events on the west coast. Announced for guys like Jeff Emig, Mickey Dymond, Jeff Ward, Jonny O'Mara, and even Jeremy McGrath when he was coming up through the ranks.
I was doing an event in Las Vegas when Buddy Antunez crashed into Jeremy McGrath in a race right below the announcer's tower, and I climbed down to hold Jeremy back as a much bigger Buddy was trying to goad him into a fight. "Beat him on the track, BEAT HIM ON THE TRACK", is what I said to a younger befuddled McGrath, to which he climbed back on his bike and dusted him. Jeremy went on to be a multi-national champ in the years to follow. During that race event I shared the announcing booth with Donnie Hansen and chatted-up Bob Hannah, both of whom would drop in during the series over the weekend. Pretty cool.
I was surprised when several weeks later my friends presented a photo of me in Motocross Action magazine with my arms wrapped around McGrath after his crash with Antunez. I had a copy of that for years but have no idea where it ended up after a couple of moves to new homes and locations.
I could have gone pro, but just wasn't at a level that I felt would be competitive, and I was seriously too old by then. Those thoughts ended when I was rear-ended by a semi-truck in early 1987. Took me five years to get on a bike again. That was a little Honda Rebel 250, a fun mini-chopper to ride. I then stumbled across a used bike auction one day while working a project in the Northern Seattle area, me living in Bakersfield, and ended up buying seven bikes to ride and flip. I sold a few but hauled the rest to Northern California before opening up an eBay account and selling the rest online, when most had never heard of eBay, let alone have an email account. I soon went to my Suzuki RF-900R after moving to Northern California, a fun sport touring bike that was a blast in the canyons. At the same time I picked up a Husqvarna TE-610, a big thumper of a dirt bike, which was a blast in the dunes and on backwoods trails. That thing had some serious grunt.
.
I sold my bikes after opting to move to Central Oregon near Mt. Bachelor, knowing I'd need a cruiser up there since canyons weren't all that abundant, and just never picked anything up. I was single by then and spent my time skiing, snowboarding, and building my business. I then moved to Vegas and had ran a search on Craigslist one day while looking for speakers, and suddenly up came this Roadstar. I wasn't even looking or in the market for a bike, but the price was right so i went over to have a look. Ended up riding it home, back in 2017, and have been riding it ever since, though not nearly often enough due to too many other interests and projects.
That's pretty much it!!
Randy Skiver is still active in local events, most recently doing annual track designs at a motocross track not far from me, south of Spokane, as well as other things. Rob Ely, my former best friend's son, had a serious crash at a Southern California track while prepping for a national event in Houston, and that proved to be a career-ending injury. He went on to race sprint cars and suffered serious burns in a crash back east, and that shut that down as well. His son Ryder went on to race motorcycles, while his other son Arai cheered him on. (Ryder and Arai, truly racer's sons!) Ben Bostrom went on to win a number of championships.
If not for Randy Skiver's impact on my brother's life, I can't say whether I'd have ever owned a bike. You just can't know how many lives your actions may affect, and sometimes for a lifetime!
Please post your story, whatever it may be! Pics are encouraged, but not necessary!
My bro was a bit of a wallflower, pretty much an introvert who wasn't at all athletic, but somehow a couple of his buddies got him interested in motorcycles. The only guy I can think of was a guy named Randy Skiver, who went on to ride nationals in a number of different venues, particularly flat track and road racing. He started as a motocrosser and started winning from virtually Day 1.
Randy raced for Curtis Racing early on, with plenty of racing pics of him here:
Randy flat-tracked with Kenny Roberts, Ted Boody, Jay Springsteen, Mert Lawwill, Chuck Joyner, Mike Kidd, Gary Nixon and the rest of the crew from the 70's. We kept distant tabs on him, but once he hit the national circuit he wasn't around all that often. He had his share of national wins. He was a hometown boy who pretty much owned every track from Canada to Castle Rock, including Graham, south of Tacoma, near Shores stomping grounds.
.
Randy would come by and shame my brother into getting a bike and riding himself, occasionally lending a bike for him to ride.
My siblings and I were all really active in school and sports, but my brother, Mike, who was the oldest, just wasn't into any of that. So one day my Dad bought my brother a new Honda 90 trail bike, just to support him, and that got it started. We had an empty lot next to our house, next to the forest on the end of the street, and Mike built a loop to ride day and night, which he did. That's when I started riding as well. I was probably around 12 or 13. I know I got my big game hunting permit at 14, and this was before then.
He modded the bike and raced motocross with it a number of times, around 1968-69, before putting the motor into a custom frame, and eventually upgrading that to a full-on flat tracker. He raced with Skiver and others, a guy named Bob Young among them, at an indoor horse arena called Gold Creek, north of Seattle near Everett, every weekend. Skiver most always won the A Main, and my bro was usually in the B Main, collecting his share of trophies as well, in both the A and B Mains. Randy had no mercy on Mike if they were both in the A. I spent a lot of Saturday nights at Gold Creek.
As time went on my bro ventured into bigger events, both motocross and flat track, never really rising to the top. But we constantly had the latest bike-du-jour, with Hodaka's, Jawa's, CZ's, Bultaco's, BSA's, and even a Triumph along the way. Most had never heard of the other brands back then, when everyone referred to EVERY bike simply as a 'Honda'.
"Oh, your brother rides a Honda?"
"No, it's a Triumph, like it says there on the tank..."
I remember when my brother picked up a Honda 450 for the road, and that was considered a really big bike. Eventually he picked up a Honda 750, and I can remember him doing burnouts from our carport, down the driveway, and into the street, rear tire smoking along the way. I do remember I was 15 around then, because one time he was going to hangout with friends in another town, so he rode me there and had me ride the 750 back home by myself using the back roads, which I'll never forget. I wasn't licensed to drive. He put a lot of trust in me, considering my relatively low seat time on the road. He and I made occasional speed runs, me the passenger, and I remember plenty of 100+ mph runs on remote highways at night. My open-helmet face shield would flatten out against my face in the wind. 100+ MPH was pretty fast on a bike 50 years ago! The 750 ruled the day, and it was a legend at that time.
Mike kept telling me I should race bikes, but I was more into skiing and other sports. Unfortunately he passed in 1978 in a car wreck in which he was the passenger. But I ended up with his Honda 175 at the time, which I rode all over the place on the street.
From there I decided to buy myself a 'real bike', and picked up a 1978 Kawasaki 750 triple, a 2-stroke with tuned porting and expansion chambers. Couldn't keep the front end on the ground. Got a serious ticket on the freeway with the bike, so told the judge I'd sell it and buy a new car, which I did.
A Corvette.
I moved to Central California in 1980, and soon met a guy at church named Ron Ely, a former racer who grew up riding with Rick and Roger Mears there in Bakersfield, CA, and was still good friends with them and their clan, the Mears Gang. Ronnie was a terrific guy that we lost a couple of years ago. His son, Rob, was racing then, motocross and flat track, but mostly flat track, and I put him to work for me during the off season. Rob's riding buddy was national flat tracker Steve Monger, who later hung with the Bostrom brothers, Ben and Eric. Ben would drop by occasionally while he was still coming up through the ranks. Steve Monger's most notable national moment was when he crashed into the hay bales at over 100 MPH at the Sacramento Mile when it was on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Chris Economaki interviewed Steve after the crash, and Steve was fine 'and smiling'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bostrom
I bought tires for my 4wd directly from Roger Mears when I needed them, which was totally cool because they were siped and take-offs from their desert pre-runners. CHEAP.
I occasionally pitted for the guys, depending on where they were racing. Steve and I ran down to Ascot, CA one night, and he placed in a national event. I'll never forget doing a rear sprocket swap while he was in the staging area waiting for his race, which was next. We decided he needed a little more gear.
Here's Ascot, for those unfamiliar:
I hadn't ridden for a few years, so bought Steve Monger's Kawasaki KX250 from him so I could maybe start racing. Plenty of practice later, I was racing the 'famous' Sprockets Park outside Bakersfield, raced on occasion by guys like Malcolm Smith of 'On Any Sunday' fame, as well as others, including the Mears brothers. The Mears Gang hosted a truck event one year before they shut the park down.
I hung out with several of the guys in this pic. Malcolm Smith is in yellow:
.
I started racing motocross in 1983 after getting married, racing Sprockets and elsewhere, but got serious and bought myself a Yamaha YZ-250 in 1984 and again in 1985. I raced something called the Golden State Series which took you up and down California. Raced places like Carlsbad, Ascot, Hungry Valley, Santa Maria, Hanford, and others, in addition to our new local park, White Wolf Raceway. Even did a 'stadium event' at Mesa Marin raceway there in Central California (pic below).
.
Because I had a lot of time on a microphone, I quickly found myself announcing races as well as racing them. Sometimes I just announced, but doing both proved a huge challenge at times. I did local races, the California Police Olympics, and some national events on the west coast. Announced for guys like Jeff Emig, Mickey Dymond, Jeff Ward, Jonny O'Mara, and even Jeremy McGrath when he was coming up through the ranks.
I was doing an event in Las Vegas when Buddy Antunez crashed into Jeremy McGrath in a race right below the announcer's tower, and I climbed down to hold Jeremy back as a much bigger Buddy was trying to goad him into a fight. "Beat him on the track, BEAT HIM ON THE TRACK", is what I said to a younger befuddled McGrath, to which he climbed back on his bike and dusted him. Jeremy went on to be a multi-national champ in the years to follow. During that race event I shared the announcing booth with Donnie Hansen and chatted-up Bob Hannah, both of whom would drop in during the series over the weekend. Pretty cool.
I was surprised when several weeks later my friends presented a photo of me in Motocross Action magazine with my arms wrapped around McGrath after his crash with Antunez. I had a copy of that for years but have no idea where it ended up after a couple of moves to new homes and locations.
I could have gone pro, but just wasn't at a level that I felt would be competitive, and I was seriously too old by then. Those thoughts ended when I was rear-ended by a semi-truck in early 1987. Took me five years to get on a bike again. That was a little Honda Rebel 250, a fun mini-chopper to ride. I then stumbled across a used bike auction one day while working a project in the Northern Seattle area, me living in Bakersfield, and ended up buying seven bikes to ride and flip. I sold a few but hauled the rest to Northern California before opening up an eBay account and selling the rest online, when most had never heard of eBay, let alone have an email account. I soon went to my Suzuki RF-900R after moving to Northern California, a fun sport touring bike that was a blast in the canyons. At the same time I picked up a Husqvarna TE-610, a big thumper of a dirt bike, which was a blast in the dunes and on backwoods trails. That thing had some serious grunt.
.
I sold my bikes after opting to move to Central Oregon near Mt. Bachelor, knowing I'd need a cruiser up there since canyons weren't all that abundant, and just never picked anything up. I was single by then and spent my time skiing, snowboarding, and building my business. I then moved to Vegas and had ran a search on Craigslist one day while looking for speakers, and suddenly up came this Roadstar. I wasn't even looking or in the market for a bike, but the price was right so i went over to have a look. Ended up riding it home, back in 2017, and have been riding it ever since, though not nearly often enough due to too many other interests and projects.
That's pretty much it!!
Randy Skiver is still active in local events, most recently doing annual track designs at a motocross track not far from me, south of Spokane, as well as other things. Rob Ely, my former best friend's son, had a serious crash at a Southern California track while prepping for a national event in Houston, and that proved to be a career-ending injury. He went on to race sprint cars and suffered serious burns in a crash back east, and that shut that down as well. His son Ryder went on to race motorcycles, while his other son Arai cheered him on. (Ryder and Arai, truly racer's sons!) Ben Bostrom went on to win a number of championships.
If not for Randy Skiver's impact on my brother's life, I can't say whether I'd have ever owned a bike. You just can't know how many lives your actions may affect, and sometimes for a lifetime!
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