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You have been working exclusive- ly in the motorcycle industry for almost Fifty years, what sparked your interest in motorcycles and motorsports in general? I was more interested in cars and so forth, not so much interested in motorcycles. My best friend in high school bought a Triumph TR6 motor- cycle and he let me ride that and that pretty much lit the fuse for me. I thought that was really cool, had to have one, so that’s kind
of what started it for me. Following that, I came to Southern California for the purpose of attending a motorcycle mechanics school and at the same time I was working part-time in a Triumph motorcycle shop in Burbank
and that’s where it all started. The shop was heavily involved in dirt track racing, a lot of the top guys were in and out of that shop
all the time, so I saw the bikes around the shop and I thought they looked neat. They said “You should go to a race at Ascot.” So I did and that was just a jaw dropper for me; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I went to a DT National and I’ll never forget those guys sailing those things off the jump, I thought it was unbelievable -- the sound, the sights, the whole Ascot experience -- the hook was set. I had to be involved somehow and it turned out being a mechanic was the route for me.
How did you discover your me- chanical inclination and make the decision to travel to California to pursue a job in the industry? You know how you get aptitude tests throughout school, no one ever told me that I should be a mechanic, never even suggested it. (laughs) I’m from Nebraska originally and I did two years of college in Colorado and I basically hated it. I was wasting my time and my par- ents money, so I said “I’m not going to do this anymore.” Of course my parents weren’t too
pleased, but the whole college experience wasn’t happening for me; I wasn’t interested, didn’t put too much effort in, so I was kind
of directionless at that age. The only thing I knew for sure is that I liked motorcycles. My older sister had moved to California with her new husband and they were living up in the Bay Area, so that gave me a place to stay. So I thought I’d check out California and in short order they got tired of me and sug- gested that I go somewhere else and get a job. (laughs) So I looked around and thought I’d do something with motorcycles -- I went to a few local shops and asked “What would it take to be a mechanic?” and they said “You have any experience?” “No.” “Have you been to any kind of school?” “No.” So that was my next clue and at that time there were only two motorcycle mechanic schools in the country, both in Southern California. I came down to the area and checked them out, I was for- tunate enough to get in -- Dale Martin was my instructor and mentor, super knowledge- able guy, and then once I got tied in with the people at the Triumph of Burbank, I was kind of on my way.
How did you actually work your way into the industry as a mechanic at the time? Yeah, basically like anything you start at the bottom. I’d stay late and work for free to help my boss, Jack Hateley -- I’d clean parts or do whatever needed to be done
to learn about the bikes and learn how the whole process worked. You know, the more you get pulled into it, the more you get to do. I got to work with some top level experts that were still privateers -- guys like Lloyd Houchins, Al Baker, etc... You’d volunteer
to help ‘em out and they were happy for the help, you got to learn, and that’s kind of how it worked. >>
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