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Joseph Farrow
04-23-2015, 09:58 AM
Got to thinking the other day and thought it would be neat to know and see how many members here on 3WW raced back in the Original Days of 3 Wheeler Racing. The Good Ol Days! Anytime during the 70's & 80's. I'm not talking about guys with names like Hart, White, Coe or Sparks......I'm talking regular Joe's (no pun intended) Privateers, Weekend Warriors, Local Hero's. It was a lot of us out there racing just as hard and having just as much fun. It doesn't matter if it was TT, MX, XC, Dessert or Drags. Lets here from you guys. I know you're out there. Also give a little history about yourself and the area you called your home track. Some of us may have crossed paths over the years and didn't even know it. *** Please Include Pics ***


I'll get it going.....

I started racing in 1980. My first race was an ATC Rodeo in Brownsville Tennessee. Basically the same things you would do in a Horse Rodeo. Barrels, Poles, etc. Mostly timed. From then on I was hooked. At about that same time 3Wheeling magazine came on the scenes and opened up a whole new world.

Here is a pic of me at my first race. I'm on a bone stock ATC110.
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After that it was all about doing everything I could do to modify my bike. We ran Danny's Machine Works 180's in our 110's. We raced mainly in West Tennessee but also traveled into Western Kentucky, South Eastern Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. I keep saying "We" because I have a twin brother named Judson and if you saw one of us you saw both of us. We have always been into the same things. We continued racing our 110's up through the end of 1983.

Here is a pic of my brother and I on our 110's from 1981. (I'm in the Black helmet my brother is in the Silver helmet)
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Here is a pic of my last 110 race bike. "Bad Company"
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From there we went to 200x's. We raced MX, TT, CX. What ever time of the year it was. Mainly MX and TT during the summer months and Cross Country during the winter months. Still racing in the same area. Started going to the nationals in 1985. Ran a few each year. Always went to Boyd Texas for the TT and had to go to Loretta Lynn's for the MX. Those were the best of the best when it came to those type tracks. Always liked going to Ashtabula Ohio and Mt. Morris Pa.

The last year for the 3 Wheeler classes at the AATVA/AMA Nationals was 1988. They had a 250cc Modified and a 200cc Modified Class. It would have been real easy to go ahead and make the move over to quads but I elected to run the complete series that final year on my 200x where I won the Grand National Championship.
Three wheeler racing was awesome back then. It came out of no where and blew up into something huge. This was way before the days of social media. Basically from word of mouth and what was in print. It's a shame a few ruined it for everyone else. One can only imagine what may have been if things would have turned out different.

Pic of my Brother Judson:
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Me at a local race in Clarksville Tennessee:
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Final race of the 1988 season Loretta Lynn's:
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My Brother and I today.....Still Up To No Good!!! lol
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Alright lets here from you other guys. I know you're out there!!! :beer

hostilerob
04-23-2015, 02:12 PM
I raced the 250 class from 85` until 90`. Flat track, oval, TT and ice. 214994214995214996214997

atc007
04-23-2015, 02:40 PM
Super awesome thread,and I'l try not to stink it up too much lol...I'm not worthy. I lived and breathed 3 wheelers and racing. I could be found at Silver Speedway, Monroeton, P>O>S>T off road,Liberty Speedway ,and Broome Tioga. It is a time of my life I absolutely cherish. Brutal hard work,ethics,,,,for the most part,,and playing that hard,were the way we lived. No cell phones,no twitter etc.. IMHO< A MUCH better time. My Dad always said his job was to keep me alive till I was 18, therefore,I was not allowed to race.After breaking my arm on a 85 R,and shattering my arm on a 87 Banshee. I soon realized workmans comp does NOT milk cows or keep a farm going. Therefore my "racing experience" was limited to 2 practice sessions. 5 R's ,and a fresh new TRX..All of these guys did very well at the races. The FUN it was to be on an actual racetrack,where there were "jumps" ,,built,leveled,smooth lol...... Was indescribable! Fortunately,or unfortunately,,?? Running the farm had to take priority over the chance of getting hurt. Never raced on raceday.. Therefore,I had my glory in 2 days of practicing...Unforgettable :) :) :) I anxiously await to here from the rest of you 3 wheel warriors . Great thread..

jays375
04-23-2015, 08:40 PM
Very nice write up for sure.I really like seeing this stuff.

Jwheeler
04-23-2015, 09:44 PM
Very kool pics and bio Joe & Judson. Thank you for this thread.The thank you box was full,buy the time I've seen this.:beer:

*ATC*
04-24-2015, 12:08 AM
Well back then there was BET in bellville IL, and Big river near Bonnterre MO. BET was an AMA track, and Big river was a money track.
This was around 1985-1987, still a blast.

*ATC*
04-24-2015, 12:12 AM
I'll have to scan some Big river pic's, but here is a BET shot from my avitar 215039

HairyJR
04-24-2015, 03:26 PM
Started my love of racing in the early 70’s drag racing an ET Bracket car, transitioned to A/G and then A Econo dragster. Sold them and in mid 70’s began drag racing Honda SOHC CB750 motorcycles. In 1980 my high school buddy kept asking me if I could help him modify ATC 90/110’s. Bought a ’80 ATC110, two weeks later it was a 123. Of course that begin the years of weekend/holiday trips and racing Comp Hill at Glamis. Had given up motorcycle drag racing as all the local drag strips had closed. In ’81 with the introduction of the 185s saw the opportunity and built a custom swingarm utilizing the adjustable carrier for one of my drag bikes and went Sand Drag racing a couple years. The converted trike wasn’t pretty but was very functional and fun/fast for bracket racing. Never was a MX, TT or track racer not good at turning, as several of the current members who know and seen me ride lately, straight line hill racing I’m better at. Wasn’t into camera pictures back then as I am now so not many pic’s to share. Currently being retired and just enjoy duning….

The ATC110 pulling the Drag trike is a Helm & Son 205cc stroker running on alcohol
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Couple pic’s my buddy took at Riverside CA. Racetrack
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Later mods
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"HJ" :beer

Mr. Clean
04-24-2015, 03:36 PM
Loving those pics HairyJr!!! Especially the on of you sitting backwards on the ATC110, you still have the same exact beard :) just a slight different color!!

jb2wheels
04-24-2015, 04:09 PM
Off topic but HairyJR I basically learned to ride on my dad's 71 Roundtop. Candy Garnet Brown. Gorgeous motorcycle. Best sounding 4-1 ever from like Fours n' More or Action Fours or something like that. It was long ago.

When my dad found out I was learning to ride on it (sneaking it out after school) he was about as pissed as I've ever seen him...

On Topic, I'm not an old race, but I did win my bracket in the only "Official" drag race I ever entered. On my bone stock 82 185s. Out behind the Glamis store in the early 80s. The alky burning 90/110 based trikes were slightly faster but broke out every time. I might still have the trophy in the attic. My best friend took 2nd on is 81.

big specht
04-25-2015, 08:14 AM
HJ is that drag bike blown? If so I didn't know they made one that small for bikes and how much boost did it make or you have it regulated to?

HairyJR
04-26-2015, 01:40 AM
"jb2wheeles" my first CB750 was a '72 K2 Garnet Brown, still own the bike but the color got changed to Royal Metalic Blue when I installed a "Tracy" fiberglass tank. We must have crossed paths at the sand drags at that track located between the Glamis Store and the other local business called "Dirty Bob's".

"big specht" yes the bike had a Jerry Magnuson "MagnaCharger" 80 inch roots blower with Hilborn fuel injection. Generally run @ 14-16 lbs boost.

"HJ" :beer

Joseph Farrow
05-14-2015, 09:35 PM
Okay I know more of you guys are out there.......Mike aka Shortline10, Keith S, Phantomracer....???

8686
05-14-2015, 10:57 PM
Sweet thread.

shortline10
05-15-2015, 08:15 AM
Let me see if I can dig up some photos .
I started off racing on my 1980 atc110 then graduated to 1981 atc185s then moved on to an 1984 200x and as a back up I had my fathers 1983 250r that I raced when the 200x was down for repairs .
Very fun times .




Okay I know more of you guys are out there.......Mike aka Shortline10, Keith S, Phantomracer....???

phantomtracer
05-15-2015, 09:16 PM
I started on a 1980 klt 200 rode that thing everywhere.
Got a 1982 250 r rode that for a bit and traded it in for a 84 kxt, I modified it to with every piece I could bolt on including a kx cylinder, flat slide carb, Ufo air box, bassani exhaust, white power shock, Etc.That bike was a rocket!
Then came the 86 kxt with klemm research kit, axle and swingarm. Much easier bike to ride fast, that powerband on the 84 was too much for me!
Raced in 84,85 and 86 at walden, ny and the few other tracks in the area. Raced the Batavia national and came in last place! Raced at lorretta Lynn's national in 85. Got destroyed there too. I can remember Marty hart passing me like I was standing still. Raced at broom tioga, had my best race and cut through the pack to take second place. Afterward I found out they missed me coming around and incorrectly scored me a lap down. I'll never forget that! I was robbed a second place. Anyway, I went to college in 86 and the quads were already taking over. I was never going to ride a quad and ended up buying a yz125 to satisfy my off road appetite. If the cpsc didn't destroy 3 wheelers I would have continued racing and hopefully gained enough speed to not finish in last place at a national.

Joseph Farrow
05-15-2015, 09:49 PM
I started on a 1980 klt 200 rode that thing everywhere.
Got a 1982 250 r rode that for a bit and traded it in for a 84 kxt, I modified it to with every piece I could bolt on including a kx cylinder, flat slide carb, Ufo air box, bassani exhaust, white power shock, Etc.That bike was a rocket!
Then came the 86 kxt with klemm research kit, axle and swingarm. Much easier bike to ride fast, that powerband on the 84 was too much for me!
Raced in 84,85 and 86 at walden, ny and the few other tracks in the area. Raced the Batavia national and came in last place! Raced at lorretta Lynn's national in 85. Got destroyed there too. I can remember Marty hart passing me like I was standing still. Raced at broom tioga, had my best race and cut through the pack to take second place. Afterward I found out they missed me coming around and incorrectly scored me a lap down. I'll never forget that! I was robbed a second place. Anyway, I went to college in 86 and the quads were already taking over. I was never going to ride a quad and ended up buying a yz125 to satisfy my off road appetite. If the cpsc didn't destroy 3 wheelers I would have continued racing and hopefully gained enough speed to not finish in last place at a national.

Awesome story! There were a lot of guys who switched to two wheelers after three wheelers. Most true three wheeler guys hated the quads but settled because that was the only choice you had if you were going to race atv's. I almost decided to go the two wheeler route myself. My cousin was a great motocross racer that was older than me and my brother so I remember growing up going to mx races. That is what got me into racing ATC's.

Thanks for Posting!

phantomtracer
05-15-2015, 10:12 PM
I was 16 yrs old in 85 so I always told myself I would get faster. At the local races I was one of the fast guys the nationals were a whole different animal. At Batavia it rained heavily right before the start. I was trying to figure out what tire to run and saw jimmy white had Hoosier tires mounted so I went with that, then with just minutes before the start his mechanic changed tires to nobbies! I was suckered into running Hoosiers and spun out on the first turn. The track had man made bumps on the inside corners to make it more difficult. I had never had to deal with that, track also had crazy double jumps! If you look way in the back you can see my silloette in the ATV News photo coverage. At lorretta the weather was perfect and everyone was out walking around. I remember seeing mike Coe, Marty, jimmy, mendenhall, sparks. I was star struck.

phantomtracer
05-15-2015, 10:18 PM
Awesome story! There were a lot of guys who switched to two wheelers after three wheelers. Most true three wheeler guys hated the quads but settled because that was the only choice you had if you were going to race atv's. I almost decided to go the two wheeler route myself. My cousin was a great motocross racer that was older than me and my brother so I remember growing up going to mx races. That is what got me into racing ATC's.

Thanks for Posting!


Yes, you are 100% correct. We hated quads and really thought they were easier to ride and we wouldn't be caught dead on one. In 86, the local tracks started racing 3 and 4 together and it was not pretty. The quads would bump you in the corner they had an unfair advantage. We were bitter against the quads!

atc007
05-16-2015, 07:29 AM
Phantom, we must not be very far apart. Broome is a click over 2 hours from me. Most all of us embraced the quads immediately. We knew it was the only way to keep these tracks open. And they were SO damn easy to ride!! Just like sitting in a couch.. No Honda dealer around here had a 86 or 87 TRX in stock,,ever. Then the 88 was so much better, they flew out the door also.

phantomtracer
05-16-2015, 09:27 AM
Phantom, we must not be very far apart. Broome is a click over 2 hours from me. Most all of us embraced the quads immediately. We knew it was the only way to keep these tracks open. And they were SO damn easy to ride!! Just like sitting in a couch.. No Honda dealer around here had a 86 or 87 TRX in stock,,ever. Then the 88 was so much better, they flew out the door also.

I was from Carmel, NY at the time. To this day I just can't get my head into the whole quad thing. I wonder if 3 wheelers survived the cpsc if the popularity would be larger than the quads are today. It's a little disappointing to see the current state of quad racing.

Joseph Farrow
05-16-2015, 05:18 PM
Here are some old vid's I dug up. Unfortunately they are only the first minute of the race. I have tried to down load the complete vid on photobucket and for some reason it will not let me.

These is from a race in Jackson Tennessee in maybe 1982. I am on the Red bike that pulls the hole shot and my brother is on the Blue bike in second. We weren't cutting each other any slack. lol We were on our 110's. We go on to finish 1st and 2nd.


http://vid271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/josephfarrow/race2_zpsxqcdj3pl.mp4

This is from the same race second moto. I pull the hole shot again, Judson is in second until he clips the hay bail. He ends up making his way back to second.


http://vid271.photobucket.com/albums/jj139/josephfarrow/race1_zpsg03ayopp.mp4

Daddio
05-16-2015, 07:19 PM
Joseph, try putting them on youtube. I used to use photobucket for videos but youtube is much better.

shortline10
05-16-2015, 07:50 PM
The first 5 photos were taken at Lockhart stadium in Fortlauderdale around 1985 . The last few pictures are how my old retired racer looks as of late :lol: tired and old :D

Joseph Farrow
05-16-2015, 09:52 PM
Good stuff Mike.
Awesome shot going over that Double!

Joseph Farrow
05-18-2015, 12:11 PM
Here is a vid of the 150cc Pro main from the 1983 Tennessee State ATV Championship at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch before the Nationals began. It is the first ATV race held at Loretta Lynn's.

My Brother is running a friends RM125 Suzuki Conversion. He wins. I am running our Blue 110. I finish 4th. Needed a few more laps. lol


https://youtu.be/VFAxXU3MvEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFAxXU3MvEM&feature=player_detailpage

Daddio
05-20-2015, 09:09 PM
How many laps was that? That one corner looked awful rough on the inside line. That had to take a toll on the guys running the inside.

Joseph Farrow
05-21-2015, 10:01 AM
How many laps was that? That one corner looked awful rough on the inside line. That had to take a toll on the guys running the inside.

Not sure how many laps it was.....wasn't enough for me. lol I could not get by the guy who finished third. He held the inside line the entire race. I actually won the heat race with the tri moto finishing second.
Here is a pic of the bike my brother ran. It was actually the first time he raced it. An air cooled RM125 Suzuki.

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Here is a flier for the race. Check out some of the sponsors. It was a big deal for Tennessee at the time. It was two days of racing with amateurs on Saturday and pros on Sunday. A lot of racers from a lot of states.

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Keith Salyer
05-21-2015, 11:17 AM
216253This was at Ponca City Oklahoma in 1984. I rode my 84 fooler with a water cooled 200 kit. Terrible pic but if you look close you can see the radiator on the right side of the tank. It was a cool track right on the edge of town.

Jmoozy27
05-21-2015, 12:08 PM
These are all good documents of history and great stories on top of that. Zipping around that flat track on thoses screamers looked fun as hell. Was there any cross country racing back then? I'd like to see one of those setups.

phantomtracer
05-21-2015, 08:37 PM
Was that rm125 a kit or did you make that yourself?

onformula1
05-21-2015, 08:55 PM
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onformula1
05-21-2015, 09:05 PM
My family raced a lot of desert, Gp's and cross country races.

Here is a old picture of my 1982 250r I raced, it was a hand me down when my father bought a 1983 250r with a 300 kit to race the open class.

It was set up for desert racing, but we would put the headlight on, a six pack rack and a set of 8 paddle gliders on and go duning too.

Taken at the gecko side of glamis.

Very fast 250r for the day with lots of old school parts. Received a blue plus 2" swing arm the next weekend.



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onformula1
05-21-2015, 09:07 PM
We didn't start racing motocross on 3 wheelers until the 1985 250r came out.

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Jmoozy27
05-21-2015, 10:12 PM
My family raced a lot of desert, Gp's and cross country races.

Here is a old picture of my 1982 250r I raced, it was a hand me down when my father bought a 1983 250r with a 300 kit to race the open class.

It was set up for desert racing, but we would put the headlight and a set of paddles on and go duning too.

Taken at the gecko side of glamis.

Very fast 250r for the day with lots of old school parts. Received a blue plus 2" swing arm the next weekend.

I thought it looked a little short. Those 1st gens are so compact stock. That is a huge tank. That has to be a 4 gallon tank.

onformula1
05-22-2015, 12:50 AM
I thought it looked a little short. Those 1st gens are so compact stock. That is a huge tank. That has to be a 4 gallon tank.

Yes, if a recall it was 4 gallons and the white color was light enough you could see how much fuel was in it from the side.

Its a Malcolm Smith tank we bought at his old shop in Riverside, CA. One of the coolest shops ever, I got to meet him too, very nice guy but you could tell he was not the biggest 3 wheeler fan, but his company sold lots of 3 wheeler parts under the MSR name.

Small was good for me at that time, I was 11 years old. (I was fairly big for my age)

Little parts run down-

Bassani porting, head mods, pipe & silencer, 36mm Mikuni carb, mossbarger reed cage, Helm & Sons intake, boost bottle and wheel spacers, Terry Cable extended travel fork kit, Progressive springs front & rear, revalved shock, K&N filter, PK chain tensioner, Barnett heavy clutch springs, Magura twist throttle set to MX setting...Yeah! Mugen vented front fender was my favorite part.

With my light trailprotrailprotrailpro on it (At that time...LOL) I killed in the 100 yard sand drags, Competition hill, Oldsmobile hill and The Wall, Hundred Dollar Hill, ETC.

A Helm & Sons 70 to a 250r is a big jump!

Thank you to all for sharing, thank you for reading my thoughts... sharing is fun

I just wish I had pictures/videos like some of you guys......Fires are a B!tch!

Joseph Farrow
05-22-2015, 10:48 AM
These are all good documents of history and great stories on top of that. Zipping around that flat track on thoses screamers looked fun as hell. Was there any cross country racing back then? I'd like to see one of those setups.

Yes we called them "Hare Scrambles". They would run a summer and a winter series. We usually ran the Winter series due to the fact most out door motocross fell off around October in our area and it gave you a way to keep riding all winter and stay in shape for the upcoming season.

We didn't run highly modified bikes in the woods. You wanted something that was easy to ride. Most cross country races lasted anywhere from one to two hours.

Found some pics of my "Woods" bike.

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I think these pics were taken at Natches Trace State Park when you could still ride ATV's there. One of the stops was on the park.

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Me, my brother and father.....
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Joseph Farrow
05-22-2015, 11:04 AM
Was that rm125 a kit or did you make that yourself?

It was custom built by Daryl Lamkin a friend of ours we used to work with and race with at our local shop Big Hatchie Honda-Suzuki.

His shop is Lamkin Performance..... https://www.facebook.com/LamkinPerformanceCycles/timeline?ref=page_internal

Jmoozy27
05-23-2015, 12:08 AM
Yes we called them "Hare Scrambles". They would run a summer and a winter series. We usually ran the Winter series due to the fact most out door motocross fell off around October in our area and it gave you a way to keep riding all winter and stay in shape for the upcoming season.

We didn't run highly modified bikes in the woods. You wanted something that was easy to ride. Most cross country races lasted anywhere from one to two hours.

Found some pics of my "Woods" bike.

216266

I think these pics were taken at Natches Trace State Park when you could still ride ATV's there. One of the stops was on the park.

216267

Me, my brother and father.....
216268

What kind of sprocket gearing would y'all run for CC? Stock, high, low?

Joseph Farrow
05-25-2015, 11:22 AM
What kind of sprocket gearing would y'all run for CC? Stock, high, low?

I would say probably close to stock. You needed something pretty general since it could be all types of terrain and conditions.

barnett468
05-29-2015, 08:14 PM
Okay I know more of you guys are out there.......Mike aka Shortline10, Keith S, Phantomracer....???


Hello Joseph;

This is a fun thread . . You already know a bit about me but I thought some of the info might be interesting to some of the Kawi riders at least . . My apologies for the long post . . I kept thinking of more things as I wrote it.

I started out racing motorcycles and rode in the 250 and open pro class at several local So Cal tracks for several years such as OCIR, Ascot, Corona, Perris TT, Elsinore TT, Saddleback, Carlsbad and De Anza . . I broke both bones in my leg around 1980 just below the knee when I was practicing at Saddleback on my YZ 400 . . That put me out for an entire year . . I started racing again after that, then one day, I saw an employment add from Kawasaki in a weekly magazine called Cycle News that an acquaintance of mine named Jody Weisel was editor of . . I applied for the job and was fortunate enough to get it after a few interviews including one with their hot looking personnel director named Bonnie, and it was only 4 miles from where I was living at the time so I was ecstatic.

I was hired to help develop all the off road bikes and vehicles that Kawi made which I did for around 3 months until one day, out of the blue, they put all 4 of us together and said, “ok, we are going to split the departments and have a separate one for everything except dirt bikes” . . This new department included all new projects, jet skis and boats, 3 wheelers and the infamous Mule . . Well I got sent to this new department which I wasn't happy about at all because I was the one with the most engineering and fabrication abilities out of all the others in our particular group . . I was also a motocross racer and had 0 interest in switching over to mainly testing 3 wheelers which from a motocross riders point of view was a bit beneath them, lol . . There was another engineer whose job was to engineer new projects but not ride because he was a bit older and Kawi couldn’t afford to kill him off . . He was also a fabricator . . We had another machinist whom also worked for my friend Gary Turner whom owned GT bicycles which were extremely popular back then.

Anyway, I had only ridden 3 wheelers a few times before that but picked it up pretty fast. The Tecate did not exist at the time . . One day they said they were going to build a 3 wheeler to compete with the Honda so they sent a motorcycle engineer over from Japan whom had never designed anything on a 3 wheeler in his life and he designed the Tecate by hand from the ground up without a computer . . I think it too him around a year after which time we had a prototype in our hands which I did all the development work on.

Jimmy White was the first guy Kawi hired . . He had been racing Hondas but was apparently low on the totem pole there and didn’t like the personnel so he was happy to sign with Kawi . . Not helping Jimmie out more than they did wasn’t really a mistake by Honda since they had 4 other guys that were just as fast including Dean Sundahl, whom was probably the very best 3 wheeled rider ever . . Even Jim Degain and Bruce Stjernstrom whom both managed Team Green at the time had great admiration for him and were laughing as they talked about him one night when he smoked everybody at a Mickey Thompson event in Pomona.

My first 3 wheeler race was a short track in the pro class at a Corona night race on our Tecate test bike . . The swing arm was only extended around 1” . . I had given up motorcycle racing altogether by then but still did a lot of testing on the dirt bikes and some on the police bikes . . After the Suzuki quad came out, I started racing one of those also . . We had seen them testing the prototype at Saddleback one day which they didn’t seem too happy about and had a meeting the next day about it at which time Kawi said they were going to build one . . Kawi was aware the dreaded 3 wheel “ban“ was coming so they asked me to build a 4 wheeler from a Tecate using as many of the original parts that I could so they could still get some use out of them which I did and fortunately it worked really well but they eventually scrapped the idea because they planned on making an all new model anyway and thought it would not be practical to have two similar models . . Bruce from Team Green called the 3 wheelers chairs, and the 4 wheelers couches.

We had 3 wheeler races at Saddleback, Carlsbad and Corona and they were all fairly smooth tracks, and nothing like a real motocross track and I did fairly well on them . . The rougher the track was, the better I did . . I hated the short track but was fortunate enough to beat Jimmie White, Donnie Luce and I think Marty Hart along with all the other local riders at one of the big Saddleback races . . When the announcer tried to pronounce my name after the race, he kept messing it up and Jimmy said something to him like “Hey, he doesn’t care what you call him. He just wants his money.”, lol.

They also had a 3 wheeler race at the LA Coliseum that I rode and got second in . . They used to hold motocross races and concerts there too . . I was also fortunate enough to see Joe Namath play there once.

James from Team Green asked me to race with Jimmie and Donnie at a 3 hour long Grand Prix in Perris California where the riders would take turns on the same bike and I jumped at the offer but I actually had little choice in the matter because I would have kind of looked like an a hole if I turned him down . . This is not to imply that I was as fast as either of them but I was plenty fast enough and I had been testing on the Perris track for maybe 20 hours just before that race . . I also, rode on and off all day long when I was testing and would run wide open for an hour at a time when endurance testing the bikes so I was used to the long races.

Anyway, it rained the entire time and was a total mud fest . . Team Honda came out with their fancy trucks and huge awnings and buffet lunch and dancing girls and all we had was one box van and a tiny 10 x 10 canopy that we all sat under and we left the bike out in the rain after practice, lol . . I think we all rode Donnie’s bike and Jimmie started the race and got the hole shot and we never saw Team Honda again . . I will confess that those guys did the majority of the work because I got hurt near the very end of my first round which really p'd me off because that track suited me well and I knew I was was definitely going fast because I never got passed and Honda never caught up to me . . I also didn't want to let anyone down so that's a testament to Donnie's and Jimmie's ability.

I had an incredibly good time with lot's of wild adventures doing incredibly stupid but harmless stuff when we were on the road including getting banned from the golf course at Hurricane Mills Tennessee when we were at Loretta Lynns for the amateur nationals . . Her groundskeeper also brought me some fine moonshine, lol . . I was there to work on Eddie Warrens bike and one of the mini kids bikes . . I also worked on Eddies hot looking neighbor that came along . . Harry Klemm flew up with us but they didn't want to let him on with his tool bag at first . . After we arrived there, he proceeded to try and blow up the rental car that I and two others were also in by holding the gas on the floor until it started missing.

Joseph Farrow
05-29-2015, 09:52 PM
Good stuff Barnett. Glad to know you're still alive. lol
Haven't heard from you in a while. I saw you over on the Yenko site a little while back.

barnett468
05-29-2015, 10:22 PM
Good stuff Barnett. Glad to know you're still alive. lol
Haven't heard from you in a while. I saw you over on the Yenko site a little while back.

Lol, thank you very much Joseph and yes, I’m still alive.

I am on that site and a few Mustang sites because I restore and buy and sell muscle cars . . This includes building performance engines so I help people out with info on these things . . I even sold the studios 5 fastbacks which they built into Eleanors for the remake of Gone In Sixty Seconds and our shop worked on the blue Boss 302 build that Chip Foose built for his Overhaulin show.

Brad Lackey told us a story at Kawi one about racing cars at night on an MX track after the race . . Then he drove one on the beach and kinda sank it and had to call the rental agency to rescue it.

Anyway, my apologies again for the lengthy post and I hope it didn't sound too self serving because that wasn't my intent, but I’m sure you know how it is, you get to thinking about one event that happened then that leads to another and another, lol . . Plus, I was lucky to be in a few of the right places at the right time and I appreciate any of the good things that have come my way . . I never take anything for granted.