King Kenny: Six Decades Of Living Legend

King Kenny: Six Decades Of Living Legend - Printable Version

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King Kenny: Six Decades Of Living Legend - Malcolm - 31-12-2011

December 31, 1951.

60 years ago today, in Modesto, California, a baby was born on the seat of a tow truck.
And that baby would grow up to become a man who has kept the motorcycle world in tow for the majority of his life.

Kenny Roberts, the man who may not have invented the knee-down style of riding a roadracing motorcycle fast through a corner—that distinction goes to John "Mooneyes" Cooper—but Kenny certainly perfected it...while also showing the world that you can steer the front of a roadracing motorcycle by sliding the rear. It's a technique that Kenny seamlessly translated-without a hitch-from the dirt tracks of America to the roadracing circuits of the world.

Originally thinking that he was going to race horses, 12-year-old Kenny began his motorcycle racing career aboard a Tohatsu that his dad, Buster, bought for him after Kenny saw a local race in Modesto and thought he'd like to try dirt track racing. But, that first bike just wasn't fast enough for a young Kenny. And so, it was on to a Hodaka with a little more get-up and go. Soon, he caught the attention of Bud Aksland, who was then a local Suzuki dealer.

At the age of 16, and aboard a Suzuki 90, Kenny quickly moved up from amateur to expert when he started racing a Suzuki 250. On the day after his 18th birthday, Kenny rode that Aksland-sponsored Suzuki to 4th place in an indoor short-track event at San Francisco's famed Cow Palace. It was Kenny's very first professional race.

From there, the rise to super-stardom was nothing less than meteoric. Kenny signed his first factory contract with Yamaha at the age of 19, where he competed in the AMA's Grand National Championship, a series that encompassed events in four distinctive dirt track disciplines, as well as roadracing. He was Rookie of the Year in 1971, and then he went on to win the Grand National title in both 1973 and 1974. A highlight of 1975 was his famed victory aboard his Yamaha TZ750 dirt tracker at the Indy Mile.

During that same year, Kenny started to show the entire world his racing prowess when he won three out of four races in the 1975 Transatlantic Match competition. It was a harbinger of things to come on the world stage.

Kenny on the 500 Yamaha OW 48 at Monthléry. Pic by Jean Pierre Boulmé

Once he moved up to Grand Prix World Championship motorcycle racing, Kenny supplanted the great Barry Sheene as the man to beat on a 500cc racing motorcycle. From 1978 through 1980, Kenny and his bumblebee-liveried YZR500 were unstoppable as they won three world titles in a row.

There is so much else to say about Kenny Roberts beyond what he's done as a racer. As a safety advocate, he helped bring Grand Prix racing out of the dark ages of unprotected armco barriers and underpaid athletes. As a team manager and owner he helped make world champions out of his riders. As an organizer, he helped bring Grand Prix racing back to the United States. As a teacher, he's helped countless riders from all over the world to race—and win—the Roberts Way. As a father, he raised two boys who became roadracing champions in their own right. And, as an ambassador for the sport of motorcycle racing, he's inspired, entertained, and enthused countless fans.

Kenny Roberts—AMA Grand National Champion, Three-Time Grand Prix World Champion, Manager, Organizer, Teacher, Father, Living Legend—is 60 years old today.

Happy birthday, KR!

by sean bice