CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
W
hen Harley-Davidson first
launched its KR competi-
tion model in 1952, San Diego
Harley dealer Leonard Andres
got one of the first bikes from
Milwaukee, and he immediately
went to work seeing what he
could do to improve on the bike.
That head start, combined
with Andres' decades of build-
ing race motors, paid off. Before
long Andres was building some
P126
THE WIZARD OF THE
ed tuner during the '50s and
'60s, and a prosperous motor-
cycle dealer from the 1940s to
the 1970s. He also served on the
AMA's competition committee
during the early 1960s, help-
ing to guide motorcycle racing's
rules and regulations. Andres'
son, Brad, was the only rider in
the history of AMA Grand Nation-
al racing to win the championship
in his rookie season. Leonard
of the fastest KRs in the country.
When all was all said and done,
an argument could be made that
Andres may well have been the
Dean of all KR builders. The bikes
he built helped riders like his son
Brad Andres, Ralph White and
Cal Rayborn become among the
winningest riders of the 1950s
and '60.
Leonard Andres was a famous
racer during the 1930s, a respect-
Leonard Andres sits on
what could be the first
Harley-Davidson KR ever
produced in 1951.
