VOLUME 57 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2020 P121
"The riders were saying 'The
bike wiggles,'" Gietl recalls.
"What was happening was
the downtube system would
flex. I asked Todd what he
was going to do. He said,
"'I'll fix it, and no one will see
it. He went back and with a
Dremel tool, cut the bend
open, top to bottom, took a
slice of steel and slid it in there,
tag welded it together, ground it
off, welded again and then you
had two D-shaped tubes welded
together. Nobody would see it,
nobody would know. We go to
Willow Springs, and I think Fred-
die [Spencer] rode it and he said,
'This is great! Perfect.'
"So I came back and said,
'Todd, I got news for you. It's
perfect and now I need 11 more
frames.' And Todd would go
through his cursing and carrying
on, but you know what? The job
got done."
Udo went on to explain Todd
wasn't exactly the corporate type.
"He kept odd hours," Udo
said. "He would come in at five in
the afternoon and then work all
night. He was just a great guy, a
very hard worker and brilliant at
looking at simple drawings and
building racing components with
great precision and care."
Todd was a big man. A pow-
erful one too, remembers Jim
Rogers. "I remember seeing him
at Loudon carrying a complete
boxer engine under one arm. [I'll]
never forget that image."
Todd was a gentle soul at heart
but knew with his size he could
be intimidating when he needed
to be. Once at Laguna Seca
when Honda brought its NR500
for Freddie Spencer to ride, fans
were doing all they could to get
a glimpse and possibly a close-
up photo of Honda's trick four-
stroke GP machine. One bold fan
stepped inside Honda's tent and
was just focusing his camera on
the bike when he suddenly sensed
a huge shadow looming beside
him. The snapshot hopeful looked
up to see Todd standing next to
him saying, "If you want to keep
that camera, you'd better beat it."
"Yes sir," said the photographer
as he beat a hasty retreat.
Todd was also legendary for his
humor. Friends say he would make
off-the-wall observations of things
that would evoke a big, belly laugh.
As a Superbike builder, Todd knew
just what to do to make a little dig
at the GP riders and mechan-
ics. He showed up wearing
a t-shirt that read, "I would
rather eat worms than ride a
two-stroke."
"I knew Todd for over 60
years. He was one of the
greatest, most memorable
and talented friends I've ever
known," said his buddy Skip Vez-
zetti. "We rode together, and he
built several bikes for me. What
can I say? Todd was more than a
mechanic or fabricator; he was an
artist. You can't speak about or
think of Todd without smiling. He'll
be missed by all his friends."
Cook Neilson, AMA Superbike
racing pioneer and former Cycle
magazine editor, who knew Todd
longer than probably anyone else in
the industry, wrote what is perhaps
the best summation of the way the
folks in racing viewed Todd.
"Of all the great people I've
been lucky enough to know in
motorcycling's wonderful world,
Todd was right up there at the top,"
Cook said. "We got to be friends
drag racing back in the early '60s
and stayed friends for close to
60 years. Beyond his mechanical
skills, his warmth and generosity,
his loyalty, and his work ethic, he
was the funniest human I've ever
been around. There will never be
another like him." CN
TODD SCHUSTER
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Schuster's business card.
