Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'i'/2 II IIQ ; Who the hell is Harry IUinzmann? t - By John D. Ulr ich ~He's just a little kid. A ll that peanut-butter-&-jelly -gnies him lots of energy.' Gail Wilson, Bob En dicott 's girlfriend A gangly 16-year-old who looks like he'll be seven feet tall when he grows up, Harry Klinzmann dropped out of ninth grade to roa d race motorcy cles. He wo rks was hing dis hes , cooki ng, host ing - I wh at ever is needed in his p arents ' three restaurants when he must. But mostly . Harry sits in the garage of the family home ju st down the street from Disneyland. working on grand prix road racers. Harry 's fathe r, Alf red, is a large German who raced a Norton Manx in Euro pe a quarter of a cen t ury ago . He gave it up at th e demand of his wife , Anna-Lisa, encouraged by a spectacu lar o ve r - t he- f en ce- i n t o - t he- hospital-tent en do/fligh t at Sch leitzer-Drei ec h , East Germany in the early '50s. Alfred and Anna- Lisa im m igrated to the United States in 1952 ; Harry was born October II, 19 58. Road racing was a de ad issue until 1970, when Alfre d urged Har ry t o take it up. The suggestio n "took" in 19 72, and Harry went racing . Just a few mo nths ago, Klinzman n sudde n ly bur st fro m an also-ra n- wh e n eve r-e xpert s-sh owed-u p into a major threat any time. any whe re. April 19 at On tario MOlOr Speedwa y fou nd Ron Pierce and Bo b Endico ll run ning away from the 25 0 GI' pack and try ing to sha ke Harry K1 in zm an n . Ma'y 4 at Sears Poi nt Raceway , (outside San Fran cisco ), K1inzmann wo n his first race on the tr ack - and set a new lap record . May 15 Team Ka wasaki in vit ed "I don 't know of any No vice who can hold a candle to him. " Ro n Pierce him to a tes t session at Riverside, st irring up ru mors of a facto ry ride in M fA Novice eve n IS. May I 8 at Riverside K1inzmann was th ird right be hi nd M fA Experts Wes Cooley , Jr. and J im Evan s, an d ahead of Ron Pierce. May 25 Klin zm ann aga in wo n the 250 GP class at Sea rs Point, with his fas te st lap tim e eve r , an d used his T Z 3 50 to d ice with Pat Henn en 's fact ory Su zu ki 75 0 in Open GP . 'The race ended wit h Harry wrapped up in a ball against t he T um Ten Ar mco barrier . Desp ite ini tial fear s o f bro ken bo nes and m uddled brains, doctors discove red th at Harry suffe red on ly lost skin. One wee k later, he sat worki ng o n h is bike, and talked about mo torcycle racin g. "Thre e o r fo ur years ago . I go t a Yam ah a 100. I co nverted it in to a dirt bike an d I we n t o u t to Saddleback with my Dad. We threw it in to the back o f o ur LTD, you kn ow, gas p ou ring all over the ca r and every t h ing . We go t o u t there and I went o ut lik e, reall y like an id iot. I go out there and I was jus t a fla ke. 1\ly Dad is in th e ca r, an d all t h is dust is fly in g all ove r th e p lace, and my ol d man gets ou t of t he car an d he tells me . He says, 'Harry, lll spo nsor you full o ut in ro ad racin g. But ", hen it co mes to ' m% reross (sic) 1 will no t sponsor yo u . Y o u 're on yo ur own.' " So 1 t ho ught I' d go in to road racing. So t he firs t thi ng I did was me and m y Dad go t to gether and we n t to a motorcycle shop in Costa Mesa. We went o ut there and ask ed for so m eb o dy who knows ab ou t road racing. Th ey said go to the servic e department, George Roche is bac k th er e. He recommended me to ge t a Kawas aki 25 0 triple . So I go t th at and 'wen t o ut to Carlsbad and did my first lap and crashed. I go t up , and finishe d the race in second. Fro m t hen on , [ was all pumped up ab o u t th at . "After [ go t done with the Kawasa ki, [ we n t ahead and Rot a T A 25 0 from a guy, wh ich 1 regret very mu ch . But any way s, I go t th e T A, and Ge orge Roche said he'd help me o ut o n it . So , [ wen t o ver there, and he 'd sho w me a co u p le things to d o, he teach ed me how to t ake it ap art. Af ter a wh ile m y Dad go t talking to George , and George ta lked to my Dad , and so we de cid ed to sponsor Geor ge on a 70 0. So we went ahead and go t a 70 0 . "Geo rge went ahead an d go t the bike. So , as tim e went on , we put all this mon ey in to th e 700 , and not really much into me. I was jus t so rt of o n th e sideline o n m y TA . So we turned aro u nd and so ld the 70 0, and t hen I go t rid of my TA, and I got a TZ 25 0. An d wh en I go t my TZ 250, I wan ted to mak e it a fast 250 . So [ was looking for a tuner t o do it. It was be tween Mik e Devlin and Ron Pierce. [ co u ldn 't get ahold of Devlin, so I went to Ron Pier ce . I called him up one n ight, an d [ t hought 'This guy 's probably go nna hang up on me wh en I ask hi m to work o n m y bike,' but he t alk ed freejy t o me and I figured he might be the guy to go to ." Along the way , Harry had ac q ui red an RD 350 Yamah a prod uction b ike. "I figured [ co uld get poin IS off the produ ct ion b ike in the production races fo r my (AMA) No vic e points. So 1 went ahead and go t a production bike . But la ter o n [ fo und o u t 1 d on 't need a pro d uc ti o n b ike because you don't get po ints in the class ." . It was a ba d mo ve. Before he ever had a chance to ride a National (having j ust turned 16 ), Harry 's career t um bled end o ver end to a total halt a t Orange Co un ty Raceway th e very day his ho ok -up with Ron Pierce was initiated. "Tha t day ." remem be rs Harry, " No vem ber th ird , Ron Pierce br ung o ut h is 25 0. I was go n na buy it and I had m y (new ly co nvert ed) TZ 35 0 an d my RD 35 0. A little practi ce o n Ron 's TZ 250 and I had figured, 'well, I like it so (' 11 buy it.' So we bou ght Ro n Pie rce 's " If he rides any of th e A MA Nationals this year, he 's gonna be a threat, because he's fa st , and smooth, " Ji m Evans, Team Kawasak i 250 that day an d t he n t he nex t practi ce session I we n t o ut and ro de the TZ 350 and 1 fe ll d own by th e time 1 go t to Turn Three. Th at 's wh at started the bad day . So t he 25 0 race was first, and [ went out and rod e Ron's bike, ca re fully , and [ fin ishe d second behind George Ro ch e. Th e ne xt race was t he Producti on race, so 1 had to get off an d gel o n th e 35 0 Pro du ct io n bike. So we t o o k off and 1 came o ut of the chicane and [ saw J o hn Oleson ahead of me. 1 figu red, 'We ll, I' ll get aro und J ohn in T um Seven.' So 1 go t right n ext to J ohn going in to Turn Seven and all the sudde n so meone hit Joh n, and John hit me, and we both went in to the fen ce. From th at nigh t o n, [ figured 'Well , [ won 't be as goo d as I was ever again.' " The cra sh , in a 100 mph swee per, totaled Harry 's produ ction bike, and broke his righ t an kle and one wrist. The

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