Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

By Tony Murphy uner s are so often a forg o t ten or overlooked breed. We do hear ab ou t Ke1 Carru thers' eff o rt s o n behalf of Kenny Ro berts, and occasionally t he name Bob Work cro ps up when race fans are discussing th e latest victory of Steve Baker. Then there's t he Vesco -prepared machine ridden b y Gene Romero . But beyond those three, road "ra cin g wr enches ar e pretty much a mystery. Is it possible t ha t they 're the only ones? Don 't you believe it . But, what may surprise you is t he fact that most of the other fast machines in AMA road racing are prepared by t he same man, Mack Karnbayashi. His fingerprints can be found allover Gary Scott's TZ750, making him responsible for the preparation of the machine that may just bring Gary his second reign as AMA Grand National Champion. How he fares at the Rivers ide race can be all-im po rt an t, And that is just one of Mack's Riverside efforts. Mack is an ex-Yamaha factory mechanic who has had a hand in making many of today's top riders go just a little faster. At one time or another, Mack has twisted wrenches for Dick Mann, Don Emde, Ron Pier ce, Art Baumann and Dave Smith, just to name a few. And this year's Riverside race found h im just as busy as ever , for, in addition to Gary Scott's machine he was taking car e of the 750 of Takazumi Katayama and the 250 of sensational David Emde. Mack, together with fellow Japanese Toshi Araki, won't have a moment's rest until it's all over on Saturday night. The responsibility of tuning a 175 mph Yamaha for the U.S.A.' s number one rider is a long way . from a Tokyo Porsche de alership. T welve years ago Mack Ka mbayashi left a pro fit able jo b as T oky o 's most fa mous Porsche me chan ic and set out for t he U.S. He landed at Yamaha In ternat ional an d soon fo un d his talents being put to use by the: Yamaha race: team . As a "junio r" race team me m ber he: inhe rited the tun ing chores fo r th e "junior " rider on th e team in 19 67, Ar t " The Dart " Baumann. At Daytona that. year, Baumann finished t hird on his Mack-tu ned 3 50 . Mack stayed ....rith Yamah a u ntil they " o ffi cially " with drew fro m rac ing in 19 69. Then he moved across town to Kawasa ki whe re he to ok care o f the tu ning chores fo r Dave Smith . It isn 't touted anywhe re an d may eve n be unkn own to Kawasa ki , but the Karnbayashi/Smith co mb inatio n brought Kawasa ki their firs t-ever tri p to th e wi nner's circle in U.S. racing. Smi t h fin ish ed second t o Gary Nixon at the Lo udo n National. The y ear 1970 brought an offer from BSA/Triu mph , and sin ce Mack had his four-stro ke Porsch e experience to call upon, he acc epted th e o ffe r and found himself preparin g engines for Dic k Mann and Don Ernde, Interestin gly , he 's st ill building horsepower for the Emdes, only this time it's for Don 's yo u nger brother, David. By 1972, the BSA /Triumph racing bubble had burst and t here seemed n owhere left to go. Mack worked with Sudco Internat ional for some time but fin ally decided to go it alon e, opening his own tuning shop in late-1972. Together with his wife Yoko an d Toshi, Mack now caters to the privateer 's need for expert assist ance. On any given weekend, Mack-prepared Yamahas fill out most of the front spo ts at local Southern California road races. Mack's shop in Fu llerton is always alive . with activity as there are sometimes as many as a half-dozen TZ Yam ah as lined up waiting for work. It's not unlike any specialty tuning shop except the machines being tuned are already all-o ut racers when they're new. It 's only because the performance of a Mack-prepared engine is so impressive. In fact, if you don't have one you won 't be in the hunt. Unless, of course, your n ame 's Baker or Roberts and your horsepower co mes directly from Hammamatsu. If you 're anyone else, like Gary Scott, you have to ge t y ou r horsepower from Fullerton, via a Tokyo Porsche mechanic. T • 35

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