Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

advantage," he laughed, " ...anyway, away we all went, then I fell down and (former Greeves distributor) Nick Nicholson ran into me and broke my hand. He couldn't finish but I did." Minert raced desert for a long time, " Yea h , I liked riding desert and was pretty successful. About '58 or '57 I took a badspill . Came upon a really bad with of people e-r Thatcrashthe endlotsthe desert forhurt.. was of me 00 O"l I couldn't go fast out there any more. ...... Started thinking about what could happen if I got hurt." By then he had a famil y and was starting his career as a firefighter and Minert always seems to have his priorities in order. He believes he has always treated motorcycle racing as a hobby, choosing to remain in California even when he did start riding Class C, instead of traveling on the circuit, and even though Feets was very good. But a hobby? I've seen him ride for too many years and in too many places to let him get away with the " hob by" bit. He's a modest man; but he 's also a very alert, highly trained, highly skilled racer with one hell of a brain cycling away behind that amiable looking exterior. There were four years in the Navy as a Seabee, with 42 months overseas. At the peak of his racing ability , agewise, he lost four years . He might have shot to the top of the professional ranks as did a man who started with him but didn 't go into the military, Joe Leonard. What might have been doesn't seem to bother him. He takes what is going on at the time and enjoys it . Wherever he went in the Nav y there was always a Triumph dealer who had a Triumph for him to ride, and that made him happy. After the Korean truce was signed he went to Japan and his dad crated up a Goldstar and shipped it to him. More laughter at the memories: " T h ey had little tracks and stuff but that Goldie just blew their minds! All they had to race was little junky stuff and here I am with that Goldstar. They wouldn 't let me ride it in their races ... too big or something... but they did lend me a little pressed steel frame Honda. I tell you, it was something else having that BSA over.there," Other things that make him happy are his family and his job as a firefighter. ' Let's talk about the family first. Gloria Minert is a super, nice lady. Very attractive, bubbly. and charming, she looks at her husband the same way many of us do; he's her hero. They knew each other only three weeks before they were married and that marriage has lasted over 26 years . They have two lovely daughters , Glen and Linda, who like dirt riding too. Minert speaks with pride of his family. " G loria has never worked outside the home because that was the way we both wanted it, especially with the kids. She's a wonderful wife and mother. She has a great interest in Depression glass, and knows a lot about it. She collects it and ha s a booth, and really enjoys that." Gloria always went to the races with her husband. " T h ere might be an emergency or something. It didn't occur to me not to go. It was what Charles did, so I went. When the girls arrived they went too, from the earliest days ." One morning, though not too long ago, Gloria woke up and thought, "That's it. That's enough. I'm not going any more." She says it gently. What was Feets' reaction? " Noth ing. He just accepted it. It was my decision. I made it and he's comfortable with it." A remarkable pair these two. Now listen to Engineer Charles Minert, Los Angeles Fire Department: 20 'MO. CA. " I love my job. I guess it's the excitement of going out. Every time you go out you don't know what you're going to get into. You know you're helping people and they are always so glad to see you arrive. The crew I work with has worked together for several years and we all know each other and our individual limitations. Yes, we all take turns cooking. "I drive a truck, the big pumper (Wouldn't you know it?). At our station we have two pumpers and a hook and ladder. Our equipment now is magnificent, like our new selfcontained breather apparatus. We're the best in the state and probably the whole country. It's a fine department. I can transfer anywhere I want to around the county too, but I like it where I am." The station is in the City of Commerce. "I wouldn't want to be a fireman back in Chicago or Philadelphia with all those old buildings. But then our guys go back East and talk to them there and they're scared to death of our brush fires and wouldn 't want to work out here. Those fires can change in a hurry and you've got to be careful , but they're no big deal. " Had he wanted to be a fireman when he was a little boy? Some little goys get starry eyed around fire trucks and want to grow up to be a fireman. "No. When I got out of the Navy I worked at plumbing for a while and liked that but I wanted something more. I liked working on motorcycles but I didn 't want to be working in a motorcycle shop when I was 55. There's nothing wrong in doing that if that's your choice but it wasn't mine. So the Fire Department offered a lot including excitement, so I joined. " How about all this racing over the years? Do superior officers frown on firefighters who fly around on motorcycles? "When I first started it was with another department and the old firechief there didn't like it much, especially after Wilson Springer wrote an article for the Herald-Examiner on my winning Catalina, so I looked around and changed departments. I . had to cut down on my racing there for a short time and that was at the time when I was the closest to being number one and I really never got that close again for the overall plate. It was OK thoug-h. Of course that was in the days before all this civil rights stuff, and now no one can tell you how to or how not to spend your free time." There are two versions on how Feets got his nickname, one that it was given to him by his dad because as a kid he was all Ieets, and one his co m petitio n told me long ago when I first inquired, that all I had to do was watch him race and see what he did with his feet in certain situations like when they tried to pass. After some more shared laughter, Chuck said " No , my dad really did give me my name. I really had my full size feet when I was just a young boy." As to the other rumor? "That's called intimidation. (Heh, heh, someone finally admits it .) It pays to intimidate. If it takes running into a , gu y once or twice, maybe the third time he'll move over for you. Remember Arvin Cox?" We did . "We were riding night races and I hit him one. The next week he caught me in the same position and let me have it. It was a lot of fun to have him come back and hit me. I really respected Arvin for that. Usually they won't, they get afraid of you ." Feets Minert on other things: Road racing: "Did some. Hated every second of it, and was frightened to death. I broke a legat Carlsbad. Joe Coloco fell offhis Harley. Hejumped up, looked right at me, and I made . the correction to go between him and the fence, and he moved right in front of me. I hit him and went down. Didn't hurt Joe, but I broke my leg. No, I don't like road racing for beans:' Other thoughts on BSA: " BSA was the best thing there was . I'm loyal to 'em ...they're a British bike and I've ridden th em for so long. I didn't.see my use in getting something else when the BSAdid everything I wanted and still does. The TTs are easy and I can still beat some of the younger guys. That darn BSA is still as good as a lot of the stuff out there. In motocross I still do OK with guys my own age. " Some thoughts in general: "T hey say poor old scrambles are coming back, but I don't think there's enough interest. Young riders all specialize nowadays and it's all motocross. "Riders now feel they have to have the latest equipment. It's a bunch of baloney. I think it's the guy holding the handlebars. A quarter of a second more either on or off the throttle is all that's needed, not the fancy stuff.Tt's those darned journalists in the magazines that get the kids all hyped up so that they've got to have the latest color bike or the latest 1982 colors on their costumes or whatever, because last year's is no good. I like my Levis; they're good enough protection." The greatest thing that ever happened in his motorcycle career: "Going to the BSA factory in England. Jeff Smith came over here and we met. I'd read a lot about him, he won his World Championship on a BSA and I really liked him. He's one of my heroes. He's clever, tenacious and very bright. He loves living in this country and is now in Minnesota. He invited me to the factory when he went back after doing his promotional work here, and I went. The company here paid for it and it was the highlight of my life in motorcycles. I couldn't believe it, I was in hog heaven l "I couldn't believe this grungy old factory - dark. They just treated me like one of the gang. Had the run of the racing department. Gosh, one evening Smith went home early and tossed me the keys, telling me to lock up the factory when I left. Can you imagine? After all that BSA has meant to me, I was standing there holding the keys to the factory l" "Gloria came over and we got over . on thecontinent. Jeff arranged some meets for me . I was the onl y foreigner to ride a works BSA. They had a policy back then: British motorcycles, British riders. The courses over there were so beautiful. but very difficult. Very steep hills at limes." That visit to England was followed by BSA fielding a team to come here and do battle. British world class riders John " Baro n " Banks and Jeff Smith came and joined David Aldana and Charles Minert. They were to ride and promote a machine called the 441 Victor. It ended up being called unkindly the " Victim " because if you owned one you were its victim. It wasn't really a bad bike but it was a far cry from the Victors Smith and Banks rode in Europe, ones with oil in the frame and other sundry goodies. They built replicas of these called the GP Victor, but the company branch didn't feel the need to import them as well as the plain Victor, although Canada did. BSA lost its chance to get a place in the American motocross scene, and it was the beginning of the end for them. Team BSA fared very well in its efforts and Minert, especially, had the time of his life riding on it . But without the GP Victor it fizzled.

• Cover