Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED Former 250 and 500cc National MX Champion Kent Howerton .Polite and friendly, threetime MX champ Kent Howerton is perhaps remembered best f or his role in one of the fierces t on-track rivalries the sport of motocross has ever seen". Just ask Bob Hannah. sport, in an effor t to rea ch th e only ob jective that trul y ma tt er ed to him : By Eric Johnson II ha t's the secre t, Kent?" sa id the yo u ng a nd inexperienced Kawasaki fac tory rid er (who shall remain ano nymous> . win ning . to his tea mmate Ken t Howerton, who was, at th at po int in time, a battle-hardened lO-year veteran event victories. Furthermore , to this day, of the U.S. motocross wars. How erton is the only American rider to Ho w erton , stu n ne d by th e b lun t claim a National Championship aboard questio n, just looked at him incredulousboth a Euro pean-manufact ured b ik e ly . He was a t a to ta l loss fo r words . (H us qv arna, in 1976) a nd a Japanese"What do you mean, 'secre t'?" he manufactured bike (Suzuk i, in 1980 and thou ght to himself. 1981). In a career that spanned more than a To find out why he was so successful decade, Kent H owerton personified the over such a long period of time, I tracked evolution of the sport in the United the fabled Texan down in his hometown States . From leaving San An tonio, Texas, of San Antonio, Texas. Polite, and in posfor the first time ' ar med with noth ing session of a very clea r memory on the more than a well-worn Husqvarna and su bject , Howerton, beginning with his bunch of welding rods early days as a young (we'll get to that later) trail rider, was very - and hitting the 1972 ta lkative rega rdi n g AMA 250cc Nationa l motocross - a sport he Championship Series , wa tched change before through crossing his very eyes - and the swo rds with Bob Han indelible mark he left nah in the mos t vioupon it. lent, vic iously fought "1 started riding National Champiback in Denver," Howonship Series in .AMA erton said whil e takin g history, to winning his a breather from build Natio nal at last ing a big new house on ~~ Gainesville, Florida, in the ou ts kir ts of San 1983, Kent Howerton' s Antonio. ! M y dad and career reads like an American motocross a friend of ours took me ou t riding and I history book. really enjoyed it. Not long after, 1 got a Throu gh the 11 years he spent on the Kawasak i 100 trail bike for my birth day , · AMA circuit, Kent Howerton was conand it didn' t take too long before 1 wore sidere d by a ll to be th e cons u m mate tha t thi ng out. Eventually, th e whole profession al. Smooth, fast, smart and fam ily moved to San An tonio, Texas, cognizant to the research-and-developand I started riding on all of the trails in ment as pect of the sport, th e "Rhinethe area." stone Cow boy," as he was affectionately Soon thereafter, as happen s wit h so known, completel y devo ted him self man y young rid ers, Howert on d ecided both ph ysically and mentall y - to th e he wanted to take a swi ng at racing. As "We were constantly trying to keep the motorcycle together - it was a real struggle." 28 . And win he did. Before it came time to ha ng ' em high (the boo ts, th a t is ), H owert on wo uld win th ree AMA Na tio na l Ch am pionshi ps, two TransAMA Ch am p ion shi p s, two Una d illa 250cc u.s, GPs, and more than 27 AMA he progressed, Howerton slow ly began to procure some local spo nsorshi p and su ppor t to help under wri te and subsidize his efforts. "1 even tua lly got into racing, and did pretty good, and picked up some sponso rs hip from a local Yam aha deale rship," Howerton recalls. "1 rode Yamahas for a while, but they kep t breaking on me . I the n received a deal fro m a Husqvarna shop: Th ey gave us bikes a nd parts, a nd th at he lped a lot, as I star ted to pu ll some pre tty good results ." Co nten t with wha t he had accomplis hed wi thin his home state of Texas, Howe rton loaded up his van and headed out into the grea t wide-open, in order to co mpete in the then-fledgli ng AMA 250cc National Championship Series. The European-conceived sport of motocro ss was still a bit of an unknown entity in this country during the early 70s, and for Howerton it was a total trial-by-fire, jump-into-the-deep-end affair. To that end, not only would he hav e to go head to head with the thenomnipotent Europeans in the Inter-Am races (which made up a big segment of the AMA sched ule at that point in history), but he wou ld face the eterna l struggle of trying to keep his bike from falling apart. "In 1972 and 1973, I went out on the road and started doi ng it all on my own ," said Howerton after a few moments of thought . "Th ing s we re going good, and I remember I rode real well at the 1973 Inter-Am even t in Baldwin, Kansas, which got me a lot of atte ntio n . It was a to ugh year, th ou gh , because Husqva rna was real slow in responding to anything that we need ed . The bike was always br eaking, and they just weren' t d oing any thing to help us out in racing. We were constantly tryin g to keep the motorcycle together . it was a real struggle, 'Then, in 1974, I won my first Na tion- al a t the last 250cc ev e nt in New Orleans," How erton said. "I rem ember, at that race, we had to re-weld the frame back toge ther between motes. That same year, I rode the 250cc support class in the "I n ter -A m Se ries . I won th e In ter -Am eve nt at Ho nda Hills, Ohio, and ended up winni ng the entire se ries and received a bu nch of offers to rid e for ~~ "1 was brainwashed , by loyalty back then and decided to stay with Husqvarna..." ~~ other tea ms. However, I was brainwas hed by loyalty back then and dec ided to stay with Husqvarna for the coming year ." The 1975 season would prove to be a harbinger of th ings to come fro m the you ng Texan. After winning Nationals at Sacramento, California, at New Castle, Kentucky, and at Lake Whi tney, Texas, Howerton finished out the yea r a very · impressive second to Pennsylvania racer Tony DiStefano in the 250cc Natio nal Championship point standings. In ad dition, he ran to fifth overall in the 500cc Na tiona l Champio nshi p Series. While it may so un d bizarre th at a racer wo uld compe te in both d ivision s throu gh ou t the season, during the mid-70s a number of American racers did time in both the 250 and 500cc cha mpionship series, as the rules then allowed. For Howerton, the experience he gained in com peting aboard the big-bore Husky would ul timatel y prove to be inva luable during the 1976 SOOcc campaign. "In 1976, I w on my fir st N ational

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