Dirt-track engine builder Jim
cross between Batman's butler and Albert Einstein.
Spend a little time with him, and you'd swear that
he lives only on milkshakes and four packs a day.
Get to know him, though, and you'll appreciate his
friendly demeanor brutal honesty, and you'll
respect his obsession with building some of the
fastest engines in dirt-track racing today.
Kelly actually started out as a Triumph dealer,
partnering in Harry D. Foster motorcycles of Lawndale, California, which was the oldest remaining
Triumph franchise in the industry as of 1973. It was
there that he began tinkering with the British-built
twins, coaxing more power and speed out of them.
"I built desert bikes and flat-trackers - I had three
really good flat-trackers," Kelly said. "In fact, one of
them won Houston in 1972 with Mike Haney riding it."
STORY AND PHOTOS By SCOTT ROUSSEAU
T
he secret behind some of dirt-track racing's
superheroes actually hides in a cavelike shop
down an alley in a rundown industrial section of
Long Beach, California. For it is here that Jim Kelly
assumes the role of Batman's Alfred. Within the
dark confines, Kelly squeezes tremendous horsepower out of antiquated, though highly evolved,
Harley-Davidson XR750 twins with which capedcrusader types such as Jay Springsteen, boy wonder Kevin Atherton and mighty mite Shaun Russell
fight for truth, justice and Grand National glory on
America's mile and half mile dirt ovals.
The analogy is more uncanny than you'd think;
the lanky 73-year-old Kelly even sort of looks like a
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At his shop In Long Beach, California, Jim Kelly runs
in one of his potent Harley-Davidson XR engines on
the dyno. Kelly, 73, builds engines for Grand
National stars such as Jay Springsteen, Kevin
Atherton and Shaun Russell.
Although he had extensive experience with Triumphs, Kelly didn't get into messing with Harleys
until much later.
"We went back to Devil's Bowl in Texas around
1983," Kelly said. "It was Jeff Johnson, Mike
Kirby, Rob Ely and Pete Hames and myself, and
we had so much fun that I decided to buy a
Harley. I did, and I've been messing with them
ever since."
