Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128239
LONG LIVE THE KING . I campaigned tha t Maely speedway m otor cycle fo r K en wh en he first put it o n t he track , and I ro de it fo r abo ut a ha lf a sea so n. I sco red an 18·point m aximum on it at the U .S. vs . Th e Wo rld in Ven tura , and I also won in Houston on it. but I never won a Nationa l on it. It was grea t, and he m eant well , but it didn 't pa n out too m uch for m e. We ha d a few bugs to wo rk out of it , but as far as our relationship went , it was great. I've t o ld peop le t he same K en M aely sto ry over and ove r t h roug h t h e y ears, When it co mes to K en , the fir st th ing th at I th ink of is the tim e that we were ca ravan- nin g to Hou ston fo r th e TT and Short Track [sp eedw ay was also featured] in 1976 . We were in tw o trucks, and I had my wi fe and T erry B elton fro m Bel -Ray an d Ca rl Tresse r , wh o w o r k ed on th e b ik es , with us. Som ewh ere in the m iddl e of Texas at abo ut five in th e m o ming, Ma ely was abo ut a half m ile behind m e, and he gets on th e CB and says, " Hey , are yo u guys awake up there?" I said , "Yeah, we're awa k e." And he said , "Well , co m ing up on the right is about a '6 8 Mu stan g . Have a look at the gu y. " So , m e and Carl slow down to have a look when the guy co mes dr iv ing by , and th e gu y was co m plete ly naked . Maely was on th e CB , and he wa s j ust lau ghing out lou d. He alwa ys ad m ired our fa mily, and we adm ired him , bec ause we were all wel ders. I gave a l ot of speed w ay school s at hi s tr ack. Th at's wh ere we all started , basicalIy , from myself to Bruc e Pen hall to Bil ly Ha m il l. Yo u c o u l d g o a n y w he re i n t he co untr y with that guy , and you 'd alw ays be w elcome for d inner , and p eop l e w ould kn ow him. It wa s unbeliev ab le. It's gr eat to be a b le t o sa y som ethin g ab out h im , because you kn ow we m iss him . and we love him. He was always t here fo r us. M ike Bast, seven -tim e U.S. National Speedw ay Ch amp ion (1 9 7/, 19 73, 1975-79) Larsen in saying th at Mae ly 's ra nc h had a big influen ce on all our careers. Ryan Fisher is another who was out there every week since he was 6 yea rs old. I ran a junior race and a speedwa y school at the ranch du ring the off-season , but I do n't ho nes tly k no w whe ther it will now carryon. It is too ea rly to say . I kn ow Ken wo uld w ant it to c arry on, and it will leave a big void in Amer ican sp eedw ay if it doesn' t. I had m y firs t race at Maely 's ranch in 1983 , and he has alw ays made my steel shoes . He was kind of like a go dfather to us all , and it is a ve ry sad los s. He has basic all y been ca rrying the ju nior speedwa y scene in the States for yea rs, and up until la st week, the ranc h was still runn ing . He was suc h a fiamboyant guy, and yo u would never hav e guessed he was -in his 80s. He had surv ived ca ncer and had open heart surgery about 15 years ago . He had j ust had a tripl e bypass again , an d am azing ly he w as back out o n his tractor a co uple of weeks later. I feel I can speak fo r t he li k es of Bruce Penh all , Bobby Schwartz, Sam Ermol enko, Greg Hancock, Chris Manch ester and Josh cyc l e n B illy Hamill. former Wor ld Sp eedway Cha mpion (1 996), fo rmer National Speedway Champion (2 00 2) u.s. e Ken was friends wi th m y da d and his race budd i es sin ce b efore I was b orn , so he wa tched m e grow up fro m ju st nothing . When I raced spee dway and fiat track, Ken was the o ne wh o built my steel shoes , and _ s NOVEMBER 5 .2003 9