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
Remembering Ken M aely M aely w ith 19 7 0 AMA Grand National Championship Gene Romero fo rma l ed ucation , -b ut he ce rtainl y k ne w how to m ak e thi ngs work. I really feel bad about losi ng him , espe cia lly as hard as he fought his health problem s the last 10 years and over came th em . T h i s has h it me p r etty hard . T here will never be another Maely, for sure. Dick Mann, two-time AMA Gr an d National Ch am p ion (1963, 1971) and twoti me Daytona 2 00 winner (1970, 19 71) then we went on to race motocross. There were a lot of similarities between what Ken w as do ing w ith hi s speed way b ikes and what we did with our motoc ro ss bik es, but we were bo th doing ou r own th ing . Ken and m y dad were always getting toge ther and co m par ing not es o n t he t hings t hat th ey built, and they 'd both say , "Well, that's the wa y th at I wo uld have buil t it, too l" One thing that people might not realize is tha t Ken was o ld-school, but he was also an innovator. and he respected new ideas. Recently , I ha d N ic ky Hayd en o ut at the r anch w h en w e we re testing his Ho nda CRF450R dirt -track er. Ken ca me down and watc hed , and th en he said to m e, "Gary, I thi nk you really have some thing here with th ese n ew bik e s. T h ese t hings are th e way to go." T his is j ust a sad lo ss for everyon e in t he m otor cy cl e co m m un ity, becau se Ken knew eve ry one . He was n 't so m uch an industry guy, bu t he was a guy who really lived for the racers. th e pits with j ack ets on over o ur leath ers, and th ere he'd be wi th his sleeve less shirt, fix ing steel shoes. He was an ironman li k e none I ever knew. Wo rking two eigh t -hour da y s was just a normal day for him . He never sto pped. He was reall y a tou gh gu y . We just had a fri end ship that began th en and went on for many years. One of my last memor ies of Ken is from when we were up at Kenny Roberts ' for a New Year's part y . Ken was the re all nig ht long, cooking t he deep pit barbecue . It was just another one of his specia lti es. He did a lot for Kenny . I have no th in g b ut fond memories of Ken . He was eve ryb ody' s friend , and he was alway s willing to give help to anyone. He was an icon , and it 's a terribl e loss to see him go. I'll mi ss him , and I'm sur e so will v irtua lly everyo ne who ever kn ew him . Mert Lawwlll, f ormer AMA Gr and Nation al Champion (1969) My most viv id memory of Ken is a little wild. Ken and his fir st wife, Judy, used to have this friend named Georgia who used to hang out with th e Maelys when I was 16 yea rs old. She was one of tho se girls who used to hang out with th e top half-m ilers and mllers, you kn ow , a littl e clo ser tha n m ost. She was a 10 in my ey es, and t hey 'd keep teasing m e abo ut her, because whenever I'd come over to t he ranch , I'd be li k e, " How's Georgia ? What's Georgia doing? " So the day I tume d 17, she was m y birthday present from Ken. I was 17, and she must have been 32. She did more to m e in a half hour than I had done in m y whole life... But on a professional level, Ken was the hardest -working man tha t I ever m et in my life, and he was always willing t o go t hat ex t ra ste p t o help so meone . T hat, and I remember h im as no -s leev es Ke n Mae ly . He didn't o w n a ny thing with sl eev es. It didn't m att er how co ld it was, he'd be out Gary Jones, three-time AMA 25 0cc N ational MX Champion (1 9 72- 74) I ca n rem ember t he fi rst ti m e tha t I met Ken Maely , but I don 't reme m ber the exac t year. It was either 1954 or '55 in Cata li na fo r t he Grand Pri x . He was ri di ng a BS A Bant am fo r the BSA dea ler in Long Beach . , W ith in a year or so was the fi rst tim e that I ever saw him at the racetrack, buil ding th e steel shoes . I sta rted using them, as certai nly th e largest m ajor it y di d. He was such a goo d g uy a nd suc h a goo d frie n d t o everybody. I' d im ag ine th at every body who k new him h as a good Maely story , an d mi ne are jus t lik e everybody else's . He was always there to help . always doi ng some th ing, never stand ing still . ' He was always one ste p a h e ad o f h i m se l f a nd j us t a tr em en dous indi vi dua l. He was a hell of a lot bett er of an eng inee r th an peopl e would give hi m cr edit for , co nsidering his lack of I was always fasc ina te d at th e individ ua l atten tio n that Ken would g ive to anyone he was t alk ing to at the tim e. It did n't m att er who you were, he treated yo u li ke yo u were the m ost important person aro und. On e of my earliest m emories is when I got my first pro fession al steel shoe from him at Ascot. He so ld it to m e and sort of babysat m e alo ng th e way . He watc hed m e ri d e and said, "This is the ty pe of shoe yo u need for Asc ot" and th en put hi s specia l hardfa cin g on it. I also rem ember that I wond ered wh at his blood was ma de out of. It wo uld be col d at Asc ot , and we' d all be sitting around in 10 NOVEMB ER 5 , 2003ยท cue I e n e vv s Maely and wife Rose w ith Wa lt Fulton Jr. there w ith no sleeves . You know, m y ki ds ha d only seen Ken a handful of times, and m y 16 -yea r-o ld son, Ryan , found out abou t it before I did. I got on the ph one and fou nd out it was tru e. We were all pretty devasta ted. To m y kids, Ken was t he coolest . He was to all of us. He is truly an icon in m otorcycl e rac ing , and he help ed hun dreds and hu ndreds of peopl e. Bruce Pen n ell, two- time World Sp eedw ay Champion (1 981 , 1982), f ormer World Pai rs Speedw ay Champ ion (1981) , two-tim e U.S . N ational Sp eedwa y Cham p io n (1 980, 198 1) I hadn't seen Ken too much in the past 10 ye ars beca use I was always In Europe, but I sort of grew up at the races aro und him . He took m e and a few oth er g uys un der his wing, and he wo uld always call m e at 5:30 o r 6 in th e moming and say , " Hey , get yo ur ass out of bed, and get to workl" Beca use tha t's th e way he ,was, a total wo rka holic. But he never cou ld get me out of bed... I remember one t ime I was lead ing the Ind y M il e when my shoe br oke in half. I tho ugh t tha t he was go ing to have a heart attack rig ht the n an d t here. After tha t, he m ade me a sp eci al light weight shoe, and he made me pr omise not to walk around in it because that wou ld weak en it. I still have that shoe . He alwa y s put a little different ben d o n my sh oes t hat h e c a lled a K R