Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Kidd, Part Two: The Factory Years H arley won it, Yamaha paid for it, and Honda bought it! That's the often-told story of Mike Kidd's Camel Pro Series Championship victory in 1981 and subsequent title defense in 1982. In essence, it's the truth, but there's more to the story than that. After finishing in fifth in the series standings during each of his two years under the U.S. Army banner (see Archives, issue # I I), Kidd began preparing for his 1981 season well before the end of 1980. "The Army had given me plenty of notice that they were going to pull back, and it had been a good program, but it had also been a lot of work," Kidd says. At about the same time, rumors began to swirl that reigning 500cc World Road Racing Champion Kenny Roberts and one of his dirt track heroes, Mert Lawill, had made a deal with Yamaha to bring a new team and a new machine to AMA Grand National competition. The engine was to be production-based, using the company's Virago cruiser V-twin but converting it from shaft drive to chain drive. Kidd says that when he caught wind of the program in about September of 1980, he felt he might have an inside shot at the deal. "Kenny and I have always been good friends," Kidd says. "We were rookies together. So, I called him and asked him, 'What are you doing?' He told me, and I told him that I would like to be the rider. He was talking to me and Ronnie Jones at the time, and I ended up getting the deal. That turned out to be a weird season." Ain't that the truth. Kidd had hoped to be the first non-Harley rider to win a twins-class Grand National dirt track race since the days of Triumph, BSA and the Yamaha XS vertical twin engine, but the Virago program sputtered. The Houston Astrodome marked the traditional beginning of the season, however, and Kidd was able to get off to a good start aboard the team's very potent Yamaha TT500 singles. "We went to Houston, and Igot a fourth in the TT and 94 MARCH 30, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS didn't do to well in the short track - I think I had mechanical problems," Kidd says. "Then we went to San Jose and Sacramento, and as those events came up, the Virago still wasn't ready. Kenny Clark at Yamaha said, 'Well, you and Jimmy [Filice, Kidd's teammate] are just going to have to sit those events out,' Part of my earnings was my purse money, and I said, 'I'd really like to ride those two events. Just bring what you've got," Instead, Lawill made the decision to outfit Kidd with a tried-and-true HarleyDavidson XR750. It didn't take long for the jokes to start, although Kidd recalls that there was no grumbling from Yamaha itself. "All the folks at Yamaha were very nice about it," Kidd says. "There was Thi~ is the facto no pressure to really put the Virago during the '98 ,1::omaha that Mike ' on the racetrack yet. C.R. Axtell, mel Pro Series sea/{,dd Mert, Dick Mann - we had a great crew - were burning knew son. the midnight oil, and it just wasn't coming together as they had a big bankroll. So, I quickly as we thought it would. As the season went on, Signed with Honda for the next two years," they'd bring two Viragos and the Harley, and Filice And the quips kept coming. would go out on the Yamaha and I'd go out on the "Do you remember the T-shirts?" Kidd says. "They Harley. Jimmy would come in and say, 'Well, it's not quite said, 'Yamaha's money plus Harley's motorcycles equals ready, but I'll ride it,' I would just ride the Harley, but I Honda's number one. We Kidd you not!'" was getting antsy. I wanted to ride the Yamaha, but I Kidd struggled with the Honda just as he did with the went from third in points to second in points to... The Yamaha. Virago wasn't far off, but Jimmy felt that if I rode it, he "What happened was that Harley heard Honda was wasn't sure that I would make coming, and they stepped it up big on their end," Kidd the main event. Then I won the says. "The next season was extremely competitive, and Ascot TT" the Honda's handling was not quite there. It was decent If Kidd hadn't won Ascot, he but not good enough to run at the front." may have actually gotten his Kidd failed to crack the top lOin 1982 and 1983, and at wish to focus fulltime on the the end of '83 he found himself faced with a big decision. Virago, but now there was a "Gene Romero had taken over the Honda dirt track championship at stake. team, and he called me and offered me the ride again for "Yamaha told Kenny, 'Keep another two years," Kidd says. "He told me that they Mike on the Harley and finish the were taking the program in-house and that they were going to turn it around. I was kind of beat up at the time, season out, and we'll regroup for and for some strange reason, I'd always told myself that I next year,''' Kidd recalls. wanted to retire by the time I was 30, so I did. Something That decision proved to be a was telling me to get out and move on. Some of the guys blessing for Kidd, who earned who are still racing now are guys that I raced against!" the Camel Pro Series It was a smart decision, but was it the right decision? Kidd often wonders that himself, considering that the Championship in a sudden-death title battle with 1975 champion new Honda team and its RS750-powered factory racers Gary Scott at Ascot. Exiting dominated the sport for the next four years. champion Randy Goss won the "I wonder 'what iPo'" Kidd says. "The Honda became race. Kidd managed to snatch dominant, and in my heart I feel like I could have run the number-one plate from with Bubba [Shobert] and Ricky [Graham]. I had just Scott's hands by five points, 200 started to reach my prime when I retired. But that's not -195. Yamaha had earned the the same as regret, and I don't wish that 1 had kept racchampionship - on Harleys, ing, because you never know what the outcome would mostly - but neither company ever really got to enjoy it. have been. Businesswise, I made a smart decision," ';A,t San Jose near the end of the year, I was going down And so it was that in 1984, while Bubba Shobert and the back straightaway on Mert's Harley, and one of the Ricky Graham engaged in a titanic battle for the Camel Pro Hondas blew by me on the back straightaway," Kidd number-one plate on their factory Hondas, Mike Kidd recalls. "I didn't think much about it, but then I got a phone went in another direction, electing to promote and develcall that Honda was putting together a bigger program, and op a fringe spinoff of supercross. It was called arenacross, they were wondering if I would be interested in riding the and unless you've had your head buried in the sand for the Hondas. My memory shot back to that moment in San last 20 years, you know how Kidd's venture turned out. Unlike part one of this tale, however, that chapter of Jose, and I felt like they had gotten their act together. I Kidd's life is another story for another time. eN

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